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Vending Items Theft

July 15th, 2010

An advert for an insurance company in Australia has been banned. The advert shows Sam Thaiday, an Australian rugby player shaking a vending machine which results in lots of products falling out. The Australian Advertising Standards Board banned the ad as they say that it depicts theft, as the rugby player may have paid for one or two items- but certainly not all the items that came out of the machine.

As a vending operator we have machines located on many different sites, including schools, leisure centres, offices and factories. Theft is something that does concern us, but has happened very rarely since we have been in business. This could be the relationships that we have with our customers or that most people are very honest: in the past we have been told if the machine is vending items free of charge or if an operator has accidentally left a door open. While watching the Australian ad, what concerned me the most wasn’t the theft was the rugby player pushing the machine. As mentioned in other blogs, vending machines are incredibly heavy pieces of equipment. Showing someone pushing against one is quite irresponsible- if that machine falls it could lead to serious injuries or even death.

Written by: Katie from WestWays

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Posted by linda

 

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What does Refurbished mean?

April 22nd, 2010

You may notice that as well as new machines WestWays also sell refurbished equipment. But, as a customer – what does refurbished equipment mean for you?

We have several sources of supply for refurbished machines: customers who are replacing their current equipment, refurbished machine suppliers and we also buy vending equipment from people getting rid of theirs. These machines come into our warehouse and are assessed by our trained engineers. The engineers may decide that it may not worth refurbishing the machine as it may require too much work or they won’t be able to bring the machine up to grade for a customers premises. If this is the case, the engineers will strip the machine: take off parts that they can reuse. This is part of our environmental policy: we will never scrap anything that we can reuse with a bit of work.

If the engineers deem the vending machine as good – then their work starts. Obviously, it varies from machine to machine- as refurbishing a coffee machine is different to a cold drinks machine and what state the equipment is in to start with. As a rule of thumb: the engineers start by cleaning the machine: which is what Will was doing when he was on work experience with us. People tend to think that being an engineer is quite glamorous, but they spend quite a large amount of their time with their hands in rubber gloves cleaning parts! When the clean is over the engineers start testing the machine, normally this means seeing what is working on the machines. If a part isn’t working they replace it if they cannot repair it.

After they test the machine, make sure everything is doing what its supposed to be doing, they then PAT test it. Sometimes problems that will come out in the future, such as boilers not heating, show up in the PAT test and it also gives our customers piece of mind that their electrical equipment has been properly checked out. I heard a horror story about a machine being delivered directly from manufacturer onto site which had been wired wrongly: when the machine was plugged in it gave whoever touched it an electrical shock!! We have never had a problem like this as we thoroughly check the machine over before it leaves and the engineers test fully with products to make sure there are no safety issues.

Once the engineer is happy that the machine is performing well, their last job is to make sure the machine looks good. The WestWays general rule is that the machine needs to look like new and not to give our engineers big heads but they normally achieve this high standard. Sometimes it just takes a bit of spit and polish and the machine scrubs up alright, but sometimes glass has to be replaced in snack machines, decals changed on can machines and whole doors on beverage machines. Our engineers do like a challenge!

All in all, we like to give our customers piece of mind that while their refurbished machine may not be new and had a former home that our engineers will do all that they can to make the machine like new. A second hand machine does not mean a second rate machine. 

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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DIY Self-Fill or Operated?

April 13th, 2010

We at WestWays Vending aim to be flexible to all our lovely customers needs. We offer an operated service and also a self-fill service on our machines.

We have many different machines from you to choose from. We have (deep breath here!) Kenco coffee machines, in-cup vending machines, fresh ingrediant beverage machines, Cadbury snack machines, unbranded snack machines, small snack machines which you can have a coffee machine on top of, Coca Cola cold drink machines, Lucozade drinks machines, unbranded can machines which can vend bottles or cans (or both!) and combination machines (which are half snack and half cold drink) and probably a lot more that I have forgotten!!

Operated Service

With an operated service we take control of everything. One of our lovely operators will visit on a schedule determined on the usage of the machine. The operator will fill the machine, collect money (if it is not a ‘free vend’ machine) and clean the machine.

