VENDING: New-fangled Vending Machines Are More Like Automated Diners

Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
New high-tech vending machines have gone beyond taking credit cards and flashing come-ons in red letters. New products to match the new machines fit nutritional needs of today. They were all on display at the National Automatic Merchandising Association's Expo in Atlanta last week. Here's a hint of "what's new" appearing in Atlanta's well-known newspaper.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: We hope that you were there to visit the suppliers' displays. Don't miss next year's event in Orlando, FL, Oct. 26 - 28, 2006. But . . . for those who want a sneak preview of the big show, there's the NAMA Spring Expo in Las Vegas, NV, running Mar. 22 - 25 , 2006. Mark the dates on your calendar now and plan to attend both. (You just almost have to, to stay abreast of all the new vending, foodservice and coffee service developments!)

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VENDING: USA Technologies Discusses Opportunities in Vending Industry at NAMA in Atlanta.

Yahoo! News - USA
USA Technologies announced today that its Chairman and CEO George R. Jensen conducted an interview with CEOcast, Inc., which operates a leading online financial portal, from the NAMA National Expo held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. In the interview, Mr. Jensen discusses the opportunities for the Company to deploy its cashless vending solutions such as e-Port®, which was recently selected by MasterCard International to provide a contactless payment solution.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This announcement at the NAMA National Expo represents only one of hundreds of vending/coffee service/foodservice suppliers that displayed their wares at the trade show. Additionally, there were more than 14 major seminars and special Hot Topic reports that provided new information to the industry. Your editor, representing one of the official trade press, is proud to have attended each seminar and is now summarizing the material for Vending & OCS magazine.
• Overall, it was a great convention in terms of exhibitors, their new products and the seminars. The attendance is not yet totaled, but if you missed it, you missed a great event for knowing the new developments of the industry. Plan now to attend in 2006.

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Vend Buzz is Going to "The Place to Be" (NAMA Expo)

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: We hope that the following article will hold you until Sunday (you might as well read the whole thing) because we will not be posting again until we get home from Atlanta. If you are reading this during the period Oct. 26 -29, you are missing a great vending/foodservice/OCS event.

GENERAL: Office Water Cooler Discussions: Gender Finances, Worthy Credit, Coffee Cravings

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Every morning first thing, you gotta have it. But regular coffee is becoming passe for many Americans, who are flocking to flavored concoctions.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The results of three different consumer surveys, the third (scroll down in the article) pertains to coffee. Interesting, eh?

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VENDING: Vending Machine Dispenses 2,000 Times on Full Charge

Global Sources - Singapore
The machine is powered by a rechargeable battery and can dispense 2,000 times on a full charge.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Rechargeable battery? Now that's something new for a vending machine. It might be popular with the client because it would save energy at the location, but does it save energy for the operator? Even if it doesn't, it would be great to place at state parks and such where a power outlet is not readily available. Can it be adapted to sell something other than what it does? Read the article to see what it dispenses.

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VENDING: Vending Machines Sell IPods to Go

PC World - USA
Shop-in-box featuring players, digicams, and snacks are appearing at airports, malls nationwide.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Music, music, music! Everybody's gotta have music. But a 7-ft. x 7-ft. vender takes a big door like at airports and institutions.

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GENERAL: Stronger, Blacker, Richer Coffee – the New Drug of Choice

Greenville Daily Reflector - Greenville, NC, USA
If you think you might be a coffee addict but are not sure, the people at Coffee Wholesale USA have kindly taken time out of their busy schedule of laughing all the way to the bank to list a few symptoms.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: And they do! Although I sip coffee all day long every day, even in the car and while mowing the lawn, the test gives me a clear conscience: "I am not a coffee addict." Okay, this article was found yestereday (Sunday night) so we saved it for Monday morning's coffee addicts to read first thing after getting their brew at the office. It's just a fun thing.

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GENERAL: Port of Houston Hoping to Become a Factor in Coffee Imports

Houston Chronicle - United States
Houston hopes to become a key player in the international coffee trade. The first coffee and cocoa trade show put on by the Port of Houston and the Greater Houston Coffee Association was the first major action taken in this endeavor.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The article points out that at least 140,000 tons of coffee were imported through Houston prior to Hurricane Katrina. Port officials anticipate that this figure will double in the next few years. Houston's gain may be a loss for New Orleans; however, New Orleans is expected to recover much of its former trade. Before Katrina, there were only three coffee exchange ports in the U.S.: New York, Miami and New Orleans. Having three southern ports for coffee would be a safeguard to the industry, especially since all three are hurricane vulnerable.

