“We are seeing a huge surge in consumer demand for cashless and contactless payment options”
As consumer demands evolve and the world embraces self-service as a means of fast, convenient, and secure transactions, Cantaloupe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTLP), a leading provider of end-to-end technology solutions for self-service commerce, stands at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge technologies. Cantaloupe’s goal is to empower digital payments, drive self-checkout innovations, and provide seamless software solutions to enhance every consumer purchase.
From Golf Ball Dispensing to Global Reach: Cantaloupe’s Expansive Presence in 1.22M Locations.
Today, Cantaloupe is a global leader in self-service commerce, but at its 1992 founding, the company’s beginnings were a bit more humble. What started with the idea to deploy credit and debit card readers on golf ball dispensing machines, during a time when cash was still king, was a risky proposition. Yet this concept helped catapult Cantaloupe’s evolution into a trusted industry leader, powering 1.22 million locations worldwide in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. With expertise and innovation at the forefront, Cantaloupe now enables businesses of all sizes to adopt self-service technology by offering a comprehensive range of solutions. This includes enabling cashless payments, providing pointof-sale (“POS”) kiosks and self-checkout solutions, mobile ordering and payments, and offering enterprise cloud software that supports a variety of verticals throughout the whole business process.
Food & Beverage + Smart Retail Services:
Vehicle Services:
Amusements & Gaming:
Stadiums, Entertainment Venues, and Festivals:
Food & Beverage + Smart Retail: Enabling Self-Service Technology Across a Variety of Verticals
Cantaloupe enables self-service technology across a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, retail, entertainment, sports and music festivals. With a global customer base of 30,000, Cantaloupe’s products can be found on traditional vending machines, micro markets, which are one of the fastest growing food/beverage and retail options available today, hospitality and hotel pantries, office coffee service, retail establishments, amusement and arcade venues, vehicle services, stadiums, entertainment venues, and various types of festivals. Cantaloupe’s versatile solutions streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, address labor shortages and reduce operational expenses.
Driving the Shift to a Digital-First Payments Economy: Cantaloupe’s Trends and Innovations
With the world rapidly changing and the consumer landscape evolving, credit and debit card purchases, or cashless (and contactless) purchases, are now the preferred method of payment. Consumers prefer to “tap and go” when checking out – and Cantaloupe has been at the forefront of powering those transactions.
“We are seeing a huge surge in consumer demand for cashless and contactless payment options,” noted Ravi Venkatesan, CEO of Cantaloupe, Inc. “Customers and operators also want secure transactions and back-end capabilities that can drive their whole business forward.”
Venkatesan also noted that, “Atlanta-based companies process a staggering 80% of the world’s payments, which highlights the growing dominance of digital transactions occurring not only in Georgia, but around the world. Cantaloupe’s recent 2024 Micropayments Trends.
Report further reinforces this trend, revealing compelling statistics that underscore the rise of cashless economies.”
In the Cantaloupe 2024 Micropayment Trends Report, data showed a huge surge in spending at self-service locations such as vending machines, which witnessed a remarkable growth with more than $3 billion spent in 2023, a significant 23% increase from the previous year. Micro markets, one of the fastest-growing segments in the convenience industry, generated more than $750 million in sales. Cashless payments accounted for an average of 69% of food and beverage vending machine sales, with contactless payments representing 65% of those cashless transactions. These figures demonstrate the increasing preference for convenient and touchless payment options.
“The continued growth in cashless and contactless payments, especially during the post-COVID recovery, indicates that the self-service and convenience industry is thriving. Cashless payments continue to dominate the self-service payment experience and we expect this trend to continue,” said Venkatesan.
“The continued growth in cashless and contactless payments, especially during the post-COVID recovery, indicates that the self-service and convenience industry is thriving.”
