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ting," he added, glad it was a system that already existed in the industry. The value proposition of food With micro markets, food has become a central and proftable aspect to the business. That wasn't the case with vending food. "We weren't making money on fresh food," he said about the days he just served food from vending machines. Micro markets are different, so the food has to be different, too. "What I realized was that vending food was a last resort. But micro markets have created a meal stop," said Brinton. Why? Because now employees aren't burning gas, losing their parking spot, fghting traffc or wasting breaks commuting for food and beverages. That includes the time it takes to get focused once again on the work the employee was doing. "That is the value proposi- tion that has replaced commissions," added Brinton. With this value proposition comes some responsibility for the operator. The micro market food program must stay fresh and new. "A successful micro market food program means offering unique items and having the control to change the menu and increase the quality of the ingredients so the food remains unique," said Brinton. He changes his food often, but does not run his own commissary. Promotions are a key driver Brinton has also noticed that merchan- dising and marketing in micro mar- kets is necessary. A new market might boost sales initially, but to keep the momentum up, the operator must run promotions and new products. Avanti Northwest bundles products together for deals or runs 'buy X number of the item and get one free' deals. It pushes advertising and promotions via the kiosk and mobile. Micro market cool- ers are refaced to look new and market layouts are rearranged so users need to "hunt" to fnd the products they want. New products are introduced regularly, either by customer request or because of manufacturer promotions. "It's much more like retail," said Brinton. "And very different than in vending." The company is even experimenting with take home options, like holiday cookie tins, as last minute gift options for a neighbor. One of the indispensable tools Brinton uses in micro market mer- chandising is food tasting. He part- ners with manufacturers for free or discounted product as well as collect- ing a fee to pay for the event. He then has a dedicated staff member visit dif- ferent markets Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week to hand out samples of that product. Brinton says it works to increase sales of the sampled item, but also to reenergize the market. It's a technique he believes any operator could do. "Brokers and manufacturers have a budget for this and love it," Brinton said. It's a scal- able idea for any number of markets. For example, he suggests that if an operator had 26 markets, they could do one every other week. Other branches of service Brinton does offer coffee service, called NW Coffee Service, but it's a small revenue segment for his com- pany. "OCS is not a huge push because this is a very competitive market with lots of quality coffee and strong brand names," said Brinton. In micro mar- kets, Brinton usually offers a single- cup brewer to meet the gourmet tastes How a changing world accelerated the growth of micro markets Jim Brinton, president of Evergreen Vending and Avanti Markets Northwest as well as one of the founders of Avanti Markets, saw the potential of a self-checkout system early on. However, he was also aware that if the world had not evolved, the idea would not have worked. In 2004, there were very few self-checkout systems the average person saw and used on a regular basis "If that had continued to be the case, introducing one at the workplace would have been foreign to customers," Brinton said, and he suggests that micro markets might not have even worked. Luckily now there are self checkout systems everywhere from airports to big box stores. Another push towards micro markets came with consumers. At the same time that self-checkout systems became more mainstream, there was a generational shift in consumers and how they preferred to shop. "Millen- nials prefer a non-human touch transaction," said Brinton. "It has made micro markets a much easier sell." Even the move to a better-for-you product selection including fresh food, diet drinks or gluten-free products has contributed to the success of the micro market segment. "I think we've made a lasting impression on our customers," said Brinton. He doesn't see micro markets going anywhere but up. In the RAM ProMaster van, a 12-volt refrigerated compartment needs to be powered while the vehicle is off. 16 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com December 2015 O P E R A T I O N P R O F I L E