Final year Culinary Arts Management students recently presented the outcome of their New Product Development Challenge module to representatives of the Automatic Vending Association (AVA).ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
Vending is a dynamic market, currently worth around 1.865 Billion per annum with some 6 Billion vends per year.ÌýThe AVA partnered with UCB in the creation of the module where students were set the challenge of developing new vending products and ways of offering those products to the end consumer.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
Concepts had to take into consideration current issues including obesity, recycling of packaging, allergens and government regulations regarding salt and sugar levels.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
The teams were each given a specific vending market to focus on such as Business and Industry, Education, Health Care, Leisure, Staff Catering and Transport.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
After comprehensive market research the teams each developed a delicious range of healthier vending products such as authentic noodles meals, light sub sandwiches, gourmet hot dogs, cauliflower pockets, low fat pastries and snack boxes.