Snack-a-Can The ULTIMATE product range

The Vending Revolution is not new to re-inventing and shaking up the vending industry, our revolutionary approach to Bulk Vending, which we launched 15 years ago, still dominates the vending industry as the most profitable bulk vending formula in the UK today with over 1000 new sites being acquired for our franchised operators every month! Our entry into the under performing Mini-Can market is set to become our biggest shake up of the vending industry ever.

Our interest in the Mini-Can market dates back over seven years ago when we spotted our first ever Spanish nut can vendor at a trade exhibition. The vendor impressed us but we had serious doubts about the product range, which basically consisted of different types of nuts and some olives and gherkins. Our most serious concern was the vend cost, then .50p, which seemed poor value for money and due to the high cost of the imported stock offered poor margins therefore we decided to wait. Many years later we noticed a few mini-can nut vendors appearing in pubs and bars, which suited the product range but importantly, the vend was now £1 which offered better margins.

Encouraged by the £1 vend opportunity which would compliment our existing 4000+ bulk vending business, we decided to launch a 250 nut vendor field trial to establish the viability of these vendors. After the initial "Honeymoon" periods passed we were disappointed with sharp drop off in revenue that confirmed our thoughts concerning the limited choice and suitability of the product. We reasoned the way ahead had to be with a dedicated UK optimised wider stock range, which we started to pack ourselves in clear plastic tubs (see "How we got it wrong!"). Finally, we stepped up our field trials to over 500 units to enable us to optimise the ideal product range with maximum repeat sales. This unique approach has seen us achieve sales increases over traditional imported mini-can products in excess of 70%.

The eventual choice of product range has involved a long term evaluation at hundreds of sites to ensure maximised revenue returns, of course it is not as simple as that, all sites are individual and require careful management to ensure best performance, an area that the Vending Revolution has proven expertise in, and that our franchise package fully covers in our operator training. Our initial launch range contains a professionally packaged selection of 13 confectionary and 2 nut products, all proven repeat sellers enabling the operator to fine tune each site to perfection using our unique "Menu" selection system. The initial launch range will be followed up with constant additions of sweet, savoury and snack products to the range with a total inventory in excess of 40 products by the end of 2007.

To view our present range of Snack-a-Can products
visit our "shop", click here >>

NEW Snack-a-Can vendor



Snack-a-Can THE brand



The Snack-a-Can brand is the result of extensive market research to create a brand image that is modern and progressive yet familiar and memorable. It is our intention to establish Snack-a-Can as a well known vending brand in its own right which epitomises the Vending Revolution core elements of Quality – Value – Service. The marketing mix includes product promotion and brand awareness through advertising, exhibitions and importantly vendor Point of Sale material that includes lid crowns and body decals.  Finally, we provide a dedicated Snack-a-Can website as both a promotional tool and a contact point for consumers with full customer service support, please click the link to view the site www.snackacan.com  


How we got it wrong

 After our decision to develop a top selling range our first challenge concerned the packaging method for our new brand.  We initially sourced suitable size clear plastic tubs. Intended for the toy industry, these cheap plastic tubs with snap on lids, appeared to offer a quick and low cost solution to the problem, unfortunately the cracks – quite literally – began to appear.

As these clear plastic tubs were never intended for the food packaging industry they proved to be extremely fragile and brittle and would often crack.  This was minor though compared to the expensive "Glasshouse" effect.  Due to the clear tubs allowing day light  into the tubs - even on a cold day - they acted as glasshouses, and having no ventilation, the heat build-up in the tubs caused the product to melt wasting hundreds of pounds worth of product not to mention turning potential customers off from using the vendor!  The final problem we suffered concerned the freshness of the product.  We soon discovered that the normal air trapped in our tubs made the product stale and customers were not repeat purchasing, even worse they were not telling us why they were not satisfied.

Desperate to solve these problems we tried Polypropylene tubs.  Although these prevented the cracking it did nothing to stop the product from being damaged by light and normal air and unfortunately introduced a serious new problem.  Polypropylene is a flexible, milky, opaque plastic that masks the product making it look visually dull and unappetizing which affected sales. 

Despite all these serious problems a notable increase in sales was achieved but we knew that with these worrying limitations we would never be able to maximise the full potential of our extensive product range and it would be out of the question to offer these unsatisfactory tubs to our operators.  We had to beat these problems if we were to meet our objectives of Maximum Repeat Sales and Total Customer Delight.


How we got it right

 After consulting with industry experts the decision was taken to develop our own high quality Metal Composite can with an air tight heat sealed aluminium foil lid that would be designed to fulfil our brief for a professional packaging solution that solved ALL the problems.

The final design answered all our stringent technical requirements and looked fantastic with its high gloss photographic quality finish which made the product look irresistable!  To ensure we maintain the highest quality control a further major investment was made in establishing an all new 5000sq ft production and distribution facility incorporating state of the art weighing, filling and MAP-F heat sealing technology.

The fully automated and computer controlled MAP-F modified atmosphere can sealing equipment is the absolute pinnacle of modern food packaging, which flushes the can free of normal air (oxygen) and replaces it with food quality Nitrogen gas to prevent the product from rapidly deteriorating and becoming stale due to oxidisation from normal air. This results in the product being as fresh when opened as when it was packed as well as extending the best before date. Our total investment in this project has exceeded £1/3million and will ensure that consumers get the Very Best Product and operators get Maximum Sales and Profit.







Continue to the
Franchise Package >>