Mike, our operations manager will keep a close eye on products that are selling on the machine- if there are product lines that aren’t selling then he takes them out and if there are products that are selling out then he puts more in. It’s a very complicated science. But, in essence it means that we take all the stress of worrying about stock, cash handling, cleaning and all those bits and leaves you to concentrate on other parts of your business.

Self Fill

However, if you want to have close control over your vending machines – maybe you have catering staff or you are looking to add revenue to your business by charging your customers. For example, one of our sell fill customers is a children’s soft play centre- we installed a snack machine from them and they order snacks for it every week. The site have a person responsible for the snack machine to ensure that it is cleaned and filled regularly. They are used to handling food items so storing and rotating stock is no problem for them.

Another of our customers who likes to self fill is a plumbers merchant- we installed a Darenth Style 5 for them to enable the customer to give out free drinks to his customer. By using self fill he can keep an eye on how many free drinks he is giving out enabling him to keep his costs low.

Or maybe, you would like both. We have have a few customers which we operate and the customer self-fills other machines on site- for example you may want to offer your staff drinks on an operated service but you may want to have vending machines which you fill for them on an out of hours service?

As you can see, both operated vending and DIY self fill options have their good points- but really it depends on the solution that you want to offer within your business. Our sales team have a lot of experience in problem-solving and their knowledge of vending is next to none. As I said before, we are flexible: whatever your needs are we will find a way to fulfil them!

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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I have to admit, we are a little bit sceptical at WestWays Vending. There are quite a lot of coffee vending machines being launched each month and we always ask: what’s the difference, why is this special and who is it aimed at? To sell the equipment, as a company you kind of have to believe in it. I believe, personally, it starts with the engineers. The engineers need to know that it’s a reliable machine, that is easy to fix; if it’s a machine that constantly breaks down or has manufacturing faults they will not want us selling it: who wants to constantly fix a machine and see unhappy customers? After the engineers believe in it- then the sales consultants need to: they need to see who the machine is aimed at, how it is different and that it is the right machine for our customers. If the machine is operated then our operations manager and his team need to be happy with it’s reliability, how easy it is to get parts off to clean and that it is the right machine for the site. A real team effort!

We have gone through the same process for the new Tassimo Professional.

The engineers went on a training course at Kenco’s ‘Centre of Excellence’  (that is what it’s called) to learn about the machine, its parts and how to remedy faults. They were pleased as the machine was made by Bravilor Bonamat, whose fresh ingredient coffee machines we sell – so we know that they are a trusted and efficient manufacturer. The engineers also found the machine really simple to use and diagnose. The touch button at the top is the button that they use for fault-finding and the display is large and clear enough to understand.

The sales team went, also to Kenco’s Centre of Excellence to find out how the machine works and its usability. I have to say now, that the people that went are fussy, one is a trained barista and the other three know their Kenco coffee’s and teas. They came back beaming- saying what wonderful drinks it makes- how the espresso tastes so good, the hot chocolate is divine and the cappuccino looks and tastes fantastic.

The rest of us had training on the Tassimo Professional by Adrian from Kenco in our offices. He showed the administration staff and the operators what the machine did and how it worked. The machine won’t be an operated machine, but they wanted to sample the drinks and understand how it works- as they often get asked questions when they deliver products. The first thing they noticed was how easy the machine was to clean- the empty T-DISC’s drop down into a bucket inside the machine, which needs to be emptied and periodically wiped down: a lot easier then bean to cup machines! We were all amazed by the consistent quality of drinks- again unlike some bean to cup machines. The administration staff liked the fact that they could vary the drink size: I am all for a larger drink as it means I have to get up less and others prefer drinks smaller and more concentrated.

All in all, we at WestWays Vending like the Tassimo Professional and thinks that it has a unique niche in the market. It is a machine that makes great quality, branded drinks, consistently. It allows each drink to be personalised  and is easy to use and clean.

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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Tassimo Professional

March 16th, 2010

All of us at WestWay Towers are rather excited about the new Tassimo Professional - it has been long talked about and is an innovation in itself.

