YoNaturals Solana Beach, California Vending Blog

Has it really gotten to this extreme?

Doctors at a recent British Medical Association conference heard a proposal from one of their members suggesting a punitive government tax on chocolate. Seems the popular snack food is suspected of seriously impacting the waistlines of too many Britons in a country reeling under an obesity epidemic almost as bad as America’s.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, over one-third of American adults are now clinically obese and a further one-third are overweight, according to Centers for Disease Control statistics.

In the end, it was decided that perhaps a British chocolate tax might prove meaningless and only serve to financially punish everyone for a preference which is, after all, almost universal among the populace. But the need to do something about obesity was recognized by conference participants as urgent. Britain is quickly following America into a bleak future in which obesity claims ever more adults and promises public health care expenditures at ever higher levels. Being that medicine in Britain is socialized — this is of particular significance to them.

We at Yo Naturals (YoNaturals) Corporation of San Diego, the market leaders in healthy vending, have made a business success by replacing junk food vending machines with our own “YoZone” machines, dispensing over 500 different labels of premium snack foods which all have two things in common: they surpass minimum standards for healthy nutritional content; and they win taste tests among consumers, hands down. In fact, many of the popular labels sold through YoNaturals machines are market leaders in their own right.

And a significant number even include delicious chocolate flavoring.

Contact YoNaturals today to see just how easy it is to join in replacing junk food with the latest in wholesome and natural nutrition — while adding appreciably to your revenues!

Did you know that YoNaturals, the leader in healthy vended snack foods and beverages, is also one easy to partner with in meeting the snack time needs of your staff and clients?

Our placement experts can site one of our popular YoZone food and drink machines just about anywhere that meets our minimums for traffic flow.  And we will install the machine free — and even pick up the costs associated with the machine’s day to day operation.  Your only requirement is to provide a power outlet and the space for the YoZone machine.

And we offer an especially fantastic program for schools and colleges.

Additionally, and unlike many other vendors, we do not insist on exclusive vending rights in the locations we serve.  If you wish to host a competing machine while at the same time hosting one of our YoZone, YoHungry or YoThirsty health vending machines — that will remain your option.  We’re confident that your consumers’ preferences will soon signal the superior value of our entire product line.

Our five hundred selections of healthy snack foods and beverages include many of the markets top picks, including popular labels like Clif Bars, Tazo Teas, Horizon Organic Milk, Roberts Pirates Booty, and Stacy’s Pita Chips.  We take pride in offering only products which meet state standards for reduced fat, sodium and sugar content.  And they all feature the sort of wholesome, delicious taste that recommends itself to any snack food lover.

Of course, we provide new clients with a guide to all the 500 products we sell and they can indicate to us which products they wish us to begin with.  As time goes by we will also provide your location with promotions and sampling events for new products we’ll be offering.

Contact us today to discuss your needs and to see which of our placement options would best suit you.

With one-third of our American children either overweight or clinically obese, school boards across the country are finally considering a more proactive approach to the problem.

Iowa is only the most recent state to now consider banning outright the operation of food vending machines during school hours, in hopes that fewer available calories will help keep susceptible children from overeating — especially those junk foods associated with low nutrient value but high caloric content. By taking on the problem in this manner school officials can expect resistance from not only sections of the food industry but also parents of kids who are yet untouched directly by the childhood obesity problem.

We all, of course, ultimately pay the cost for soaring obesity rates in the form of increased medical costs and work days lost to obesity-related illnesses. Especially when Medicaid or Medicare is called upon to cover the bills.

As the nation’s leading healthy vending provider, YoNaturals has stepped up its efforts to provide schools with a less draconian solution to poor nutrition. Our Healthy Vending Program provides nutrition options for school-goers while eliminating the junk foods that are the actual target of these measures. By offering carefully selected snack foods and beverages which meet strict state standards for nutritional content, we satisfy both camps in the school nutrition issue — those who want positive action, and those concerned that such action will overly limit legitimate access to vended foods and beverages.

And vending businesses nationwide are coming on board with the YoNaturals healthy vending plan. With over five hundred delicious snack selections which meet guidelines, and more added monthly, there is plenty to be happy about as healthy vending machines replace the old guard in school district after school district.

If your local district needs alerting to the solutions offered by YoNaturals, our marketing department would be pleased to share information with them.

With obesity a rising threat to Americans and their children, it’s unfortunate that some of the least healthy snack foods in the marketplace are ubiquitous in part because of processed food content subsidized by taxpayers.

Corn, wheat and soybean meal produced in abundance by America’s farmers with the help of special federal subsidies and regulatory policy initiatives — are adulterated daily by food processors with fats, salt and sugars to produce those infamous “junk” foods that are regularly (and rightly) excoriated by nutrition experts and the media.  These key, subsidized grains make up the bulk of what goes into producing cheap, unhealthy junk foods.

Of course, there’s nothing inherently unwholesome about grain.  It’s what the big food processors add to grain to make those fatty, additive-laden and addictive snacks that gives them the potential to be so harmful to health.  Concoctions of additives making low-cost, subsidized grains taste, in some cases, more appealing than nature’s finest natural goodness undercut the market for the whole grain and nutritious foods which could otherwise be expected to capture more of the market share in snack foods.