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VENDING: Fingerprinting of Vending Machine Stockers and Others in Florida Schools is Now Streamlined

Orlando Sentinel - Orlando, FL, USA
The fingerprinting requirement for vending-machine stockers, sports referees and others who regularly visit schools is designed to help protect children against sexual predators.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The school vending issue continues to become even more perplexing. It makes one wonder if school vending is worth it to the vending operator.

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VENDING: TNS Shares Decline More than 23 Percent

Business Week -- USA
The decrease was caused by the loss of a contract with Direct TV; however,looking ahead, the company said a contract involving 10,000 Pepsi vending machines has been put on hold.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This is an unfortunate occurrence which will affect more than TNS. We are hopeful that TNS will be able to move forward soon.

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VENDING: Study Refutes Soft Drinks' Impact on Kids' Obesity

Forbes, Health -- USA
Contradicting widely held views, a new study has found that consumption of carbonated soft drinks from school vending machines has a negligible impact on adolescent weight problems.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This new study by researchers at the University of Maryland indicates that vending machines in schools has little or no effect on increased student obesity. Consumption of soft drinks at home is five times more than at school. Click on MORE below for the complete story.

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GENERAL: It is Not too Late to Register for NAMA Expo

NAMA Website - USA
This is still another reminder that NAMA is accepting online registrations for its National Expo in Atlanta Oct. 27 -29. Click the MORE button below.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: We will be attending the Expo and not posting anything on this site during the show period. In the meantime, we will continue to collect articles for our review and will post those that are appropriate when we return from Atlanta. You may see the Vend Buzz editor/publisher at all the seminars photographing the presenters and gathering materials for Vending & OCS magazine. Stop me and say hello.

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VENDING: Vending Companies Feel Fuel Cost Pinch

KELOLAND TV - Sioux Falls, SD, USA
When you buy something at the vending machine, you're not just paying for a snack. You're also paying for the convenience of having it at your finger tips.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Of course, this is not fresh news to anyone in the route service business. We include it because it makes two significant points: Obviously, Mr. Olmstead (VP Vending in Sioux Falls, SD) has a good working relationship with the media in his town. The TV station makes it clear that his price increase on vended products is justified and that because of vending's convenience, it's worth the cost.

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GENERAL: Landmark French Quarter Coffee Shop to Reopen

KATC - Lafayette, LA, USA
After more than 153 years, it takes more than a hurricane to keep Cafe Du Monde on the sidelines.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Even if we are coffee service dedicatees, we are pleased that this particular coffee shop is reopening! This member of the Vend Buzz Team, in all his life, has made a buy at only one other coffee shop -- and only once. But Cafe Du Monde at Jackson Square was the first, more than 50 years ago. We have returned to it on every visit to New Orleans. It's not so much the coffee that attracts, the beignets just "can't be beat" anywhere else. Particularly after midnight after a tour of the Quarter and its jazz joints (and its "street musicians").

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VENDING: ConAgra Foods' The Max School-Lunch Pizza with Ultragrain Wins 2005 'Spirit of Innovation' Award from Prepared Foods

Business Wire - San Francisco, CA, USA
Foodservice winner honored for collaborative cross-company approach to developing new product that gets top marks on taste and nutrition and gives school kids full serving of whole grain from 'Ultragrain.'

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: At the NAMA Expo, we will ask ConAgra if it is available for vending. You might do that, too, so that, if it isn't, the more that ask for it, the more likely ConAgra will provide it soon.

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GENERAL: It is Not too Late to Register for NAMA Expo

NAMA Website - USA
To compete in today’s business environment, you need to develop skills you have, learn from the success of others and stay current with the latest technologies shaping out industry. NAMA can help you do just that! We invite you to become a NAMA member right here, right now. It's easy.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: It's the "Only Place to Be," being held in Atlanta Oct. 27 - 29, 2005. Vend Buzz will be attending (disguised as a reporter for Vending & OCS magazine) so there will be no posting to the Vend Buzz site during this period. It will be updated when we return to our home/office. But don't miss out on this great vending/OCS/foodservice event!

