During 2020, we have had our fair share of stressful and saddening news. A vending machine that dispenses free vegan ice cream while playing 90’s music is exactly the kind of thing we need to read about right now.
Daily Harvest is a plant-based meal delivery service that offers pre-made meals such as smoothies, flatbreads, and bowls. Their most recent release, Scoops, is a vegan ice cream made from plant-based ingredients like coconut cream, fruit, black sesame, cacao, and mint, which is now available for purchase in their subscription boxes. To promote the release of Scoops, Daily Harvest recently set up their first outdoor vending machine in Newport, Rhode Island.
The vending machine is regularly sanitized and requires wearing a mask and practicing social distancing while selecting your free ice cream. “Scoops”, an original song written specifically for Daily Harvest by Boyz ll Men, plays as you choose between two flavors: Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey Midnight Fudge, and Mint + Dark, Melty Cacao Chips. The machine has a small sign that reads, “This is not a mirage” because let’s be honest, free ice cream seems too good to be true right now.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers want to minimize human contact and interaction when purchasing food. Less hands on your food, the better. We have seen a rise in food delivery pods, robot cooks, unmanned convenience stores, and smart vending machines. Our food systems have to adapt in the face of a pandemic, and vending machines like Daily Harvest’s could be part of this new normal we find ourselves in.
The vending machine popped up in Newport, RI last week for two days, and is now on the move. The Daily Harvest vending machine will pop up in Domino Park in Brooklyn, NY August 21-23rd. According to the website, they will continue to add additional locations, are running an Instagram poll to determine the next site of its vending machine.
Leave a Reply