Satisfying students hunger around the clock

06/01/2025

Stoke on Trent College’s John Seddon Building is part of the Construction Skills Hub at the Burslem campus and is home to the College’s very popular gas, plumbing, painting, decorating and woodwork courses. Over 1000 Study Programme students (age 16-18) and Apprentices regularly attend the Burslem Campus. Additionally, thousands of adult learners show up from 6pm onwards to take advantage of the College’s extensive choice of part-time courses.
There is a full restaurant offer during the day, but College was keen to provide options, particularly to learners attending evening classes after dashing straight from work.

A first-class solution for the College

Options Management, a long-standing vending solutions provider, based in nearby Newcastle under Lyme, had the perfect machine to provide the students with “great taste, when there’s no time to waste”. Hot, ready-to-eat Rustlers burgers vended directly from a machine, in just 90 seconds. They also suggested that the Rustlers machine sat alongside a BEV Max drinks machine, to provide refreshing cool drinks. Options offered the Rustlers machine to the college without any capital outlay, providing the machine, the necessary electric supply and a pack of promotional materials to build excitement ahead of the installation.

A quick, convenient solution

“Working with Options Management, we have introduced an alternative food option at our Burslem campus, which gives our learners a variety of choice, especially when our student restaurant is closed.”
“Our enrolment numbers have increased significantly during the past three academic years, so giving our learners convenient food options is vital, especially those who need a quick solution when coming from work.”

Antoinette Lythgoe, Chief Financial Officer and Interim CEO at Stoke on Trent College

No capital outlay, just hot food in an instant

November 7th saw the launch of this eye-catching machine on campus – a first for this innovative, intelligent machine in an education setting. Its large touch screen soon caught the attention of the first customers, who enjoyed free samples of the hot Peri Peri Chicken Tenders in a bun, Supreme Cheese Melt Burgers and All-Day Breakfast Sausage Muffins on offer.

The machine holds 56 refrigerated items and automatically heats them to order. Ordering can even be done remotely via an app which provides a unique code to redeem the chosen food option. The inbuilt telematics system will help the Options team to understand which are the top selling products. It also recognises sell by dates and recommends stock rotation and refilling. Monthly sales and usage reports will be provided by Options, who are contracted to stock, fill, clean and service the machine. Nothing goes to waste as the Rustlers packaging is recyclable.
With no initial capital outlay, Stoke on Trent College have managed to expand their student catering provision on a trial basis.

To prevent food fatigue setting in, Options have further hot vended food choices in the pipeline – such as fries, apple pies and sausage rolls. The Rustlers machine is a flexible solution that will serve students at the John Seddon Building at Burslem campus, well into the future.