A fresh approach to selling fresh produce has been unveiled at the Overgate Centre in Dundee – a vegetable vending machine.
The new machine has been installed on the second-floor of the shopping centre and offers shoppers the chance to purchase bags of potatoes or trays of vegetables.
And while the vending machine may appear an odd fit amongst the Overgate’s mix of fashion and fast food retailers, it is proving an early success with shoppers.
Dundee resident Jill Darling said: “I do like the idea but I was hoping they would also sell individual portions of fruit.
“I think it might work out very well because there is nothing else nearby where people can buy vegetables other than Lidl.
“It’s a definite start and you know you are getting good products.”
Woohoo now we're vending in the @Overgate #Dundee pic.twitter.com/XLYHDCKdc3
— Grewar's Farm Shop (@farmvending) December 1, 2014
The vending machine has been created by the Grewar family, who own the East Ardler Farm outside Blairgowire, and launched Grewar Farm Vending to find a new way of selling fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Overgate machine offers bags of potatoes for £3 and a tray of vegetables and eggs – containing six free-range eggs, six baking potatoes, a swede, 1.25kg of onions and 1.25kg of carrots – all for £5.
Pete Grewar from Grewar Farming said: “It is a new venture but an exciting one.
“We’ve had a vending machine out at the bottom of the farm road for two months and it has been very popular but it is a quiet road so we thought we would try it somewhere with a bit more footfall and the Overgate were very keen”.
He added that if the vending machine is a hit with customers then more could be installed in Tayside and Fife.
Mr Grewar added that the vending machines will only sell fresh food produced locally.
I have 28 see through doors numbered 10 to 37, some doors have eggs behind them & some have tatties pic.twitter.com/louGNPDErv
— Grewar's Farm Shop (@farmvending) October 5, 2014
“We grow all the potatoes ourselves and if we don’t grow the other vegetables they will be sourced from Tayside or north east Fife. It’s great quality and has to be in season,” he added.
The vending machine will be in the Overgate for a three-month trial period but will put down roots permanently if it proves popular enough.
It is not the first unorthodox vending machine to be installed in Tayside and Fife.
A pie vending machine was installed in St Andrews to offer pastry-based sustenance 24 hours a day.
However, following complaints from the community council it now must close down at 2.30am on weekends.