The AVA’s South East Regional Meeting and AGM were graciously hosted at Scobie Mcintosh, in Horley this year, as the AVA have continued with the new style format regional events at members locations.
The day started off with a tour round Scobie Mcintosh, learning their histories which go all the way back to 1881, when the company was founded. They then demonstrated their capabilities of refurbishments for vending machines, their specialist solutions and customer service and then followed on to the exciting bakery demonstration.
This lead to the first ever Vending industry bake off, where everyone competed on who would have the best loaf, the winner, Tony Smith from JDE Coffee discovered his hidden bakery skills as he had the best.
During the AGM David Llewellyn, AVA Chief Executive, spoke about the new AVA updates, the election of the new AVA board members and the importance of lobbying for the industry. The AVA’s financial accounts and savings through relocation, new staff were discussed by Roger Williams, the AVA treasurer.
Following on Adrian Pratt, Vice Chairman of the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG) and Chair of the AVA Cup Committee, gave an update on hot topics in the vending industry; the impact of the potential ‘latte levy’ being reintroduced again; the UK recycling abilities becoming more accessible; and the debate over compostable packing as he states that “recycles cups have a better environmental performance compared to composting”. He cautioned the industry needs to understand these issues and obstacles that we will face, and that action needs to be taken on the lobbying for the future of vending.
It was a fantastic, fun filled and informative day with a great turnout with 10 Operators, so don’t miss out on the next regional meeting find out more information on our ‘Events’ page.