Going Mobile – Stadiums, Entertainment Venues, and Festivals
To fuel even more innovation, especially in the mobile payments sector, Cantaloupe acquired CHEQ in February 2024. This acquisition positions the company as a leader in providing mobile-first ordering and point-of-sale fan experiences in large venues like stadiums, entertainment venues and festivals. The Miami Marlins use the CHEQ POS system for its concessions and offer mobile-in-seat ordering and delivery, as well as CHEQ Points pickup locations throughout the stadium.
“Mobile ordering and payment is definitely transforming the industry,” noted Venkatesan. “When sports fans and event attendees can circumvent the traditional long lines of concession stands and instead place orders directly from their phone, safely and efficiently, it’s a game-changer. This strategic move aligns with the growing demand for seamless and secure digital payments, catering to the evolving needs of consumers, and supporting venues with innovative and exciting new methods of payment. With the recent move of venues like the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami going totally cashless, it presents a whole new opportunity for us, and CHEQ is a great solution.”
With Cantaloupe’s CHEQ POS platform, the company has successfully partnered with renowned event organizers such as Loud and Live and SWARM, processing thousands of orders and enhancing the eventgoer experience. These advantages are exemplified by ollaborations with stadiums and entertainment venues, including the Washington Commanders, Miami Marlins, CFG Bank Arena, Minnesota Twins, Florida Panthers, and more. By leveraging Cantaloupe’s mobile offerings, these venues have witnessed significant improvements in concession labor reduction, average line wait time reduction, and enhanced game-day sales.
Empowering Small Business Entrepreneurs with Simple Solutions for Success
Cantaloupe caters to businesses of all sizes, from large operators with hundreds of locations to small entrepreneurs running profitable side hustles. In fact, Cantaloupe understands the challenges faced by small business owners and is committed to helping them thrive by providing easy-to-use solutions for accepting digital payments and monitoring machine performance.
For example, Charmaine Broome, a woman-owned vending operator and business coach for aspiring vending machine companies via her “I Be Vending Academy” program, is running 14 food and beverage vending machines in the Atlanta region. After implementing Cantaloupe’s card readers and Seed Cashless+ software, Broome saw her sales and profits soar. With better visibility into her inventory, service needs, and sales performance, Broome was able to drive increased sales and expand her opportunities.
Cantaloupe enables cashless payments on vending machines, gaming machines, or essentially anything unmanned that an owner operator wants to enable cashless acceptance. By adding a card reader, businesses can experience significant sales growth, ranging from 28% to seven times the sales. Accepting cashless payments not only modernizes the machines but also reduces the risk of vandalism and theft by minimizing the amount of cash on hand. Cantaloupe’s software, Seed Live, provides tools for managing sales performance and trends, and is included with each cashless device.
As a side hustle business evolves into a larger venture, Cantaloupe offers software like Seed Cashless+ to support expansion. This software allows entrepreneurs to manage pre-picking, access advanced reporting, optimize machine merchandising, and streamline routing. With Cantaloupe’s userfriendly and comprehensive software, small business entrepreneurs can maximize their efficiency, profitability, and potential to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond.
Empowering Mid-Size and Large-Scale Growing Businesses with Enterprise Software
Cantaloupe has developed a suite of enterprise software solutions tailored specifically for mid-size and large-scale growing businesses.
One example is Buffalo Rock Company, the largest single family-owned Pepsi and Dr Pepper bottler in the United States. Buffalo Rock operates 14 franchise locations across Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, running 9,000 vending machines, 450+ micro markets, and 1,400 office coffee service (OCS) delivery points. After implementing Cantaloupe’s Seed software platform, Buffalo Rock experienced improved efficiency and optimized operations. They were able to schedule routes dynamically, gain visibility into vending machine performance, and reduce product returns to the warehouse.
“Life before Seed was very manual and inefficient,” said Kyle Murphy, corporate business development director for the Buffalo Rock’s on premise department. “We were filling machines and micro markets either by forecast, which was not always accurate, or by manually counting what was in the machine and then going back to the truck and manually picking on-site. With Cantaloupe, we’re better able to identify what the machines need before we load the trucks, which means we can reduce the number of bring-backs and amount of time spent at each location.”
