Healthy vending machines

V ending machines are enormously popular in Asia. Japan leads the pack with about one machine per 25 people. Hong Kong, often mentioned as another bastion of the vending machine, lags well behind Japan, with one machine per about 700 people.

It was in this snack machine gap that Adam So, a Canadian banker working in Hong Kong, saw an opportunity. "I looked into the vending concept and thought, this is easy," he says. "It's a good cash cow."

But as So was looking to start up a business, vending machines were coming under attack in the West, especially in the US and in schools. Vending machines, which offer inexpensive access to unhealthy snack foods, were increasingly being blamed for high rates of childhood obesity and other health problems.

The other place vending machines are prevalent is in high-stress work environments where employees need fuel to get through long days. Hong Kong's corporate workers were beginning to embrace healthier lifestyles and So saw an opportunity there, too.

Enter Health Addiction, a company that provides vending machines that carry only healthy snacks and beverages. Originally, So took his inspiration from California public schools, where junk food vending machines had been banned and healthy alternatives were starting to spring up.

He tried to set stringent guidelines for his snacks, but found that the paucity of healthy snacking options in Hong Kong, coupled with the demands of a public too accustomed to their unhealthy snacks, meant that he had to be a bit less strict. He has filled them with items such as Alpen light bars, Fuseli cereal bars, pretzels, Sunbites chips and freeze-dried edamame.