Automatic_Merchandiser_February-March_2021 - 15

ing proactive measures to ensure
employee comfort and wellbeing to
encourage their return.
SAFE SURFACES

Troy Hinkle, owner of Norcross, GAbased Refreshment Works, is a 30-year
vending and office coffee service
veteran who has done just that. He
responded to the lockdown in March
that shuttered the majority of the
locations he served with a pioneering
solution by cofounding Touch Point
Science with Jim Loricchio, an antimicrobial expert.
Their next-generation Safertouch
films and SaferTape tapes, available
for sale to convenience service operators nationwide, provide layers of
protection for common touch points
to keep the surface free of microorganisms. They contain an optimized
antimicrobial agent designed to
provide continuous protection
for use in offices, breakrooms and touchpoints
throughout facilities.
In workplace
refreshments,
Safertouch antimicrobial touchscreen
overlays provide an effective barrier
for touchscreens on coffee brewers,
vending machines and kiosks. Hinkle
drew from his decades of experience
as an operator to develop Safertouch
antimicrobial film customized for
some of the most popular brewing and
vending equipment models.
For the Keurig B3000, for example,
antimicrobial film covers are included
for both the handle and buttons in sets
for 10 machines and turnkey kits are
available for Starbucks Serenade and
Newco CX Touch to name just a few.
" This keeps these coffee brewers
and vending machines cleaner, your
employees safer and helps reduce the
anxiety associated with returning to
normal everyday operations, " Hinkle
said. " It's not a silver bullet to bring

Touch Point Science's
SaferTape is a highly
visible solution for
surfaces like vending
machine trays,
emergency door
handles and
handrails.
Touch Point Science

people back, but we've deployed our
solution for the breakroom at every
customer we have that's open. Most of
our customers are not fully back if at
all and I would say that still holds true
for the rest of the industry. But we are
set up to safely protect surfaces when
more people return. "
SOLUTION PROVIDER

He emphasized that operators should
be proactively positioning themselves
to be viewed not only as workplace
refreshment providers, but as sanitation solution providers in the returnto-work landscape amid COVID.
" Who will they allow in? After
9/11, buildings eliminated who could
come in because of the security risk, "
he recalled. " Now it will be the same,

Touch Point Science offers turnkey
antimicrobial film covers for specific
machine models like the Starbucks
Serenade.
Touch Point Science

with limitations but because of a
health risk. I'd rather be a solution
provider in front, so I don't lose my
place to be allowed in. "
Hinkle provides Touch Point
Science's antimicrobial film and tape
for free to his customers as part of
his service to keep them safe when
deploying equipment. This has led to
requests from locations to deploy the
solution throughout the facility, which
the operator provides for a charge.
Beyond the breakroom, Safertouch
antimicrobial door handle wraps and
elevator button film covers are effective barriers and provide a visual cue
signaling the added layer of safety.
The film can be custom designed to fit
most door handles and large-format
sheets and rolls of Safertouch film are
available for further onsite customization or to fit unique uses.
SaferTape antimicrobial tape is a
flexible and highly visible solution for
surfaces like emergency door handles,
handrails and vending machine trays
and conforms to a variety of shapes
and irregular surfaces. The translucent
tape shows up best on light-colored
surfaces and the solid blue tape is
more clearly visible on darker surfaces.
All SaferTape and Safertouch products are effective for six months, are
easily removed and leave no residue.
Touch Point also offers awareness clings to draw attention to the
film and tape-protected surfaces
and reassure employees about their
safety with messaging like " We keep
it clean in between your cleanings "
and " Touch safer when you touch
the blue. " The clings come with a
QR code that can be scanned with
a phone and take the user to Touch
Point's website to learn more about
its products. There is also a " date of
application " field that can be updated
every time an operator makes a new
application of the product.
" To get people back to work, we
need to build confidence that the

February/March 2021 * VendingMarketWatch.com

http://www.VendingMarketWatch.com

Automatic_Merchandiser_February-March_2021

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