Ask HN: Would you use a fruit vending machine?

Have seen vending machines which steadily rotate and allow individual compartments to unlock, with all manner of different food items in them, but especially including apple and banana as options.

Bananas in particular are very good at visually communicating their level of freshness and ripeness, which is why this format works ok for them. I can see strawberries being less successful.

The answer is yes, and people already use them every day. Would I ever own one is a completely different issue. A typical snack location would probably only sell a single digit number of pieces of fruit in a given day, and the margins there are low (if even positive). A vending route operator can replace a dozen bottled waters in the time it takes to replace a single piece of spoiled fruit, and (in the case of the drinks) he can neglect his machine for two months with little impact to profitability, something he can't do when there are perishables involved.

I'd consider it much more appealing to engage in a 3x-per-week direct fruit delivery at the office (with a monthly fee). You're paying for the labor either way.

Unless it was an execution that allayed my fears for the cleanliness of the fruit and also where it was sourced from (organic), I would not. And I can't envision a cost-effective solution to this that would provide the fruit to me at a reasonable price point.

My two cents : My grandfather runs a small vending machine business. A few years back in France, snack vending machines were forbidden in schools in France. My GF replaced the snacks with fresh stuff (fruits, healthy juices, ...). The problem was not so much the feasability than the fact that students wouldn't be ready to pay for healthy stuff. He ended up removing the machines, relocating them to companies and putting the snacks back in.

IMHO the idea might be interesting, but you probably have to make it "cool" to buy your products, which means build a real identity around your stuff.

I might use one if it was inside a building and associated(/partnered?) with a business within that building. The main reason for this is I'd perceive them to be more invested in maintaining the freshness of the fruits more than some outside company (you don't ever want your employees/customers/yourself to have to deal with smelling or looking at spoiled fruit while working).

I think the only real markets I can personally see for this are within schools (more college and university level), within businesses, and maybe some malls appealing to the organic crowd.

Japan is vending machine crazy. I know they do sell fruit in this manner. You might want to research their solutions.

On a related note, how about considering instead the means of small scale food production in the urban environment, eg. installation and/or maintenance of rooftop gardens, or indoor hydroponic gardens in less hospitable climates?

yes, but it's gotta be more than a banana dispenser. make sure it comes with a little bag I can use for the remainder of my food, until I find a trash can. make that bag look good.

I haven't ever seen a fruit dispenser machine though where I live.

We have fruit (~apple) vending machines in our company and are very popular. (Hungary)

Maybe, if it solved the problems of keeping it fresh and not bruising it.

If it was organic!