UK. Aviation and retail vending specialist Broderick Group has renewed its contracts to provide and service 24-hour food & beverage smart vending machines at Liverpool John Lennon and Birmingham airports for a further five years.
The contract is the third in succession signed with Liverpool John Lennon Airport. As part of the new agreement, Broderick Group will add further vending machines across the facility, taking the total to 21.
Commercial Director Lucy O’Shaughnessy said: “Broderick’s vending service is a constant that we rely on to keep our passengers and staff refreshed. The only retailer that remained open 24/7 during the pandemic, their steadfast service and innovative ideas mean they’re our partners for the long-term.
“We’re delighted to see our airport contracts going from strength to strength and delivering real value at every level” – Broderick Group Managing Director John Broderick
“With the airport now comfortably back to our normal footfall, Broderick Group easily keeps pace: as the demand grows the vending estate grows to meet our needs.”
Birmingham Airport Head of Commercial Laura Page also gave Broderick Group her endorsement: “We are really pleased to award Broderick Group a new five-year term contract here at Birmingham Airport. With upgraded machines, all featuring contactless payment facilities, these machines are ideally located in all of our key customer and employee areas.
“From our previous contact with Broderick, we know that the service, maintenance and the refilling of these machines is consistent to ensure that our customer and colleagues receive the best service in our very busy airport.
“Additionally, the ease of purchasing items with payment options from Apple Pay to WePay and credit card ensures all our arriving and departing customer are catered for.”
The Broderick Group airport service is underpinned by its app Pay4Vend, which provides real time data to help airports drive sales. The app has already achieved over 100,000 downloads, creating what Broderick Group claims to be the largest vending community in Europe.
Broderick Group works closely with airport clients on maximising the app’s and other automatable functions on the vending machines’ potential, leveraging commercial benefits.
This includes smoothing potential customer service issues like delays at gate or baggage reclaim by switching the machines to free-vend, to tailoring offers and discounts for staff.
Broderick Group also noted that serving high-demand locations such as airports means it is important that machines are well-maintained, regularly cleaned and have stock replenished regularly. Kinetics reporting bears testament to the company’s delivery: it has achieved a score of 98% on the machines’ capacity and cleanliness.
Family-owned business Broderick Group said it takes pride in keeping close to what’s happening in the local area of airports and the other locations it serves, so it is always prepared for periods of higher demand. Its digital system enables it to see the lines that need stocking up to serve peaks such as football matches – with products tailored to travelling football fans’ preferences.
An additional benefit of the data generated by the Pay4Vend app enables Broderick Group to provide real time data into brands’ vending machine performance. This includes data on the impact of digital adverts on vending machines screens, and how promotions and ranges are performing.
A team of Broderick analysts crunch the data to offer valuable insights that allows product ranges stocked in machines to be tailored right down to airport gate level.
For example, gates flying to popular family holiday destinations are stocked with favourites such as fruit juices and seasonal products like Easter eggs, while at long-haul gates Broderick’s range of protein-rich snacks prove popular.
Broderick Group Managing Director John Broderick said: “We’re delighted to see our airport contracts going from strength to strength and delivering real value at every level. From keeping travellers and staff refreshed, to supporting airports’ business objectives through to our ability to get into the detail whilst delivering a stellar service at scale, I’m excited to see business fly for our partners through the upcoming busy seasons.”
The Broderick Group vending estate also includes numerous machines at Manchester and London Stansted airports, under contract with airport operator MAG Group UK. 