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VENDING: Kraft Foods Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2005 Results

Business Wire - San Francisco, CA, USA
Kraft Foods Inc., a global leader in branded food and beverages, today announced third quarter 2005 results. Net revenues grew 4.4% in the quarter, with ongoing constant currency revenues up 3.6% from broad-based growth in North America, Europe and developing markets.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Almost buried in the report is a statement pointing out that coffee revenues were up double-digits due to higher prices, yet partially offset by a decline in consumption due to higher retail prices. We congratulate Kraft Foods!

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GENERAL: Gloomy Global Weather Buoys Coffee Prices

Hindu Business Line - India
Coffee prices have perked up following reports that erratic weather conditions could have harmed the crop in Central America. The rise comes after the prices witnessed a fall since March.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Although this article is from India, it speaks of the global coffee market and takes into account Brazil's dry season this year then projects a huge crop of Brazilian coffee next year. It's as good a summary of the overall coffee situation as any that we have seen.

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VENDING: New Vender for Fresh-cooked Pizza Brought to America

Crain's Detroit Business - Detroit, MI, USA
WonderPizzaUSA L.L.C. sells pizza from $18,000 vending machines made by Italy-based WonderPizza Italy. The 9-inch pizzas are cooked with infrared rays in 90 seconds and served hot on a cardboard plate.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: We can see a niche for a vending machine for freshly cooked pizza here. But $18,000 for one machine that may not go through a 36-inch door may be hard to place. (We don't know the dimensions, but article says "size of two soda machines.")

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VENDING: Pop N Go and Midlantic Vending Launch Pilot Program

Market Wire - USA
Pop N Go, Inc. announced today that Midlantic Vending will begin a test program of Pop N Go's popcorn vending machines. Midlantic operates vending machines in over 700 schools in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This vender sounds like a natural for those vending companies serving schools. We saw it at the NAMA Expo last year and probably will see it again at the Atlanta NAMA Expo in a couple weeks. We are glad to see its upcoming extensive market test by Midlantic Vending.

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GENERAL: Find the Face Among the Coffee Beans

Michael’s “Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena” (Original source is listed in article.)
Yes, there really is a face in the accompanying picture. Click on "MORE" below.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: For those who are not interested in Sunday's pro-football, here is something to fill the TV void. Posting this in Hot Topics proves that "fun and games" has its place in Vend Buzz; it's not all serious stuffs! If you find the face, e-mail dan@vendbuzz.com to enlighten the editor.

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GENERAL: Sept Coffee Export Value Rises 45% in Africa

AllAfrica.com - Africa
The report said, "The increase in value was a result of the general improvement in coffee prices on the world market experienced during the year in response to global supply deficit. The drop in volume is attributed to the coffee wilt disease and unfavourable weather."

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The concept of "supply and demand" is clearly indicated here. As the supply diminishes in the face of heavier demand, the price increases. We anticipate that the coffee growers and their workers are reaping the benefits of the higher priced product.

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COFFEE SERVICE: New Broughton Street Shop Merges Coffee Bar, Home Furnishings

WTOC - Savannah, GA, USA
The shop is a coffee-dessert bar/design-home furnishings store. A coffee bar inside a store? "Everybody walks in and says, 'It's beautiful. What is it?'" said Dean Caldarelli. DC2 Designs is the brainchild of the New York- and Los Angeles-based home designer. "It's more of a lifestyles store," he said.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Some simple, but innovative area treatment around a single-cupper with various coffees can complement almost any type of business with an inviting sales nook.

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GENERAL: Caribou Coffee Faces Challenges in Becoming Successful

KARE, MN
Industry watchers say Caribou Coffee faces challenges if it is to become a successful public company. Among them: making a name for itself outside Minnesota.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Winning is tough for the challenger in any market, but it can be won.

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GENERAL: "Fair Trade Coffee" Jolt for Growers

The Ledger - Lakeland, FL, USA
On a recent afternoon as cars lined up at the drive-through at Starbucks on South Florida Avenue in Lakeland, supervisor Tim Hoyt explained that as a part of "Fair Trade Awareness Month" anyone ordering a regular cup of coffee this week would get a taste of brewed beans picked by "fairly" paid laborers.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This article gives a reasonable definition of "Fair Trade" coffee. It's a movement to improve the living conditions of the coffee pickers and growers in impoverished countries. Contrary to Americans' concept of a free market with prices determined by supply and demand, it is a noble effort to encourage and protect the long-term supply of coffee. After all, the price of gasoline is the result of "supply and demand" supposedly influencing OPEC's prices of crude oil (there are other factors, too).

