The machine was installed Friday, Sept. 17, and will be there for two months as part of a national packing and marketing campaign mounted by “A Bunch of Carrot Farmers,” a group led by Bolthouse Farms in Bakersfield, Calif.
The veggie vending marked the launch of the first-ever marketing campaign for baby carrots, which is getting its start in the Greater Cincinnati area and in Syracuse, N.Y., the two national test markets. In addition to Mason, the company also is testing a vending machine at a school in Syracuse.
Bolthouse Farms provided the vending machine and covers its operating costs, and the high school gets to keep the profits from the machine, according to Tracey Carson, the district’s spokeswoman.
The company installed vending machines in the two schools and stocked them with 300 bags of baby carrots at 50 cents a bag.
Reaction was decidedly positive at Mason High, according to George Coates, the school’s assistant principal.
“It hadn’t been an hour after they filled the machines, that we had students coming in and purchasing baby carrots,” Coates said.
While Cinde Gorbandt, director of dining services for Hamilton City Schools, believes that a carrot vending machine is a catchy idea, it’s not the kind of thing that would work well for the students she serves.
“We don’t do much with the ala carte service because we have so many children on free and reduced lunches that we have to focus on plate lunch service,” she said. “We don’t have any vending machines that kids can use.”
The recent completion of new elementary schools, however, gave Hamilton an opportunity to help shape tastes by offering a food bar system where they can provide a variety of vegetables as part of a plate lunch program.
“One of the surprising things we found out last year was that kids love cucumbers,” she said. “Who knew?”
Edgewood City Schools officials say they are intrigued by the all-carrot vending machine now in Mason High School.
“I’m going to be seeing and meeting with the foods services director at Mason this Friday ,” said David Jewell, Edgewood’s foods services director. “I’ll ask about the pluses and minuses, and what they’ve experienced with it so far.”
View the “Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food” commercials at www.tinyurl.com/tinycarrots.
Staff Writers Richard O Jones and Andy Sedlak contributed.
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