We had our Kenco account manager, Adrian, down last week to show us all about the machine, what it does and generally why its so great. These are some of the facts that I gleamed from him:

  • The machine is energy conscience- it has an inbuilt energy saving mode, called ECO MODE. You can programme the machine to go into ECO MODE at times to suit you and can wake it up by touching the main button.
  • The machine is small. Smaller than you would think. If you were to have the machine on its own and either hide the T-DISC dispenser unit or not have it, the machine could fit even into the smallest office or cafe kitchen. The size of the Tassimo Professional is: height 410mm, width 230mm and depth 535mm.
  • The Tassimo Professional is simple to use. I know that its easy for us to say that as we are around vending machines all day. But this one is really simple. There is an ‘intelligent display’ (or a display which tells you what you need to do!) and you pretty much do everything by the touch a button.
  • The drinks that the Tassimo makes are good, really good. Well, what do you expect when the T-DISCs are branded drinks such as PG Tips tea, Suchard hot chocolate and Kenco coffees- Espresso, Medium Roast, Colombian… the list goes on! 

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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A group of us enjoyed a fantastic day at the Kenco Coffee Company yesterday to experience the new Tassimo Professional. As part of Kenco Local Business Service, WestWays is one of the first distributors to offer this exciting new concept. In Kenco’s  Centre of Excellence, we had the opportunity to make, taste and experiment with the Tassimo Brewer and the delicious range of T discs, to make consistently great cappuccinos; lattes; hot chocolate (to die for!)- and a good old cup of tea (with Earl Grey being my favourite!) All this at the touch of a button! So simple, even I can do it. It’s like having your own barista!! 

At the end of the day, we all agreed that there will be a high level of interest in the Tassimo Professional and its delicious range of well known branded drinks, including Kenco, Suchard, PG and Twinings. Tassimo Professional is stylish, compact and would look great in any situation. If you like coffee shop quality drinks, but don’t have the facility to make them, then this is the machine for you.

 We can provide demonstrations and taste trials on request. In addition, the remainder of our team has now been fully trained by the Kenco Coffee Company to provide maintenance, training and support to purchasers of the Tassimo Professional, ensuring that we continue to deliver the highest quality service to our customers.  

 To see this exciting innovation at the earliest opportunity, give us a call. We look forward to adding Tassimo Professional to our range of coffee vending machines.

See Tassimo Professional- Works for you!

 

 

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Posted by linda

 

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Kenco Coffee History

March 6th, 2010

I don’t know about you, but I was bought up knowing the Kenco brand. As a child I thought it was synonymouswith coffee as my mum would always ask guests if they would like a cup of Kenco coffee (this was one of her many Keeping Up Apperances moments). I was surprised about how little I actually knew about the brand past the products they sell. After doing a bit of research this is what I learnt about the quality brand:

  • Kenco Coffee started life as The Kenyan Coffee Company Limited in 1923. It was originally a co-operative set up by a group of retired coffee planters.
  • The co-op set up fashionable chain of coffee shops in places such as Vere Street, Mayfair.
  • A lot of their business was selling coffee by mail order. They advertised in publications such as Tatler and Country Life to appeal to large country houses.
  • As demand increased they moved to Long Lane, Bermondsey – next door to a food merchants called John Gardiner who ran a whole sale business, restaurants and provided outdoor catering.
  • After World War 2, a Gardiner employee- Tom Kelly- persuaded his company to buy the Kenyan Coffee Company. After it was purchased by them, he was put in charge of new business and to expand the company.
  • Kelly diversified the company- opened coffee shops outside of London and sold to catering.
  • In the 1960’s Kelly acquired the rights to sell Gaggia machines and began to sell these to other cafes.
  • It was during this time that the name was changed from the Kenyan Coffee Company to Kenco Coffee. This was due to a decrease in Kenyan coffee beans that were imported.
  • In the late 60’s the organisation was sold to Truste House, which in turn during the early 70’s sold it to Cadbury. Cadbury then sold the brand on mid 70’s to Premier Foods (are you keeping up?!) It stayed with Premier Foods for a while until 1987 when it was purchased by General Foods (whose successor is Kraft Foods)
  • Kraft Foods continue to run Kenco as a premier brand.

