A new start-up is adding vegan vending machines to different locations around the company in a $2.2 million move.
The makers of the leCupboard vegan vending machines plan to take vending machines to new heights and will not just have the regular crisps and chocolate bars that are often found in the convenience machines. They want to have pre-prepared meals to make it easier for vegan people to find plant-based food on the go, including chia pudding breakfast cups, lentils, and courgette noodle bowls with walnut pesto according to Eater San Francisco.
The company want to turn the food system on its head and provide food in places where these types of healthy food are currently unavailable, such as in hospitals and offices. The company will begin by launching two vegan vending machines in San Francisco, before looking to roll out to strategically considered locations further afield.
leCupboard plans to include advanced technology in the vegan vending machines which will help consumers to decide on the best meal to fit their diet and hopes to one day partner with health insurance companies to make the meals more affordable.
Lamiaâ Bounahmidi, Moroccan founder and CEO of leCupboard, explained: “The goal is to reconnect preventative healthcare with food. Everyone is going around talking about food as maedicing, but there is more to it than going organic or eating vegetables.”
LeCupboard is the customer-facing section of Bounahmidi’s company Looly, a public benefit corporation which boasts over $2 million in funding.