Do Men and Women Snack Differently? What the Vending Data Shows

An effective vending program does a great job of aligning properly with the preferences of the people it serves. In your office building, that means presenting vending machines (or micro markets) that are filled with precisely the types of products your employees want to consume.

Dialing in the perfect product mix is going to take some trial and error. But you can also look at the demographics of your staff to get an initial understanding of what might be popular. That includes looking at the differences in snacking habits between women and men. Understanding how gender plays into this equation will go a long way toward helping you hit the target with your vending choices. 

Want to put an expert team on your side to optimize your vending machine program? You’ve landed in the right place. InReach is the perfect partner for all of your vending needs, and getting started with us is as simple as making a phone call today. 

Some General Findings on Snack Habits

Before we talk about differences in snacking habits between guys and girls, one thing needs to be said right from the start: Trends or patterns can only take you so far. There are always exceptions to every rule, and countless variables come into play with human behavior. So, even if gender differences are evident in the broader context, they may not manifest in the same way among the people in your building. 

Against that backdrop, we can examine the general trends in how men and women seek and enjoy a snack. First, men tend to look for larger snacks than women. They are also more likely to choose high-protein options, such as beef jerky. Energy drinks are also typically purchased and consumed more by men than women. 

On the other side, women are often looking for lighter, healthier options. Things like fresh fruit, yogurts, and salads are popular among this demographic. Their preferred drinks favor the healthier side as well. When a vending machine or micro market offers grab-and-go fresh items such as salads and sandwiches, those are also more likely to be purchased by women than men. 

That’s not to say that women only purchase low-fat or low-carb items, however. According to a Mintel survey, half of female consumers order bakery items and cookies as a snack, compared to only 40% of male consumers. 

The Importance of Data-Driven Vending

So, do men and women have different food preferences? Yes, it seems that women and men do snack differently, broadly speaking. Of course, that could likely be said about any two groups of people. Your marketing team might snack differently than your sales team. Or, your older workers may have different snack habits than the younger cohort. What’s important isn’t so much the differences themselves as much as how you accommodate those differences with strategic stocking practices. 

The traditional approach to stocking a vending machine was pretty simple. Each machine was loaded up with a selection of products in the hopes of appeasing as many people as possible who walked by. There would be some candy bars, some bags of chips, and maybe some crackers. This approach wasn’t very strategic or efficient, but there weren’t many better options available.

Today, with access to unprecedented amounts of data, we can do better. Smart vending machines can capture information about consumption habits, and the product mix in a machine can quickly be dialed in to ensure happy snacking. There’s no longer any reason to have a machine parked in your building that isn’t optimized for the best possible results. 

Designing a Balanced Snack Ecosystem

Balance is the name of the game when building a snack program for your office. You want to cater to as many people in the building as possible, and that means having a diverse set of options available in your machines or markets.

It’s smart to think about this process as building a thriving ecosystem around snacking. An ecosystem isn’t a static thing; rather, it’s always changing, growing, and evolving. Sure, you’ll start out with a fairly basic selection of choices, but that’s just the baseline. As soon as data starts to roll in, the results will improve steadily. 

Some of these changes might wind up falling along gender lines. If your office has significantly more women than men on staff, for example, favoring those items that women tend to prefer could be the way it goes. But these choices will be driven by data first and foremost. Using analytics to inform the product mix you present to your people is going to lead you directly to ideal outcomes. 

Inclusive Snacking by Design

Every snacking program should be as inclusive as possible. There are plenty of food allergies and lifestyle choices to consider and accommodate. You’ll never be able to stock foods that every single person in the building can eat, so the key is to lean into diversity and make sure that everyone has some options that fit their needs. 

Vegetarian and vegan options are an obvious starting point when talking about inclusion. But it goes further than that. Today, there are many people who follow a gluten-free diet or who want to have keto-friendly snacks close at hand. You might also want to consider some products that align with the cultural values and traditions of some of your workers. The more you can do to make everyone feel included and at home, the better. 

Smart Vending Makes a Huge Difference

Countless office buildings still have traditional vending machines that have been occupying the same spot in the hallway for decades. Upgrading to smart vending machines is one of the biggest changes you can make to improve the whole experience of getting a snack during the workday. 

A smart snack vending machine simply aligns better with the rest of the world as we know it today. Everyone is used to interacting with touchscreens, making contactless payments, and having products customized to match their tastes and preferences. You’ll see a dramatic increase in the rate of people (both male and female) using your vending machines when you upgrade to smart equipment. 

There is also the matter of reducing waste that needs to be mentioned here. With smarter stocking strategies, fewer food items will wind up spoiling and going to waste. That’s better for both the environment and your bottom line. 

InReach Vending Services Hit the Spot

In the end, the group of people working in your office is unique to your company. Each individual has their own tastes and preferences, and you’ll need to monitor your vending machine business closely to see what works and what doesn’t. 

You don’t have to do it alone, however. The experienced pros at InReach will lean on years of experience, along with some high-tech tools, to help you dial in the product mix perfectly. With each passing week, your vending program will get better and better, and the satisfaction your employees get from the program will continue to climb. 

Proudly part of Sodexo, InReach offers global reach, customized attention, and a large, growing buying network that keeps food costs low and quality high. Contact us today to learn more.