Bramat – a vegetable vending machine
At the beginning of October, the BRAMAT vegetable vending machine – the first of its kind in the Czech Republic – went into operation in Brno-Řečkovice. It allows residents of the city to buy fresh local vegetables 24 hours a day. This week it was covered by the news programme Události v regionech on ČT24. You can see more in the video below.
The operator sees the vending machine primarily as an additional service for people. Not only does it give city residents the chance to buy fresh, locally sourced vegetables, it also enables local growers to sell their produce easily and directly to consumers. The vending machine is designed for round-the-clock vegetable sales. Air conditioning maintains a constant temperature, and the control system monitors the stock of pre-packed vegetables, which it also shows on the machine's display. The operator therefore knows when a particular vegetable needs restocking. Our payment technology is linked to the control system as well, so once you have selected your produce on the machine's display, you can easily pay by card too. We have integrated the iUC180 unattended payment terminal into the vending machines, communicating directly with the control system via the ECR2 protocol. This payment terminal enables contactless payments without PIN verification, as the amounts here do not exceed CZK 500. The vending machine on Kolaříkova street in Brno currently offers potatoes, onions and garlic from local growers. The range can of course be extended according to the season and current customer demand. There is also interest in a so-called soup vegetable pack.
DriConSta s.r.o., the company that manufactured and operates the vending machine, plans to roll it out to other districts of Brno. Another machine will go into operation in Brno-Kohoutovice in the near future. Looking ahead, the company is also considering renting or selling its BRAMAT machines to individual farmers, for whom they would fully replace direct sales at markets or unprofitable sales to supermarket chains.
It certainly will not end with Brno. In time, you will find these popular vegetable vending machines in other towns and cities too, complete with the option of card payment. We enjoy connecting our payment technologies with new, innovative projects, and BRAMAT will certainly not be the last. If you are planning an interesting project and would like to add card payment to it, do contact us. More information can be found in the Vending section.
