Nova Scotia robotic vending company finds major U.S. success in stadiums

HALIFAX — A Dartmouth, N.S., company that installs robotic alcohol vending machines is expanding into major U.S. sports and entertainment venues.

Dispension Industries Inc. has placed two machines at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which founder and CEO Corey Yantha said have generated more than $200,000 in sales over a year.

"That’s the highest revenue per square foot in that stadium," said Yantha. "And we have just launched at Empire Field, the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos."

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Yantha said the company is now in negotiations with other NBA, NHL and NCAA arenas and stadiums.

"Once we proved it in some of the biggest most iconic venues in the world, everyone else has started calling," he said.

He said the company's current challenge is meeting demand, not developing the product.

"Our challenge now is not developing a product from scratch and testing it in the market, but our challenge is building enough of these machines to satisfy the demand."

The 25-employee company already has machines in several Canadian venues.

"We did some work with Scotiabank Centre in Halifax," said Yantha. "And we have had units at Mary Brown’s Centre in Newfoundland, and they’ve been performing well for a few years."

Each vending machine uses strict serving protocols. "A customer walks up and they insert their ID and our technology uses ultraviolet, infrared, invisible light to scan all the security features on the ID," Yantha explained.

"We check the age of the guest, and the expiry date of the ID and then a camera opens and compares their face to the photo on the ID."

Only after this verification is a canned alcoholic drink served, pre-opened for the customer.

Alcohol historian Rod Phillips, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said the age-verification technology could help such machines grow in popularity across North America.

"I could see vending machines like this in stores, and I could see them in malls and other places where other people want convenience," Phillips said. "And convenience is one of the things people are looking for, and if they could get alcohol through a machine, then I am sure a lot of people would like to."

Yantha said the company's technology helps it handle U.S.-Canada trade tensions.

"We think we have developed a technology that transcends tariffs," he said, adding that American corporate partners have assisted in setting up his beer and ready-made alcoholic drinks vending business for future success.

"We have a product that is always going to be in demand," Yantha said.

With files from BNN Bloomberg