South Cook News

At its Feb. 13 board meeting, the Riverside Brookfield High School Board of Education considered a contract renewal for the vending machine services on campus at the high school. 

The district has had a contract with Canteen, the vending machine company, since 2018, and the current contract is set to expire in July. The district has previously tried to find other companies and prices for this service, however it only received one response and it was higher prices for less services. 

Because Canteen has the best value and the district has been overall very happy with them over the past five year, the board is recommending renewing the contract with them. If it does, the district will also receive five machines from Canteen at no extra cost. These would be replacement machines for some of the older ones that have been having issues over the past few months.

“As many of you know, we have vending machines by the main gym pool field house area down over there,” assistant superintendent Dr. Kristin Smetana said.  “Those are turned off during the school day and closed by gate so students can access them before and after school as well as on the weekends for events and rentals.”

The district has control over what goes into the vending machines, so if the district or the community does not approve of an item, or if an item is not popular with students, the district can request Canteen take it out of the machines. The district also restricts some of the offerings based on packaging, not allowing any glass bottles to be offered. The board suggested making a committee or sounding board for what goes into the machines.

The machines are closed during the school day and when the concession stands are open. While they have had some issues with students reaching through the gate during the school day to try and access the machines, there have been minimal issues with the machine hours. The district also receives revenue from these, roughly 30% of sales which ranges between $16,000-19,000 each year.