Hayley Rose speaks of her ‘Finest Hour’, when SnackTime rolled into Northampton and Kettering NHS Trust…
BY IAN REYNOLDS-YOUNG
After twelve years in the business, Hayley Rose, Regional Operations Manager at SnackTime, reckons she’s enjoying her ‘finest hour’ in vending.
To be honest, though, it’s a ‘finest hour’ that’s already lasted months and shows no immediate signs of ending – and it’s all down to recent events at Northampton & Kettering NHS Trust.
A West Midlands girl born and bred, Hayley’s career began with Bunzl and over the years, she was based at Tamworth and then Loughborough, before settling at Erdington. It was a happy time for her, but – in common with so many of her colleagues – it came to an abrupt end when Bunzl Vending was sold off…
‘Following the take over, I just felt it was time to move on’, Hayley remembers, ‘but then I got a call from Steve Hartland, (SnackTime Sales Director), and he pulled me in and that was that!’
It was the start of good times…
‘It’s so exciting to be presenting vending solutions to customers that beg the question, ‘can you really do that?’, she says. ‘When we explain how our machines use telemetry and all the advantages that brings to a client, for instance; or how sales can be increased by offering more options to pay, clients are engaged and interested. They soon realise that we are proposing a service that can elevate the importance of vending to another level.’
‘When we looked closely at both the hospitals that come under the contract, Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital, we immediately saw that vending had huge potential for re-development. That’s why we proposed state-of-the-art technology, advanced telemetry, contactless payment and strong brand influences.’
Having joined SnackTime as an Operations Manager, Hayley was promoted to a role with Regional responsibilities. Currently, she manages operators based at both Corby and Newport; so it was only when the deal was done that her experience and skills came to the fore, ensuring that the installation went smoothly. It was some task: forty-three brand-new machines had to be installed, filled; fired-up and connected within two days. ‘We had a great team working on the project’, Hayley says. ‘They really were outstanding. On the one hand, they were all completely professional; on the other, they were all willing to ‘muck in’ to get the job done.
‘The client was over the moon’, Hayley says. ‘We’ve had feedback meetings that have felt like celebrations. The client was impressed with all our on-site staff and by how smoothly and unobtrusively the change-over went. Apparently, we’ve now got a reputation amongst the doctors and nurses for being ‘a happy and jolly bunch!’’
The client’s positive feedback not only refers to ‘service’: sales have mushroomed since SnackTime’s new machines hit the ground running. The most startling evidence of sales improvement comes with coffee; a fact that Hayley puts down to SnackTime’s partnership with Lavazza. ‘The brand name attracts customers first time and the great taste of the drinks brings them back again and again’, she says – and with a vend price of £1:50 for a 12 ounce latte, for example, repeat business is a very good thing…
The decision to offer multiple payment solutions is also paying off. ‘The thing about this hospital is that, like many others, it’s expensive to park your car and when you leave the car park, you can only pay by cash’, Hayley says. ‘I think in the past, many customers have reluctantly decided not to buy a coffee or a snack, because they wanted to hang on to their change: but now we can accept cashless payments, that particular obstacle has been effectively removed and sales are taking off.’
I’m reminded of a comment made by Steve Hartland in a recent blog. He said ‘consumers are much more savvy than most of us imagine. They take one look at obsolete technology and they think, ‘you’re having a laugh!’ and walk away.’
If the turnaround in vending sales in this particular NHS Trust are anything to go by, Mr Hartland has a point; but, as Hayley puts it so succinctly, ‘it’s great to look around and be able to think to yourself, ‘vending doesn’t get any better than this.’
