A small company based in Dartmouth, N.S., is finding major success south of the border with its high-tech alcohol vending machines, landing placements in some of the biggest sports venues in the United States.
Dispension Industries Inc., founded and led by CEO Corey Yantha, has 25 employees and makes robotic vending machines that dispense canned alcoholic beverages in sports and entertainment venues. The company’s highest-profile placement is at Dodger Stadium, where Yantha said two machines generated more than $200,000 in sales over the course of a year, making it the highest revenue per square foot anywhere in the stadium. The company has also just launched machines at Empire Field, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
“We have a product that is always going to be in demand,” Yantha said.
Yantha said he is now in talks with other NBA, NHL and NCAA arenas and stadiums about installing the machines. He said the company’s challenge has shifted from proving the product works to keeping up with manufacturing demand.
“Once we proved it in some of the biggest most iconic venues in the world, everyone else has started calling,” he said.
Canadian Roots
Before expanding into the U.S., Dispension had already placed vending machines in Canadian venues, including Scotiabank Centre in Halifax and Mary Brown’s Centre in Newfoundland, where Yantha said the machines have performed well for several years.
Each machine uses identification-scanning technology designed to enforce age restrictions. According to Yantha, customers insert their ID, which is scanned using ultraviolet, infrared and invisible light to verify security features, age and expiry date. A camera then compares the customer’s face to the photo on the ID before dispensing a pre-opened can of alcohol.
Wider Potential Seen for the Technology
Rod Phillips, an alcohol historian and professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said the age-verification technology behind the machines could help similar vending devices expand beyond stadiums.
“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’s expansion into the U.S. market comes as trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. have strained relations more broadly. He said he believes his company’s technology sidesteps those tensions.
“We think we have developed a technology that transcends tariffs,” Yantha said, adding that while the two federal governments may not be getting along, his American corporate partners have supported the rollout of his vending business in the U.S. market.
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