June-July 2022 - 15

A
STRONG REBOUND IN SALES IN
all major food and beverage
categories through vending
machines and at micro markets
led to a 46% increase in 2021 over the
previous year's revenue, according to
Automatic Merchandiser's latest State of
the Industry report. Sales in the unattended
retail channel totaled $19.4 billion in 2021,
compared with $13.3 billion in 2020, when
vending and workplace refreshments
suffered their biggest downturn ever.
The vending industry's revenue was
initially expected to fully return to,
or surpass, 2019's benchmark revenue
high of $22.2 billion, after falling 45%
in 2020, the first year of the pandemic
that brought months-long lockdowns.
Conversely, lingering at-home work
patterns intensified by coronavirus
variants, rising inflation and supply chain
disruptions worked together to hinder a
stouter recovery in 2021, and continue to
do so this year. Vending operators tried to
beat back this perfect storm of headwinds
with price increases, which had a limited
impact due to key product shortages. In
the end, 2021 remained $2.8 billion below
2019's pre-COVID high-water mark.
U.S. vending operators and the
businesses they serve did their best to
adjust to the new economic realities of the
COVID world, with some success. Those
realities are profoundly affecting workplace
service providers more than any other
merchant class. And the new reality that
became evident in 2020 is a game-changer:
the performance of vending, micro
markets, coffee service and contract foodservice
is no longer tied to employment like
it had always been. Low unemployment
rates no longer translate to more people at
offices as key U.S. employers have transitioned
to remote or hybrid work models.
Last year, in fact, total job numbers
grew 4.6%, according to the Congressional
Budget Office, making 2021 the seventhfastest
year of job growth since the end
of World War II. In general, according to
CBO's relative pre-pandemic projections,
adjusted for population, the U.S. economy
Images: 210173180, 203618647, 182074824, 246635035 | Yuliya Pauliukevich,
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| 99066787 | Juliasart, 214639749 | Pavlo Syvak, 184540696 |
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CHART 3A:
Machines by location
● Manufacturing
● Offices
● Retail sites
● Hotels/motels
● Elementary,
middle,
high schools
● Hospitals,
nursing homes
4.5%
4.0%
4.0%
13%
6.0%
8.5%
37%
7.0%
13.0%
2020
19.5%
42%
5%
21%
4%
26%
CHART 3C:
Micro markets by location
2021
● Manufacturing
● Offices
● Retail sites
● Hotels/motels
● Elementary,
middle,
high schools
● Hospitals,
nursing homes
1%
8%
6.5%
10.5%
4%
7.5%
9%
21.5%
2021
26%
26%
2021
2021
70%
70%
28%
21%
21%
4%
4%
4%
23%
2021
72%
31.5%
2021
2020
60%
27%
2.0%
25%
● Universities,
colleges
● Correctional
facilities
● Military bases
● Restaurants,
bars, clubs
CHART 3B:
Number of
locations served
● Increased
● Remained the same
● Decreased
17%
2019
58%
70%
● Universities,
colleges
● Correctional
facilities
● Military bases
● Restaurants,
bars, clubs
CHART 3D:
Number of micro market
locations served
● Increased
● Remained the same
● Decreased
37%
37%
2020
2020
42%
42%
June/July 2022 * VendingMarketWatch.com 15
http://www.VendingMarketWatch.com
June-July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June-July 2022
