Cracking service from farm’s 24/7 egg vending machines
Residents in Côte-d’Or (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) can now get their eggs day and night after a farm installed five “automatic egg vending machines” on the side of the road.
The Pontot farm in the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin, near Dijon - owned and managed by Philippe Plançon and his brother, and home to 24,000 hens - has installed the vending machines in five nearby communes, explains local news source France 3.
The machines sell boxes of six eggs for €2.50, and take coins. At any time of the day or night, locals can drive or walk up to the machines, put in their change, and take away fresh eggs.
The machines’ stocks are replenished every two days.
The farm reportedly hit upon the “direct sales” idea - in tandem with the local Mairie - to supplement its existing business selling to a local greengrocer and small local shops, and diversify the kinds of people who have access to super-fresh, local eggs.
"We don't work directly with supermarkets, we sell in a ‘short circuit’, and also directly on the farm,” explains Philippe Plançon, speaking to France 3.
“It has been just over a week, and it has not started too badly. I have sold more than 30 dozen eggs (around 360) in the past seven days,” he added.
One vending machine has reportedly proved to be particularly popular in the local commune of Saint-Philibert, which is home to just 500 people, especially as its own local shop shut down seven years ago, explained the commune’s Mayor Hubert Poullot.
