Speedy Eats expands automated vending plans with new juice partnership

Baton Rouge startup Speedy Eats is partnering with California-based juice brand Pressed Juicery to carry their products in its 25 existing indoor fridge units as well as its upcoming automatic vending concept.

Pressed Juicery was specifically picked for the products’ simplicity and 70- to 90-day shelf life, Speedy Eats founder Speed Bancroft says. Cold-pressed juices are also a popular trend in the market at the moment, he adds.

The partnership is part of Speedy Eats’ ongoing development of an automated delivery unit being developed at Louisiana Tech Park. The concept, which will implement automatic ground vehicles to deliver groceries from the unit to customers’ front doors, is the first of its kind, Bancroft says.

“We want to offer convenience to customers,” he says.

In addition to juices, the unit will include sections for frozen foods, a pharmacy and other grocery essentials. The plan for the automatic vending units, Bancroft explains, is to bring groceries and food to areas not close to retail and inconvenient for delivery services like UberEats.

Speedy Eats is expected to open its automatic vending unit in December, with an additional 10 units planned around the city. Bancroft is currently in discussions with various Baton Rouge neighborhoods like Lexington Estates to open the company’s first stand-alone unit.

This story originally appeared in an Aug. 16 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.