Founder Glenda Anfinsen has developed a scalable business model that challenges fast food chains: hot, healthy meals delivered in under a minute from an automatic machine. After five years of development and validation of the concept, the first grabEAT vending machine is now ready at the Kvåle rest area in Voss.
Glenda currently lives in Bergen and has a background as an enterprising businesswoman from the Philippines.
– I am a trained interior designer and have run two companies in the Philippines in the fields of real estate and design. I have always had an entrepreneur in my heart, and have long seen the need for something like grabEAT here in Norway, she says to The newspaper Hordaland.
An idea born in the queue
Glenda got the idea five years ago, while sitting in a car with hungry children in the backseat, with nothing but classic road music to listen to.
– I was in a queue with hungry kids in the backseat, and there was no place to get real food. Often it’s just fast food like McDonald’s and Burger King along the way. grabEAT is an option for people on the go who want healthy and nutritious food, she says.
Smart, simple, and scalable business model
grabEAT is based on a asset-light-model: Healthy, pre-prepared meals are produced by external kitchen partners and distributed to the company's own vending machines, located in strategic locations with high traffic and low operating costs, such as rest stops, office buildings, healthcare institutions, and key hubs.
The meals are without additives, but still have a long shelf life as they are frozen in the machine.
Customers choose their meal on a digital screen and have it served hot in under a minute. All dishes cost 129 kroner, and the menu is updated weekly.
– We focus on mobility and easy operation, not large property investments or a menu with short shelf life, says founder Glenda Anfinsen.
The result is a business model that is both robust and scalable, and that provides grabEAT with a good starting point to meet the needs of a demanding convenience market.
Ambitions for further growth
The next step is to install vending machines at major ferry terminals, hospitals, and select locations in Voss and Bergen. The company is now seeking partners and investors to realize nationwide deployment, with potential for international expansion in the future.
Aggrator supports entrepreneurs who develop new solutions in the field of food, agriculture, and environmental technology. Are you a startup company with ambitions in these fields? Contact us at contact@aggrator.com.
The photos in the article were taken by Stine Carlsen for Avisa Hordaland.