Planet Vending Editor Ian Reynolds-Young met SnackTime’s CEO Mark Stone to talk management, people and products and to reflect on the future of vending.
So, there was a red face in the office the morning after Planet Vending announced ‘It’s Uvenco!’ and the red face? It was mine. Y’see, I’d intimated that the new identity would be adopted with ‘immediate effect’ and the fact is, it’ll be December before the ‘Is’ are dotted, the ‘Ts’ are crossed and the transition finally begins. Oops…
So, not surprisingly, the first thing Mark wants to do is to set the record absolutely straight. ‘Throughout the course of 2015, it’s our intention to change our name to Uvenco plc’, he said. ‘This is the beginning of an international story for us. Obviously, our new investors and new partners from Russia are key to that and we’ll work together to build Uvenco’s market share globally.’
Strong and effective management will be critical to the success of the new venture and Mark is at pains to point out that, both above him and below him, he has a team capable of delivering on the potential by becoming a powerful new presence in the UK. ‘Our company in the UK has the benefit of a really strong and experienced board’, he said. ‘We have Boris Belotserkovsky, president of the Russian National Vending Association; Uvenco Group CEO Sergey Kornienko and Gillian White, the current CEO of the AVA.’ To say I get tested on my industry knowledge is putting it mildly.
His UK team is hand-picked and has ‘the right mix of experience, expertise and enthusiasm’ and all share the belief that, together, they are pioneers of a new, inter-connected era in automatic retailing.
‘Our plan this year is to launch as the third national operator in the UK, covering a wide range of solutions.’
His next comment, (admittedly delivered with a wry smile that challenges me to guess whether or not I’m being wound up), will ruffle a feather or three in Vendies week. ‘Our plan this year is to launch as the third national operator in the UK, covering a wide range of solutions.’ I should ask him which companies he regards as first and second in that category, but the chance escapes as Mark continues… ‘Our business structure enables us to do that. We have a company called Drink Master in Cornwall with a fantastic heritage and history, it started in 1963. We have a national franchise network Snack-in-the-Box partnered with global brand Mars and also our national operating platform. So we’ll put these together under Uvenco plc and it’s a really, really strong and attractive national offering.’
16,000 locations and just over 10,000 customers.
I ask how many machines and customers will constitute Uvenco plc’s park and the numbers may raise your eyebrows. ‘Across our entire machine base we have 16,000 locations and just over 10,000 customers’, Mark said.
He’s the first to admit that it’s not exactly been all sweetness and light for those who’ve worked for SnackTime during the troubles of the past few years. ‘It’s well documented that the business has been through some challenging times’, Mark said, ‘but we’re now coming out the other side and we’re at the start of a new journey. So, we looked at the Vendies as an opportunity. We didn’t think yet we were ready to compete for best operator, but we felt throughout this time that people in our business have been key to us coming through this and key to our future success, so we wanted to put forward the best route operator and also the best engineer.’
Imagine the delight on the SnackTime and Uvenco table’s at the Vendies as Dave Bryant and Lisa Blythe delivered a double of ‘Best Route Operator’ and ‘Best Service Engineer’. ‘It’s fantastic’, Mark said in the chaos. ‘I’m really pleased for both of them, but this news will spread through the business like wildfire and it’ll inspire everybody.’
We’re pitching exclusive concepts to high-end public sites
Strategically, as well as working with ‘one or two key machine suppliers’, Uvenco will offer a range of Unicum branded, Russian made vending machines in the UK. ‘As part of our relationship with Uvenco and obviously their manufacturer Unicum’, Mark said, ‘we have access to an exclusive range of machines in the UK and that’s brought a totally different dimension as to how we can pitch for new business. Already in the last three months, we’ve installed two-and-a-half million pounds worth of operated business, so the change has already happened: we’re pitching exclusive concepts to high-end public sites.
‘Key to our journey this year is technology’, Mark said. ‘We have a clear strategy that any machine that goes out is going to be 100% online. That’s key to our control, that’s key to our ability to retail and to be able to engage with the end consumer. Also, adding to that will be 24U, our payment app; we’ll introduce ApplePay; we’ll have the wave and pay options, so customers now will really be able to start to enjoy the benefits of a new exclusive machine range, more high end concepts and just an all-round high-quality, accessible offering.’
Does Mark think that SnackTime has a lot of catching up to do, I wonder? He isn’t about to name names, but he does acknowledge, gracefully, that the competition will be tough. ‘I think in vending a few companies have already thrown the challenge out there and we definitely want to raise the bar. We’ve seen what’s possible and we want to be pushing some boundaries and have some fun with it.’
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