4.1 Introduction to Unattended Retail & Coffee Solutions

4.1.1 Overview

The vending industry in key markets globally represents over 14 million machines and an annual estimated revenue of €80 billion.

Despite efforts to create and adopt common standards and protocols, the industry is fragmented and certain markets are more likely use particular vending machine interfaces, for historic and traditional reasons. This fragmentation leads to barriers and costs for machine and peripheral manufacturers, vending operators, as well as leading to integration problems within the machine. As the industry becomes more and more connected and in order to meet increased demand from consumers, the current situation can be considered no longer viable and hence a new specification is deemed to make the industry fit for the future.

4.1.2 Unattended Retail & Coffee Solutions

4.1.2.1 Vending Machine

A Vending Machine (see Figure 2 for examples) is an operational machine located either at a client site or in a public location designed specifically for the sale and dispensing of food, drinks, and other goods and services. The EVA does not include cigarette or gaming machines within this definition.

10,000 operating companies manage the vending machines across Europe, while the industry overall employs more than 85,000 people directly, bringing manufacturing jobs and contributing to the EU's industrial strategy.

Note that we use the term Vending Machine as synonym for Unattended Retail & Coffee Solutions (see 3.2.1) in later sections for better readability.

4.1.2.2 Office Coffee Service (OCS)

While 64% of the vending industry is made up of hot drinks/coffee machines, OCS is a specific part of this segment and involves a hot drink table-top operation in the office environment, maintained and supplied with ingredients by the operator. OCS machines (for examples see Figure 3), however, are filled by the company where the machines are located, and these systems do not usually have coin/payment systems as a 'free' and quality coffee provision in the office is more and more seen as a necessity for workers and a service provided by companies for their employees.

4.1.2.3 Unattended Retail (Micromarkets & Smart Fridges)

Micromarkets are small, unattended convenience stores in workplaces. A new and growing trend in Europe, with more than 10,000 in operation as of 2023 and typically include the following elements:

Products are on open shelves, or chiller cabinets or fridges so consumers can select them as they would in a store

Selected products are scanned by the consumer either at a central unattended till, or using a smartphone app

Payment is taken either at the central till (usually cashless), or through a smartphone app

Usually includes at least one hot beverage machine

May include a microwave to heat purchased food

May include an area with tables and seating

The EVA estimates the total number of Smart Fridges across Europe to be between 2,500 and 3,500, with more machine operators operating Smart Fridges than Micromarkets in Europe.

In Figure 4, an example of a Micromarket and a Smart Fridge is given.