Last Updated on April 15, 2026 by Elliot Maras
NAMA 2026 in Los Angeles
Has there ever been a more exciting time to be in the convenience services industry? Take a look at the education schedule for NAMA 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, April 22-24.
The capabilities introduced by AI and related technologies have unleashed extensive possibilities for delivering white glove quality service in an operationally profitable manner, burying the long-time trade off between convenience and service quality.
As for the larger picture, the transition from what was known as the “vending industry” to “convenience services” has been an amazing evolution from commoditization to specialization.
No matter what role you play in the convenience services “food chain” today – location manager, breakroom manager, service operator, distributor wholesaler or product manufacturer – the world can be your oyster, and the NAMA 2026 Show – “Convenience Experience Delivered” – offers three days of industry brainstorming in pursuit of this vision.
But with any education offering, you reap what you invest, and today’s technology-intensive bar is higher than ever. Tech is redefining every aspect of convenience services: equipment capability, operations management, logistics, warehousing, merchandising, payments, security, loss prevention, customer engagement, food preparation, vehicles and more.
How we got here
Are you up for the challenge? These complexities echo a familiar cycle of reinvention. I can remember the cover headline I wrote for the 1995 Automatic Merchandiser NAMA Show issue: “The World of Electronics Looms for Vending.”
The article described the then-nascent Multi Drop Bus (MDB) and DEX (digital exchange) data protocols taking vending machines beyond electromechanical capabilities to electronics based microcontrollers, cashless payment, digital displays and telemetry for sales and inventory tracking.Â
Those changes were a lot to absorb at the time, but who could have foreseen the implications of RFID tags and readers, Wi-Fi cellular connectivity, IoT, social media, robotics, QR codes, biometrics, virtual reality and AI?
Where we’re going
In the 1990s, MDB and DEX marked a new starting point.
By the mid 2000s, a handful of innovative service operators devised the micro market concept, marrying the retail self-checkout kiosk with an unattended market. Some observers worried shrinkage from customer theft could not be controlled. But the micro market’s advantages over traditional vending – enhanced product variety, the ability to touch before buying a product, the ease of multi-product purchases, lower service costs per unit and a more profitable pro forma for large locations – won the day.
The recently released NAMA 2024–25 State of Convenience Services Census found that while vending remains the single biggest business line for operators, micro markets are currently the primary growth engine.Â
The popularity of micro markets, coupled with other retail technology developments, has encouraged operators to expand into multiple service lines to tailor solutions to client size, security needs and product mix.
As a result, approximately 70% of operators now offer multiple service models (vending, micro markets, office coffee service and pantry service). And while vending remains the dominant format, controlled access technology has integrated several micro market benefits (the ability to touch before buying a product, the ease of multi-product purchases and lower service costs per unit) into vending machines known as smart coolers. Â
Smart coolers, which are economically feasible for operators to offer in locations that are not suited to full micro market deployment, often generate higher average transactions than traditional vending while offering more control than open micro market environments. Which explains why approximately 41% of vending operators in 2024 and 2025 reported operating smart coolers.
To date, these technology investments have delivered a faster growth rate for convenience services than the overall foodservice trade. While the foodservice industry as a whole has grown at a 9.8% compound annual growth rate since the pandemic, convenience services has posted a 14.8% growth rate. Â
NAMA education values
The NAMA education sessions will cover a wide range of topics that can help the industry sustain and even improve this growth:
- Making the best use of data
- Maximizing warehouse and route labor productivity
- Merchandising
- Dynamic pricing
- Trending technologies
- Payments and security, to name a few
But be sure to allocate a good chunk of time for the trade show to stay on top of unattended retail technology.Â
AI enabled automation has moved from pilots to scalable implementations with proven returns on investment. This is particularly important for the “smart stores” and “robotic restaurants” now playing an expanding role on the retail landscape.Â
Retail automation momentum
The Industry Group, in its 2026 Guide to Retail Automation, notes that the modern retail environment is no longer a collection of isolated machines, but a cohesive stack of five integrated layers:
- The edge layer: Physical touchpoints including smart vending, self-checkout and computer vision-enabled “grab-and-go” portals.
- The operations layer: Back-of-house and shelf-edge tech like digital shelf labels, automated inventory planograms and robotic fulfillment.
- The intelligence layer: Interactive AI agents that don’t just answer questions but assist customers in product discovery.
- The commerce layer: The payment and loyalty engine, often built on Android POS ecosystems and biometric contactless entry.
- The data layer: The “retail media” engine that uses first-party data to personalize the experience in real-time.
All of these advancements are enabling convenience services to be part of the “smart store” and “robotic restaurant” revolutions that are already evident in hospitality, health care and transit venues.Â
Partnerships like Sodexo and Automated Retail Technologies are deploying thousands of robotic hot food machines to facilities where 24/7 staffing isn’t feasible.
High-demand brands such as Chick-Fil-A are now accessible via automated vending in hospitals and transit hubs, maintaining strict temperature and quality standards.
Machines such as those from Crave Robotics now feature fully ADA-compliant touchscreens and dispensing heights, ensuring inclusivity is built-in, not bolted on.
And where hardware reliability was once the primary concern, the lead battlefield has now shifted to regulatory compliance and data integrity.
For example, The Industry Group notes that the transition from PCI DSS 3.2 to Version 4.0 for encrypted card-present transactions and multi-factor authentication marks a shift in how the retail trade handles edge-computing threats in unattended environments.
For another example, ADA Title III enforcement is moving from “best effort” to “mandatory audit” for the benefit of disabled consumers.
The pace of technology change clearly challenges the industry on several fronts.
Kioskindustry.org will be on the show floor to learn how today’s convenience services industry can best leverage technology to maximize efficiency and upgrade the customer experience.Â
I look forward to seeing you there!
Related Content:
Vending – NAMA Outlook versus The Industry Group Gap Analysis
Unattended Retail and Payments – Vending
Technology drives vending use cases, tasks equipment service teams
Vending Machine – When Will AI Manage?
Chick-fil-A’s Hospital Vending Machine is Changing Food Access for Patients and Staff
