--- title: Chicago: Vending Machines With Healthy Snacks Increase Sales description: Park goers not only like healthier vending machine snacks, they buy more of them too canonical: https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-08T16:13:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:33:14.046Z article:section: Health og:title: People Love Vending Machines With Healthy Snacks og:description: Park goers not only like healthier vending machine snacks, they buy more of them too og:url: https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Love Vending Machines With Healthy Snacks twitter:description: Park goers not only like healthier vending machine snacks, they buy more of them too twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These New Healthy Vending Machines Are a Huge Hit ## Video: The Truth About Fat [Watch (HLS stream): The Truth About Fat](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uYGhfNfS.m3u8) (5:15)  _Published 2014-06-12. When you want to lose weight or get healthy, what is the first thing you would normally cut from your diet? If you said fat, you're not alone_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 8, 2014 4:13 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 8, 2014 4:13 PM UTC Replacing vending machine fare in Chicago parks with healthier snacks significantly increased total monthly sales, new research shows. Chicago, with its 100% Healthier Snack Vending Initiative, is one of the first cities to try to improve the foods available in public places. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been recommending that communities make more healthy food and drinks available in public parks, and the Chicago Park District serves 200,000 kids every year. It replaced candy and cookies from its vending machines with fruit snacks, granola bars, and baked chips, and for a little over a year, Northwestern University researchers collected data about the vending machines. They discovered that 100% of the park staff members and 88% of park patrons reported liking the healthier vending machines, and monthly sales per machine spiked from $84 to $371. The researchers found that almost 55% of snack vending purchases were made for or by kids, showing that vending machines could have an impact on the future of America’s eating habits. “These are important findings given that fear of revenue loss is often cited as a barrier to implementing healthful vending initiatives,” the researchers conclude in their report [published](http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/14%5F0141.htm) Thursday in the journal _Preventing Chronic Disease_. “Our experience can help to assuage those fears in other communities and provide support for the district’s new healthful beverage vending initiative.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/"},"headline":"These New Healthy Vending Machines Are a Huge Hit","datePublished":"2014-08-08T16:13:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:33:14.046Z","description":"Park goers not only like healthier vending machine snacks, they buy more of them too","url":"https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","diet","Nutrition","parks"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3089210/healthy-vending-machine-snacks-are-a-huge-hit/","name":"These New Healthy Vending Machines Are a Huge Hit"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Truth About Fat","description":"When you want to lose weight or get healthy, what is the first thing you would normally cut from your diet? 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