Vending Machines Selling Pizza, Sandwiches and Much More Come to East Lansing
Pizza, breakfast sandwiches and burritos are just a few of the food options that will be available in vending machines in East Lansing.
VendHubb has opened a new storefront on M.A.C. Avenue in downtown East Lansing. The store features 10 vending machines: a pizza machine, a hot food machine, a machine that sells over the counter medications and other household items, four cold beverage machines and three snack machines.
Couple Jennifer and Robert Slocum came up with the idea to start VendHubb when they were on a trip and saw a pizza vending machine. From there, the concept expanded to include a variety of machines.
“We love it down here,” Jennifer Slocum said. “I love being around all the kids, it’s fun.”
Located at 205 M.A.C Ave., next to Potbelly, the new business offers hot, 12-inch pizzas that can be ready in just three minutes. Built within the vending machine is a freezer that stores 69 frozen pizzas. The pizzas are cooked using a combination of a convection oven, microwave and UV rays. Robert Slocum noted that the UV rays keep the pizza crispy.
“If you just microwave something sometimes, if it’s bread, it gets wet,” he said. “It doesn’t come out that way because it’s cooked three different ways.”
Cheese pizzas are sold for $13 and pepperoni for $14. Eventually, the Slocums would like to offer Detroit-style deep dish and veggie pizzas.
Located in the back of the shop sits a hot food vending machine. This machine includes a refrigerator that stores chilled items like chicken potstickers, beef and bean burritos, cookies, breakfast sandwiches and muffins that take about 90 seconds to cook. Because the inventory is chilled rather than frozen, it is changed frequently to ensure freshness.
“We set it [for] a shorter period of time than what the recommendation is,” Robert Slocum explained. “It’s still fresh, what they recommend, because they tested it a thousand times, but we still shortened it a couple days. We just want to make sure it’s real fresh when the kids get to it.”
The Slocums said they did extensive research to determine the inventory for their vending machines. VenHubb’s machines offer 68 different drinks, including energy drinks like Alani Nu, Red Bull, C4 and Celsius, alongside sodas, sparkling waters and coffee. For snacks, they stock candy bars, chips, granola bars, trail mix and crackers, among other options.
To the right of the entrance sits the shop’s single non-food machine. It is stocked with everyday essentials like mini toothbrush and toothpaste packages, Tide To Go pens, laundry detergent, eye drops, deodorant, lip balm, condoms and over the counter medicine like Tylenol.
VendHubb keeps long hours to accommodate students who need a fast meal before class or a late-night snack after the bars close. The shop is open Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to midnight; Wednesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m.; and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jennifer Slocum added that VendHubb might open earlier on days Michigan State University has big sports games to accommodate tailgaters.
For updates, customers can check VendHubb’s Facebook and Instagram pages.