Given the strict controls in the United States around the sale of liquor, is running a wine vending machine a feasible business? Considering the rising demand for value wines and the low running costs of a vending machine, wine vending machines are a good idea if you can find a good vending location and secure the required permits.
What Are Wine Vending Machines?
Wine vending machines automatically dispense bottles of wine to customers after processing payments. They have similar dispensing mechanisms to your favorite drinks and soda pop vending machines except for additional features to verify age. Most wine vending machines have more room for customization because wine bottles come in different shapes and sizes, with a variety of additional features such as dispensing toppers or corks for preserving wine after a bottle is opened.
Is selling wine from a vending machine better than running a traditional wine or liquor store? The case for a wine vending machine is that you don’t have to be there physically to move units. You may want to get a wine vending machine for the following reasons:
- You can sell wines 24/7. A wine vending machine allows you to serve customers outside of business hours. People can show up late at night and still be sure of getting a bottle of wine.
- There are limited personnel costs. Vending machines require limited human attention. Other than restocking and maintenance, everything is automated.
- It provides greater visibility. A wine vending machine outside a shop where people on the street can see it can easily attract new customers and curious shoppers.
The future of commerce is automated retail. Expect more wine vending machines in your city in the coming years.
Are Wine Vending Machines Legal?
States and local authorities have broad power to regulate the use and sale of liquor. Whether or not wine vending machines are legal will depend on the jurisdiction in question. In Pennsylvania, for instance, while there are wine vending machines, they are owned by the state. Pennsylvania’s laws permit the sale of alcohol for home consumption only from state-owned establishments staffed by civil servants.
That said, many states now allow the sale of beer and wines through machines, subject to specific conditions. Florida, for instance, opened the doors to liquor vending machines in 2020 following a ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. Call your local office to confirm whether or not liquor vending machines are legal in your state.
Where wine vending machines are legal, authorities will require you to take concrete steps to ensure no minor buys wine from your machine. For this reason, you will need a wine vending machine with a bulletproof age verification mechanism.
How Is Age Verified for Wine Vending Machines?
As an alcohol vendor, you are required by law to verify the age of every person who buys liquor from you. Nearly all liquor vending machines come with some form of age verification capability preinstalled. Most age verification mechanisms work in two ways:
- ID authentication. The machine scans the user’s ID to verify if it is a valid identification document and whether the user is of legal drinking age.
- Facial recognition. The machine uses facial recognition software to scan the customer's face to match it to the photo in the ID.
The age verification mechanism then sends the pass or fail instructions to the vending software to allow the user to proceed with the purchase.
It is the duty of a vendor to prevent the sale of liquor to customers who are not of drinking age. Therefore, you will be held liable if your vending machine dispenses wine to such a customer. The legal drinking age is 21 years. Where a wine vending machine doesn’t come with a good age verification mechanism, you can buy an aftermarket ID scan solution and integrate it with the vending machine’s POS technology.
Can Wine & Beer Be Sold In The Same Vending Machine?
Yes they can! Vending machines that dispense wine also can commonly be seen stocking other forms of alcoholic beverages such as beer, hard seltzers, and other forms of drink containing alcohol. The rules and regulations surrounding wine & beer vending machines are applied similarly to any other location legally allowed to serve alcohol.
Are There Other Vending Machines with Alcohol?
Liquor vending machines are gaining traction in many markets across the United States. Besides wine vending machines, you can find machines dispensing the most popular liquors, including beer and champagne.
Beer vending machines are the most common liquor vending machines. Many beer vending machines can also be adapted to dispense red wine.
Besides the typical vending machines that sell wines by the bottle, restaurants are now using wine dispensing machines that allow them to sell wine by the glass and preserve the opened bottles of wine for up to 30 days. One such wine dispensing system is the Wineemotion wine dispenser.
Moët & Chandon is building a network of champagne vending machines across the nation. A Moët & Chandon vending machine can be costly, priced at a steep $35,000. You can, however, get into the champagne vending business with less costly generic liquor vending machines that have been adapted to dispense champagne bottled. You can grab these for between $3,000 and $5,000, depending on capacity and features. They also give you greater room for experimentation as you can sell any brand of champagne.