Cantaloupe’s Seed platform offers a range of powerful tools for businesses. Seed Pro provides critical insights into routing and logistics, merchandising and overall business operation and back-office reporting. Seed Delivery, empowers operators to optimize Office Coffee Service (OCS) and Delivery business with paperless invoicing and online ordering integration. Seed Pick Easy streamlines warehouse picking processes to ensure staff is packing product efficiently. Seed Markets simplifies micro market management by standardizing operations with a single set of tools that brings efficiency to a new level – optimizing routes, warehouse processes, and simplifying in-field services. The use of software applications like Seed also help Cantaloupe’s customers reduce energy usage, lower their carbon footprint, and overall waste in their vending operations.
Revolutionizing On-Site Retail: With the huge explosion of micro markets throughout the world, Cantaloupe’s micro market solution transforms traditional vending areas into self-service retail spaces. With a wide selection of fresh food, snacks, and beverages, micro markets offer customers a more diverse and personalized shopping experience. Through Cantaloupe’s comprehensive platform, businesses can easily manage inventory, track sales, and provide real-time promotions to enhance customer engagement and drive revenue.
AI-Powered Smart Fridges Powering the Future of Automated Retail:
Cantaloupe is also one of the first companies to bring the power of AI to its products with its AI-powered smart fridges, which combines the convenience of self-service with the latest advancements in artificial intelligence. These intelligent fridges include AI dynamic vision cameras or weighted shelves technology to solve the loss prevention many retailers experience today, and also create a fast, convenient customer experience where they can truly grab-and-go. Cantaloupe’s smart fridges actually remain locked until payment is rendered and then lock again immediately after the purchased item is removed. They can even track if the customer changes their mind mid-purchase and selects another product. This technology is poised to help not only vending operators but has broader applications with major big box retailers who need secure options for their products in-store.
“We are committed to leading the transformation of the retail experience through continuous innovation in payment and retail technology.”
Accessible Self-Checkout Kiosks for All: Cantaloupe is also a leader in accessibility with its Go Max accessible kiosk solution. Go Max kiosks are designed with large user-friendly interfaces and features that cater to individuals with disabilities or special needs, such as visually impaired or handicapped. By providing inclusive, self-service experiences, businesses can ensure that every customer can easily access and enjoy their products and services.
Cantaloupe’s Dedication to Investing in Local Talent and Innovation.
Cantaloupe is also dedicated to investing in local talent, driving innovation, and promoting diversity. The company has been recognized for the past three years in a row as a “2023 Champion of Board Diversity” by The Forum of Executive Women, as the company’s Board of Directors currently has four women among its nine members, and three women on its nine-member leadership team. The company also drives diversity and talent through its strategic acquisitions, such as 32M and CHEQ, where the company has expanded its product offerings and welcomed talented individuals into the company. Participating in industry events like the NAMA Show and National Restaurant Association Show, Cantaloupe continues to showcase its innovative products and services, connecting with industry leaders and demonstrating its commitment to transforming the self-service industry.
The Future is Bright for Self-Service Commerce.
As we look to the future of self-service commerce, the possibilities are endless. Cantaloupe is constantly exploring new technologies and next-gen AI to revolutionize the self-service industry. The company’s upcoming developments will pave the way for even more innovative solutions that enhance the customer experience and drive business growth.
“We envision a world where digital payments and automated retail seamlessly integrate into everyday life,” said Venkatesan. “We are committed to leading the transformation of the retail experience through continuous innovation in payment and retail technology. We invite the industry and potential partners to join us on this exciting journey as we leverage technology to shape the future of self-service commerce. Together, we can create a world where businesses thrive and customers delight in the convenience and possibilities of self-service.”
To learn more about Cantaloupe, Inc., visit cantaloupe.com.