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GENERAL: Starbucks "Coffee in a Can" in Japan and Taiwan

Corante - USA
Starbucks Japan has launched its first ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee in Japan and Taiwan. RTD coffee is big in Japan. Coke, for example, has done well with its Georgia brand of RTD.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Photographs of the cans of both Starbucks and Coke's coffee products are shown in the article. We prefer coffee hot, but there may be a niche for cold cans of it here in the U.S.

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GENERAL: He Doesn't Make Coffee, but He Controls 'Starbucks' in Russia

New York Times - United States
A. Zuykov is a lawyer for Starbucks in Russia. Only the Starbucks he represents brews no coffee and owns no shops. Its business consists of trying to sell its name back to the other Starbucks - the better-known company from Seattle.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: He says, "It's not fair, but it's legal." Hey, does anybody want to buy the Website name "Vend Buzz" or the newsletter service "VendBreak?" We don't want to sell either one, but would consider if the price is really right! (Just kidding, y'all! Both are too much fun for us to bow out.)

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VENDING: SBW to Implement VendingMiser(R) Program for Washington State's Largest Utility

Business Wire - San Francisco, CA, USA
USA Technologies announced today the closing a contract for the purchase of 5,000 VendingMiser(R) devices by SBW Consulting Inc., a leading energy management technology firm based in Bellevue, Washington.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This device should be a good selling point when soliciting a new vending account, especially in these days of conserving energy in all its varied forms. Congratulations, USA Technologies!

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VENDING: SuperCom Signs Deal with Pepsi

Ynetnews - Israel
Israeli company is to provide Pepsi with smart card systems for vending machines across Unites States. Deal is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Ah! Here's an article that is both interesting and more meaningful to most of our readers. It's from Israel, too. This is the same company that we reported on yesterday. (Read it in a moment.) Golly, they are fast workers!

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GENERAL: Coffee: A Writer's Best Friend

Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv, Israel
Now, it's about time I paid my proper tribute to the caffeine gods. First of all, coffee does not start out brown. Coffee berries are originally green and yellow in the first stages of growth. As they mature, they turn orange, red, and eventually dark crimson.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The writer goes on, sort of a lay person's primer on coffee production. It's not especially helpful, but at this hour of posting links, it's the best that we can find. Perhaps there will be something else later today.

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VENDING: Health Fix in a Vended Drink?

Mirror.co.uk - UK
Vending machines which dispense drinks boosted with personalised health supplements could soon be in schools.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: An interesting development in Germany may catch on there . . . and here, if it helps educate students to a healthier lifestyle.

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VENDING: Amy's Kitchen Selects e-Port(R) Cashless Vending

Business Wire - San Francisco, CA, USA
MALVERN, Pa.-- USA Technologies announced today that America's preeminent pre-packaged organic food company, Amy's Kitchen, had chosen its e-Port cashless transaction solution for vending machines to open a new distribution channel for its frozen gourmet food.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Cashless vending, like Topsy in Gone With The Wind says, "Ise just keeps growing." It took her a while, but she eventually "grew up." So it is with this new technology; it just keeps finding new locations to improve sales.

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VENDING: Leading Consumer Products Company Approves SperCaom's Cashless Vending Payment

Yahoo! News - USA
SuperCom's Vend-EZ(TM) Smart Card Reader wins trademark authorization, clearing the way for deployment in vending machines nationwide

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: There are other nice fish in the sea of cashless vending. Catch 'em before someone else does. (See above article.)

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VENDING: Vending Machines--the Koban (Security Guard) of the Future?

Asahi Shimbun - Tokyo, Japan
The omnipresent vending machine: A child is in danger from a stranger. He flips a switch on the remote hooked to his backpack. A nearby vending machine wails like a siren.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: The article describes a situation in which a solitary child needs protection. Devices are being developed in Japan to turn vending machines into security alarms operated by a handheld like a garage door opener. A machine of the future? What ever happened to the burgler alarm on Rowe's bill changers? Combining it with an auto's infrared door lock (both in the present) and presto! You have it. Better still, put a surveillance camera in the changer or vending machine to capture the intruder's photo. Perhaps, though, this has already been done here in America and Vend Buzz is not aware of it. Someone, please let me know: dan@vendbuzz.com.