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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We love coffee. A lot. We are lucky that we have different coffee machines in our offices that we can use. We have a Kenco Singles Brewer- which takes that Kenco Singles Capsules. We have two roast and ground machines: a N&W Koro and an Azkoyen Vitale bean to cup. From time to time we have a Kenco Connection- which takes in cup drinks. Yep, we drink a lot of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Just a tip for when you are in the office- never ask if everyone wants a drink! It can take you ages and we are all particular on how we like our drinks!

I get a bit bored with the media always changing their minds on why something is good and next week why it’s bad for you. This is the reason I wanted to do ten fantastic reasons to drink and enjoy your cup of coffee:

  • Black coffee with no milk = no calories.
  • Coffee is a good form of potassium. Much tastier than a banana!
  • Coffee helps you feel refreshed: if you have a cup before a quick cat-nap, hard working scientists found that you will be refreshed and feel great.
  • Coffee is great during work-outs. Coffee increases your glycogen- your engery reserve.
  • Coffee can help to reduce the following illnesses: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and gout. Any prevention against those is a good thing!
  • Caffeine can be used as anti-depressent.
  • Coffee jump starts short-term memory.
  • Drinking coffee is sociable. It’s a nice thing to do with friends and family.
  • Coffee cake is amazing. It tastes so good!
  • By drinking a cup of Rainforest Alliance certified Kenco coffee you are supporting those who produce and grow the beans. At last count it was a staggering two million farmers, farm workers and their families we are all helping.

Coffee break time now, I think!

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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It’s funny how when you think of a different subject ideas come flowing into your head.

After my last blog on why we don’t send out vending machine brochures I kept coming up with more reasons that I wanted to share with you:

  • For some reason buildings have not been built around easy access for vending machines. Sometimes door ways are just not quite wide enough. By having one of our lovely sales consultants visiting you they can see what machines will fit into the space.
  • Our sales consultants know their stuff. They have close relationships with representives from manufactures and find out what is being released ahead of our competition and the vending industry. By speaking to one of and using  their insiders knowledge may mean that you have the latest vending machine before everyone else.
  • As well as supplying new vending equipment, with our team of in-house engineers we also refurbish equipment. We have a lot of machines that come into the workshop and leave quickly, by speaking to our sales team they can secure you one of these machines.
  • We like the environmentquite a lot here at WestWays. We try to do our bit by using Rainforest Alliance certified Kenco products, try to reduce our carbon footprint and recyling everything we can. By our sales consultants qualifying your needs means that you will not recieve any unwanted vending machine brochures. Being environmentally friendly is all about taking small steps.
  • And of course: our sales team are really nice people. And I am not just saying that because I work with them. They will never, ever try and rip you off, never try to over sell products that you do not need and will never perster you.  

All in all, we are a friendly, family owned business. By concentrating on Sussex, Kent and Surrey means that we are always local to our customers.

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Posted by linda

 

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Working within a business we know as much as anyone how annoying sales calls are. We know how pushy sales people can be. It’s not just on the telephone we find pushy sales people, but at our office door. No, we don’t want new mobile phones; great, you can offer cheaper electricty but we are tied into a contract and we already have someone that looks after our marketing-  are phrases that we often hear within the office.

Similary, when potential customers call us and ask for brochures and we ask if we can refer them to a sales consultant many of them think they are in for a hard sell. They ask if they can have something chucked in the post that they can browse. These are the reasons we would like our new customers to speak to our sales team:

  • A vending machine is not just a vending machine . When asking  for details on what sort of machines you are after we get replies such as ‘ a small one’, ’sweet vending machine for the factory’, ‘a drinks vending machine’ and ’an office vending machine’.  
  • Our sales team have heaps of experience. Sometimes it scares us how much they know about vending machines. We like to put their knowledge to good use, not just advising us on what coffee machine was shown in The Bill last night.
  • We supply lots of vending machines all over Kent, Surrey and Sussex. We always try to exceed our lovely customers needs. Over the years we have had lots of requests for things that we may not do at the moment, but we have a Can-Do attitude and we will always try and find a way for you!

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Posted by linda