Frequently Asked Questions about the
Healthy Vending Machine Program

Why is Stonyfield Farm changing its Healthy Vending program?
Stonyfield Farm is a yogurt company; we’re not in the vending business and don’t want to be. Yet, that’s where we found ourselves. We’ve been overjoyed by the demand for our healthy vending machine program – but we’ve also been overwhelmed! Unfortunately, we can’t accommodate all requests for free machines, but we have come up with another way to help your students make healthier choices. By providing this online Do-it-Yourself Vending Machine Make-Over, you’ll have all the tools necessary to begin offering healthier snacks to your students (and employees) immediately.

What should we do if our school doesn’t have a vending machine?
You can purchase or finance vending machines directly. By making a direct purchase, your school eliminates the middle-man and is able to retain all profits from the machine’s sales. There are two types of machines that we used for our pilot program:

• The Crane Refreshment Center 1 is a refrigerated bottle and food combo machine from Crane Merchandising Systems (www.cranems.com). The electrical support needed for the Crane machine is 115 Volts and 15 Amps. The Crane machine is 72” (H) X 39” (W) X 40” (D).
• The refrigerated AMS-39 Bottle & Food Combo from Automated Merchandising Systems (www.amsvendors.com) needs 120 Volts and 15 Amps. The AMS machine is 72” (H) X 39” (W) X 35” (D).

How much does each machine cost?
The Crane Refreshment Center 1 and AMS-39 Bottle & Food Combo currently retail for $4,000 to $5,000, plus applicable state tax and freight. Prices vary and are subject to change without notice. Please contact Crane or AMS respectively for quotes and service contract details.

What should we do if our school can’t afford to buy one?
Once you’ve identified the machine that will best fit at your school and have determined the cost to finance or purchase it, why not hold a community fundraiser? Perhaps the local Lions or Rotary Club would be willing to donate the full cost? Perhaps the hardware store or supermarket is interested in making a donation? Students could fundraise in a number of fun and interesting ways. They could shovel snow, hold a car wash, work with a local nursery to have a plant sale—and any proceeds from the events go towards the purchase of the vending machine. They could hold a recycled can and bottle drive, plan a basketball marathon, or a Read-A-Thon, with pledges based on how many books students read. For more fundraising ideas, check out these websites (not affiliated with Stonyfield Farm): www.fundraiserhelp.com and www.school-fundraisers.com.

Our school has vending machines and we want to make them over, but where do we buy the organic and all-natural snacks on the Stonyfield Farm recommended product list?
Check with your current vending provider to see if they are able to offer these snacks. More and more organic and all-natural snacks are becoming available through mainstream food distributors. Still having trouble? We know that all products are available from United Natural Foods Inc. (www.unfi.com).

We want to do all of this for my school, but we don’t have a vending provider. Where can we find the time to do it ourselves?
Everyone is busy! We know you don’t need more on your plate. To find a vending provider in your area, simply open the phone book. You may find a company willing to purchase/locate machines at your school for a portion of the profit. The downside is that you give up some of the money – but the upside is you don’t have to worry about ordering products, stocking or maintaining the machine.