World’s First Vending Machine Café Comes To Singapore

Usually, when you stop to get food from a vending machine, you’re going for a quick — if slightly unhealthy — snack. But at the world’s first vending machine café, you can get full meals, including everything from pasta to chicken, hot and ready to eat in mere minutes.

VendCafe, as the new dining option is known, is the equivalent of a shrunken food court, according to a report from Yahoo. The café is filled with vibrant orange “Chef in Box” vending machines, that can pump out a wide range of choice within minutes.

It’s the latest in a new trend that is seeing new types of items become available to consumers at vending machines everywhere from the U.S. to Singapore. As profiled in the latest PYMNTS.com Unattended Retail Tracker, vending machine operators around the world are ditching the bags of chips and candy bars for new offerings, including healthy food, electronics and even library books.

According to the report, Singapore’s VendCafe is a truly unattended location. The café has no staff and is attended to only by machines. It’s also open 24 hours, allowing consumers to grab a quick bite to eat whenever their hunger strikes.

All told, the VendCafe offers dinners dozens of menu choices, including 30 meals that cost less than $5, such as seafood, curry, pasta and vegetarian options.

For now, the world’s lone VendCafe can be found in Sengkang, located in northeastern Singapore. And it may not be there for long. The shop is currently set to be open for just one year, though it may be extended based on customer demand.

To download the June edition of the Unattended Retail Tracker^TM, powered by USA Technologies, click the button below…

About The Tracker

The PYMNTS.com Unattended Retail Tracker^TM, powered by USA Technologies, tracks the movers and shakers in this space and ranks and scores the providers using this new channel to respond to changing consumer needs. We’ve sliced this ecosystem into the distinct categories that make sense for our audience: Food & Beverage, Vending, Service Vending, Remote Retail, Parking and Restaurant & Hospitality.