SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY


Is it time to expect more from unattended coffee?


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offee vending has come a long way over the past 10–15 years. Drink quality has improved, payment is easier than ever and user interfaces are more intuitive. And yet, in


many locations, the self-serve coffee machine is still treated as the backup, the option people choose when there isn’t a café nearby, or when the queue at Starbucks looks emotionally overwhelming. It’s rarely the destination says Ariadni Skliri, product manager, Crane Convenience. That’s not because people don’t want coffee in universities, hospitals, supermarkets or workplaces. It’s because the unattended offer is still not always expected to compete in the same way attended retail does. And sometimes, we reinforce that ourselves. When coffee prices go up, labour is tight and service costs


increase, the industry response is often to simplify to protect margins or make installations viable. Machines are specified with fewer features, interfaces are reduced and options are removed. This makes sense commercially in the short term. But the reality is that the unattended format also has different


operational constraints. These machines must remain low maintenance. They must be easy to service. They must operate reliably without constant intervention. Introducing trends from retail, such as fresh ingredients requiring daily cleaning or more demanding iced beverage formats , is not always straightforward in an unattended environment. As a result, keeping up with consumer expectations in a format


that must remain autonomous is a genuine technical and operational challenge. It is also why operators are often eager for new capabilities, while manufacturers must take time to ensure that what is introduced can be maintained sustainably at site level. Appearance also plays a role here. In many environments, the


coffee machine is one of the first things a customer or employee sees when entering a space. If it looks dated or dirty, the perception of the offer is shaped before a drink is even selected. But it’s not just about how the machine looks on day one, it’s also about how the


22 | vendinginternational-online.com


interface evolves over time. The user experience should feel fresh, smart and current, without requiring someone to visit site with a USB stick every few years to update it or having to buy a fully new machine. At Crane, we believe first impressions matter, but so does the ability to keep them up to date sustainably. The generation after Gen Z , Generation Alpha, is growing up


expecting to get food and drink without speaking to anyone at all. In that sense, unattended coffee may already be closer to their preferred retail model than many attended formats, provided the experience can evolve with them. If unattended coffee is to compete, it needs to be able to evolve


at site level, not just through ingredient changes, but through how drinks are presented, promoted and experienced over time, without increasing the service burden on the people responsible for cleaning and restocking them. After all these years of development, the goal should not be for vending to be “good enough”. We need to believe that it can compete, before anyone else does.


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