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GENERAL: A US Icon Counts on China to Fll its Cup

Seattle Times - United States
The Seattle-based retailer Starbucks — so ubiquitous in the U.S. that some downtown areas boast multiple locations within a single block — has plans to replicate its U.S. growth in Asia, with China its rising star.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Remember, China has for many centuries been tea country; the U.S. switched from tea to coffee in 1773. Yet Starbucks has influenced more consumers to coffee than any other group in all those years. No doubt it will work that way in the Far East, too.

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GENERAL: Australia Taps into Japan's Discovery of Coffee

Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Japan's tea ceremony, and the mystical aura that surrounds it, is giving way to the smell of fresh roasted beans and the mastery of the barista

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This article relates directly to the above article on Starbucks' growth in the Chinese market. If Starbucks can change the beverage preference from tea to coffee among billions of Oriental tea consumers, the firm surely can move mountains . . . of coffee!

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GENERAL: Tanzanian Coffee Farmers Enjoy Fruits of Their Labor

IPP Media - Guardian - Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania
Thanks to a TechnoServe quality-improvement initiative, once-struggling farmers are seeing their coffee featured in the ’Tanzania Kilimanjaro’ brand being launched today by Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Yes, there are various companies and groups that are concerned about the plight of the coffee farmers and are willing to help them improve their standard of living, as well as the quality of their products. The following article is about "Fair Trade" coffee, too.

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GENERAL: Fair Trade Coffee Pioneer Questions Nestlé's Entry into Market: Equal Exchange Cites Multinational's 'Credibility Gap'

CSRwire.com - USA
West Bridgewater, MA -- Equal Exchange co-founder and co-director Rink Dickinson said "Fair Trade to us means open and honest relationships with producers and with consumers. Nestlé has failed on both fronts for decades."

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Yesterday we posted an article announcing Nestle's entering the "Fair Trade" initiative. As with almost everything, there are at least two viewpoints. Here's one that doesn't oppose the issue, but questions the intent of the coffee supplier.

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GENERAL: Robber Pays for Coffee With Stolen Money

Washington Post - United States
MEDFORD, Ore. -- Police are looking for a man who robbed a coffee stand and paid for his cup of java with some of the money he had just stolen.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: An honest robber? It makes me think of how some food processors cut the number of ounces in a package and still sell the package for the same price as before. Nothing illegal or dishonest, as long as the new contents measure is changed from the original. But it does play havoc with a recipe.

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COFFEE SERVICE: Fast-food Restaurants Spruce Up Coffee

USA Today - USA
Facing upscale coffee heat not just from Starbucks but from the likes of Dunkin' Donuts, 7-Eleven and ExxonMobil stores, fast-food giants are brewing up fancier java to compete.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: When our coffee service consumers can get specialty coffees at c-stores and fast-fooders, why would they settle for our regular coffees? Obviously, they don't mind paying the price for gourmet-type brew. Many will spurn free office coffee to go out for a better product . . . and pay a premium price. Is this a case for single-cuppers in the office? . . . along with the regular brew!

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GENERAL: Nestle Brings Market Muscle to "Fairtrade" Coffee

Reuters.uk - UK
For coffee drinkers overwhelmed by choice in the supermarket aisles, add this: Fairtrade coffee from the world's number one food group, Nestle. "Fairtrade" coffee, up to now has mostly been marketed by small groups trying to give impoverished farmers a bigger cut of the pie than food giants like Nestle, lands in British supermarkets with a Nestle brand in two weeks' time.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: A huge move by Nestle, as well as the others mentioned in the article, this eventually may impact U.S. markets.

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GENERAL: SUNY Offers Free Coffee in New Paltz During Exam Week

Poughkeepsie Journal - Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
College students burning the midnight oil to prepare for midterm exams are eligible for free coffee at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Here's a nice idea for a bit of PR for those operators serving universities and colleges with either coffee service or vended coffee. We consumed a lot of the brew many years ago when we did our late-night cramming for exams. We would have appreciated the gesture had there been either vending or coffee service back in pre-WWII days!

