Soup season has arrived, so this week in the Hagley Vault, we're grilling a cheese and hitting up our local Auto-Snak.
This ca. 1955 photograph of a soup vending machine is from Hagley Library's Automatic Merchandising Company album (Accession 2017.202). The Automatic Merchandising Company operated and installed vending machines, and was best known for the Auto-Snak, a combined set of food vending machines which dispensed soda, coffee, milk, sandwiches, soup, salads, pastries and ice cream. These automat style vending machines emerged in America after the invention of the first coffee vendors in 1946 that allowed for the use of vending machines for coffee breaks, cutting needed catering staffs in large factories.
By 1950 the first refrigerated sandwiches were being sold. During the 1950s companies like Automatic Merchandising expanded their operations to include support kitchens, and staff to allow factories to continually maintain vending stations in several locations in factories for their workers. In 1959, the firm was merged with Davidson Brothers to become Automatic Retailers of America Inc. In 1994, the company changed its name to Aramark Corporation, which today is one of the largest food service, facilities, and uniform service providers.
The album is a promotional sales sample album from the company's Detroit Branch, and features automatic food vending machines for factories, universities, and offices. The album shows close-up views of Auto-Snak machines and the products they vended. There is also an article about the Budd plant installing the machines and a report about solving issues related to feeding employees. Feeling snacky yet? Good news - you can view the album online now in the Hagley Digital Archives!