Cook is on track to meet its target of launching 15 vending machines for its ready meals by Christmas, The Grocer understands.
The B Corp business announced in March that it was implementing the new machines, which are manufactured by smart vending operator Mother.
Cook is leasing the machines from Mother for £395 plus VAT on a monthly basis.
The frozen food specialist said that though it was too early to gauge any meaningful sales data from the launch, feedback from the ‘test and learn’ phase had been insightful.
Cook is currently seeking to place machines in different markets and scenarios, including lunchtime and after-hours, as well as a take-home option at the end of the day.
So far, the business has placed three vending machines in locations across London, including a student accommodation block, a live-work residential building in Canary Wharf and at a law firm in the City.
Each machine has the capacity for around 140 meals and stocks 15 varieties of Cook’s signature dishes.
“Understanding buying behaviour in each sector is going to be key in honing our model,” said Cook chief sales officer Chris Portwood.
“For example, 15% of purchases in the student accommodation happen between midnight and 5am, with macaroni cheese being a firm favourite during this time.
“In the City, as anticipated, there is more of a lunchtime and take-home buying pattern with lighter meals sold.”
The business is now focusing on placing machines in hospitals, railway stations and more offices, along with building relationships with contract caterers.
“It’s a bit like drilling for oil at the moment,” said Portwood. “We are testing as many different scenarios as possible in order to see where we should focus our energy going forwards. We firmly believe that all these channels have potential as a starting point.”
Last month, Iceland Foods announced it was trialling its own Mother smart vending machines to sell Myprotein frozen ready meals in gyms.
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