There’s a certain irony in federally subsidized grains ending up in low-cost but unhealthy food.  Perhaps the new administration in Washington will see fit to revisit American farm policy and fine-tune it to restore a more level playing field?

But then again — all this hasn’t deterred YoNaturals from continually building on our successes in supplying the health-conscious side of the market.  With now over five hundred choices of healthy snack foods and beverages being dispensed daily through our vending machines across the nation, we’ve proven that — even with subsidies — the junk food producers will face a continuing challenge when healthier snack choices are available to consumers.

It’s just that so much ill health, and its related medical expense — could be avoided with improved diets now.

“But dad — I really LIKE to eat those junky foods!  And anyway, all my friends eat them and THEY’RE not dying of obesity or anything!”

Discussions with my daughter often played out along these lines whenever I suggested to her that the pocket money we provide shouldn’t be used to undermine her health with unhealthy eating habits.

And high on the list of suspect influences were — almost unbelievably — the vending machines at her own middle school.

In my daughter’s case it took many months of gentle persuasion to convince her that good health really does to a large degree depend on proper nutrition.  And that those who suffer from poor health in old age in many cases have only themselves to blame.  Exercise, she seems to understand as a necessity.  But the nutrition thing somehow isn’t as readily conveyed, in an America with so many consumer choices.

And the situation certainly isn’t helped by the fact that there are so very many tasty junk foods out there to tempt her.  The task of her mother and me is to prove that there are some seriously yummy, and healthy, alternatives to the empty calories of junk foods.  And for this I must extend gratitude to YoNaturals and the recent arrival of one of their healthy vending machines at my daughter’s middle school.

Our daughter’s nutritional awakening began shortly thereafter — and didn’t involve all the high drama we feared it would.

I first noticed the YoNaturals vending machine while attending a parents’ night function at the school, and on a hunch decided to pop enough currency into the machine to go home with an assortment of healthy YoNaturals snacks.  Then, it was only a matter of keeping track of those which disappeared the fastest!

Successfully fighting the urge to point out to her (God forbid!) that she could now use her own pocket money to buy these healthy snacks herself at school — I let her make that connection herself, and was rewarded in less than a week with a heading-out-the-door request for extra money to buy school activity snacks “from machines that sell the same stuff at school — Dad!”  (Who would have guessed such machines existed?)

So now we at least know that some of the snack budget is being put to healthy use.  And we’ll certainly accept victory in whatever small portions it comes our way!

God bless whoever made a vending business out of supplying my daughter with healthy snack food choices!

We at YoNaturals would like to congratulate Barack Obama on his historic presidential victory last night in the Presidential election. Americans showed overwhelming support in the polls for his vision of change in this great nation, and we hope he is able to accomplish his goals.

We at YoNaturals vending are looking forward to solid growth as the U.S. gets back to business as usual. We have continued to expand exponentially despite the horrific economic conditions, and we plan to continue our success in what will hopefully be a prosperous economy under new leadership.

Congratulations Mr. Obama!

Food companies which produce junk foods are making much fuller use of the Internet to market their wares — and this has some parents upset.

A recent Business Week article outlined how sophisticated advertising tools used to market everything from clothes to cars, are being pressed into service to position junk food advertising before the eyes of those children and adolescents who frequent popular social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The worry is that such advertising bombards children to a degree which will likely generate unhealthy eating habits difficult or impossible to curb later in life.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that almost nineteen percent of kids between the ages of six and eleven are already overweight, and that the problem continues to worsen.  Critics of junk food advertising see such advertising as unhelpful.

They have won a level of cooperation from junk food producers in the past to limit the television advertising of junk foods.  Now critics feel they are witnessing the transfer of the nutrition battle from one venue to another — and one decidedly harder to monitor.  While not seeking an outright ban on unhealthy convenience foods, parents and others concerned with health would like to give a freer hand to choice in helping nudge the food marketplace toward a more healthy direction.

The success of YoNaturals, of course, is one clear indication that consumers will respond to healthier eating options, given a level playing field.  YoNaturals has seen its monthly revenues regularly increase — despite the general downturn in the American economy and in the face of this onslaught of junk food Internet advertising.

Food industry spokespersons and others remind us that personal nutrition choices remain indeed just that, and that in the case of children parental oversight is preferable to increased governmental regulation of the marketplace.

Whichever path to better public health is eventually decided on — may it be a mercifully short and successful one.

Over the last two years YoNaturals has made tremendous strides with the introduction of healthy vending machine products in schools. These healthy organic and natural snacks help the schools make positive steps toward improving the quality of the snacks they serve. They have helped schools in their quest to provide healthier vending products while at the same time encouraging consumption of natural and organic foods.

In just two years YoNaturals has accomplished what many companies before it could not—teaching schools how to provide healthier snacks in their vending machines. It may not take care of all the problems, but it’s a start. YoNaturals is attempting to put a stop to the problem of childhood obesity by eliminating any excuses the schools may have for not trying to do something about it. It’s a serious problem, but in the past two years YoNaturals has been working to help everyone understand the importance of making healthy eating a part of everyday life. It isn’t something you can choose to do when it’s convenient; healthy eating is something that must be a part of your life every day of the year.