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VENDING: PepsiAmericas Provides On-Site Housing for Employees Left Homeless by Hurricane Katrina

Business Wire - San Francisco, CA, USA
Many of the people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina still have jobs with PepsiAmericas. The trouble is they don't have a home or a means to get to and from work. Recognizing this agonizing situation, PepsiAmericas, Inc. is setting up a mini-town in a warehouse facility spared by the storm so workers can begin rebuilding their lives.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: A splendid effort by PepsiAmericas which will aid both their employees and the company, we congratulate the firm.

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GENERAL: Revenues with Brazilian Coffee Exports Increased by 18.4% in September

ANBA - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Income was of US$ 206 million. In terms of volume there was a decrease in business by 23.6%. The information is from the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (CeCafé).

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: A 23 percent decrease in sales volume but an 18 percent increase in income. Lots of coffee people here in the States would like that to happen to them!

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GENERAL: Aramark Lands Clear Channel's National Coffee Contract

San Antonio Business Journal - San Antonio, TX, USA
Clear Channel Communications awarded Aramark Refreshment Services Inc. a national contract to supply coffee and filtered water for Clear Channel's 25,000 employees in more than 350 locations.

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GENEAL: Local Coffee Vendors Offer Some Hot Tips

Cincinnati.com - Cincinnati, OH, USA
Some coffee shops offer messages on their cups. Here is a sampling of coffeehouse cups found in Cincinnati.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: If you are offering "plain vanilla" (blank) cups, you may want to dress them up a bit, even if only with your company's name and logo.

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VENDING: French Fry Vending Machines DeepFfry to Order

CalorieLab Calorie Counter News - Las Vegas, NV, USA
No sooner have soda pop vending machines been banned in schools in California and other jurisdictions than the next challenge appears.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: They don't have to be placed only in schools. However, the original of the Ora-Ida French Fry vender was placed in a school in Arlington, VA, and we saw a long line of students waiting their turn. That was before Ora-Ida bought the patents from a real Frenchman, Rene Mariatti, over 20 years ago. We were the first to design an ad and write the operating manual for it. The machine has come a long way since then. You will see one, we are sure, at the NAMA Expo in Atlanta later this month.

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GENERAL: New P&G Campaign about New Orleans Coffee Plant

The Times-Picayune - New Orleas, LA - USA
The campaign uses a 30-second television spot to introduce a special "Help Rebuild New Orleans" Folgers can that will be available by November and urges consumers to donate to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Folgers officials mention that the plant in New Orleans is not yet back to 50 percent of capacity. We wish Folgers and its employees well in their recovery.

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GENERAL: Volcano Erution Hits Coffee Growing Area of El Salvador

peoplepc.com - News - USA
The ground was smoldering when soldiers arrived to assist in the evacuations. Falling ash had destroyed coffee crops and damaged trees in surrounding forests.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: At least two farmers were killed, others missing due to the volcano's eruption. Chunks of earth, boiling water and ash covered an area in the coffee tree region. We do not yet know of the extent of damage to coffee production, but are hoping that all the rest of the coffee farmers and their families are safe.

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GENERAL: Exhibit Offers Coffee, Tea Cups in Thought-provoking Designs

Get Out - Phoenix, AZ, USA
Are you among the throngs of Americans who jump in their cars and gulp hot java from a paper cup while cruising down the freeway?

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: This is about enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. It should be more than just a cup of brew; it should offer a bit of aesthetics, even the cup itself. Interesting. This new museum in Scotsdale, AZ, is worth a tour, especially for coffee or tea lovers. Enjoy!

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FOODSERVICE: Foodservice Operators Face a Balancing Act

Pizza Marketing Quarterly (PMQ) - USA
Everywhere you turn, the buzz is about healthy eating. Some foodservice operations have responded to Americans' concerns by increasing the healthy options on their menu. Others are trying to find the appropriate balance between flavor and healthy items.

• VEND BUZZ COMMENT: Although this article refers more to dineing out at restaurants than to vend/foodservice, some of the points made may be interesting. The roundtable discussion and the Internet survey make the point that diners are looking more to the dine-out experience than to choosing healthier foods. Some, however, want the option of healtheir food, especially if it is an attractive presentation and has real flavor. Regular vend diners are more likely to choose healthier fare in today's recognition of overweight and obesity.

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