Quad City students targeted in vending test

Dairy Field, Oct 2002

MATCH

Milk, cheese and yogurt machines take school vending tests to a new level.

Smart snacking will be easier for Quad City area students this fall as 17 vending machines with milk, cheese and yogurt are placed in middle and high schools as part of a national pilot test.

The Midwest Dairy Association (MDA) and Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), on behalf of the nation's dairy farmers, have partnered with Davenport, Iowa-based Swiss Valley Farms to place vending machines in Davenport, Bettendorf, North Scott, Pleasant Valley and Rock Island, Iowa-based schools. The black-and-white spotted machines, which serve dairy products exclusively, were installed in schools at the beginning of the school year.

Swiss Valley Farms, a long-time provider of school milk for districts in the Quad City area, began working on getting the machines into schools late last spring. The dairy will maintain the machines and help monitor data to determine their success and potential future sales.

"We're excited to be involved with this pioneering test that provides a healthy vending alternative in schools," says Gene Quast, chief executive officer for Swiss Valley Farms. "We are now able to provide teens with nutritious dairy products throughout the day, when and where they need it most."

According to Kevin Stiles, vice president of marketing and industry relations for MDA, the vending project is a logical "next step" in milk promotion. "Based on positive results from our earlier school vending tests with milk beverages, we thought it would make sense to offer other dairy products, such as cheese and yogurt, to give students even more healthy snack choices," he says. "The results of this test will be pivotal in getting other all-dairy machines in schools nationwide, as well as attracting other processors like Swiss Valley Farms to make it happen."

Stiles notes that programs like the vending project, partially funded by the dairy checkoff, are one reason kids' fluid milk consumption has reached its highest level in 10 years. "Annual fluid milk consumption among kids ages 6 to 12 reached 28 gallons per capita last year," he stresses. "It's an important consumer audience because they represent 20 percent of current milk beverage consumption and 100 percent of our future milk drinkers."

This is the first test of its kind in the nation for the milk, cheese and yogurt machines. Data will be collected to measure vending machine sales and to determine the demand for a variety of dairy products purchased through the machines.

A five-month milk-only vending test completed in 2001 demonstrated a strong interest from students in vended milk and revealed that students would choose milk over other beverages such as juice and soda if it were available when, where and how they want it.