Our to change what our children eat for snack when they are in school is going to make a huge difference in the way they eat at home. By teaching them to eat healthy snacks we also teach them the importance of eating healthy meals as well. The choices you make for yourself and your children will make the difference in your future and help our nation as a whole beat the problem of childhood obesity. The efforts of YoNaturals will hopefully send a global message of the importance of eating natural and organic food and snacks. Childhood obesity is not limited to the United States, although we do have a larger percentage of obese children than most other parts of the world due mostly to poor eating habits.

How do we do it? What is the answer to childhood obesity? The answer lies partly in making sure children have vending machines with healthy snacks. It is not the only answer, but it is a step in the right direction.

YoNaturals recently launched a new vending program (http://www.healthclubvending.com) specifically designed for Health Clubs and Gyms which allows these locations to offer a wide variety of best-selling fitness related snacks and drinks without worrying about theft or taking time away from staff. The innovative program solves many of the usual problems that health clubs encounter when trying to offer members and visitors foods and beverages that enhance the workout experience, quench thirst and revive energy.

Traditionally, snack and drink offerings in gyms have been notoriously susceptible to theft, from members as well as staff! In order to thwart member “sampling” of products, a full-time staff member has been required to attend the station at all times; and there is nothing that prevents this staff member from helping him or herself to a drink or protein bar either! Regardless, the system required paying a staff member for the sole purpose of providing foods and drinks to members.

The YoNaturals Health Club Vending machine allows gym owners to offer these products almost without any effort and attention whatsoever. No additional staff is required, product restocking is simple and quick (online ordering and delivery), and the gym gets to keep all the profit! The program allows the owner to lease the machine with no money down and low payments with flexible terms.

The machines also allow use of debit/credit cards and even prepaid member cards, all of which are incredibly convenient for the member and have been know to increase product purchases by as much as 30%.

The YoNaturals Health Club Vending Machines are a fantastic opportunity for gym owners to provide additional services to their members and visitors while worrying less, eliminating theft, and not taking time away from staff.

More Information on YoNaturals Health Club Vending.

YoNaturals Vending - San Diego, California

Hard times are upon us, and in all likelihood, probable worse times lie ahead. The stock market is plummeting to depths not seen since the Great Depression, and the seemingly invincible giants of the financial industry are crumbling under the weight of our current recession. Innumerable homeowners stare incredulously at foreclosure notices while others watch their 401k’ retirement plans diminish. Banks and financial institutions aren’t lending, consumers are refusing to spend their disposable income and the economy is screeching to a halt.

But amidst the crashing waves of the reverse pendulum swing, a few resilient industries are standing firm and even prospering; one of the notables is the Healthy Vending industry. None can deny the unstoppable momentum of the organic food movement, which has grown 20 times over in the last two decades to become a $20 billion dollar industry. It seems that the increasingly health-conscious American population is more than willing to continue shelling out a few extra bucks to protect their health, maintain their weight and increase their overall well being.

Low-cost consumables in general seem to be virtually unaffected by the economic crisis we are currently experiencing. While consumers aren’t buying as many expendable luxuries, they’ll still quiet their rumbling stomach by sparing a dollar or two on the nearest vending machine. And health conscious people in particular are always willing to expend a little extra cash to maintain their lifestyle.

The vending industry has been a stable and ongoing source of cash for decades. In the midst of deflating investments and crumbling retirements, there has never been a better time to take a look at this resilient and consistently successful source of income.

But take it one step further and reflect on the nexus of these two powerful market forces, which are quickly forming into one unstoppable juggernaut. Combine an ever more health-savvy population with increasingly available nutritional knowledge and what do you get? Consumers who demand healthy alternatives and are pressuring governments, schools and businesses to make a change; and they are listening. Organic aisles in grocery stores are continually expanding, junk foods and sodas are being banned from schools across the nation, and businesses are adapting to these demands by increasing the number of healthy options they provide and via workplace wellness initiatives.

Together this means that there has never been a better time to consider investing in your own healthy vending business. It is a tangible business that requires some effort on your behalf, but you will certainly reap the rewards long-term. People want health and convenience, and slightly higher prices are not affecting the sales of these low-price goods in this economy.

Now could be the time to make an investment that provides stable, consistent “cash” dividends for many years to come. The vending industry has proven itself to be a winner for over twenty years, and healthy vending is rapidly becoming the rising superstar. An industry with a proven track record combined with the evolving consumer trend towards health and well being means there are plenty of dollars to be made in this multi-billion dollar industry.

In times like this, our health and well-being are more important than ever,” says Mark Trotter, CEO of YoNaturals. “Snack and drink options are amongst the lowest cost choices we make daily in our diets. YoNaturals believes that people will make the right choices! That’s why we are expanding quickly in a school, office building or health club near you. Simply put, we get it!”

Contact YoNaturals to find out how you can capitalize on one of the soundest cash return investments available during these uncertain times.

Author: Philip Segal