Candy floss has been an integral part of the fairground experience for years - giving guests a little bit of sugary happiness before they head over to the Ferris wheel. Helen Fletcher spoke to Marcus Sheehan of Intermatic Manufacturing to see how this tasty treat is making bold moves into the coin-op industry
Candy floss, or cotton candy as it is known in the US or fairy floss as it is known in Australia, has a long-tradition associated with good times at the funfair or seaside pier for many children and adults.
More recently, this sweet treat has started to make its move into the coin-op amusement industry, through Irish manufacturer Intermatic Manufacturing, providing operators with something extra for their locations.
Through its two subsidiaries Happy Days Vending, based in the UK - formed in 2004 to deal with European sales and Cotton Candy Vending, formed just last year in the US, Intermatic has brought the first interactive coin-op candy floss machine to the industry - providing patrons with an alternative to spend their money on.
The automatic coin-op machine sees the customer insert $2, £1 or €1 into the vending machine and watch while the candy floss is made and then swirled around a paper stick before being dispensed before their very eyes while music is played in the background.
Although Intermatic sees the product as truly global as it can be sited in locations where, traditionally, there might be issues for other types of coin-op amusement machines, its focus so far has been on the US.
According to Marcus Sheehan, the tradition of "cotton candy" in the US is far greater than anywhere else in the world - adults and children alike go crazy for the sweet delight and the machine has now been on test with major operator Chuck E Cheese for the past three months.
Shown for the first time at the ASI exhibition in March last year, such was the demand for the product, even featuring as a prize on the well-known television show the Price is Right, that Intermatic could not keep up with the orders and a US manufacturing base had to be established.
"The beauty of this product is that it can go in locations where candy floss karts cannot," said Sheehan. "There is no licence needed, it has NAMA (National Automatic Merchandising Association) approval and can be operated in all states across the US. The entertainment and interactive element you get from the machine are its key selling points as well as the low cost of operation and high ROI."
Cotton Candy Vending has also made inroads into the Canadian market working with distributor Starburst and has begun testing in Walmart locations and shopping malls - something, which is key to new ventures according to Sheehan. "It isn’t your typical coin-op product," he said, "it is a vending machine at the end of the day - but with a difference and operators’ attitudes towards vending products have had to change."
The candy floss vending machine has developed tremendously since it was first introduced onto the market and for Sheehan the first two years were a big learning curve for the manufacturer.
"The original concept behind the product you see today came from a fairground request to see if we could make an automatic candy floss machine," said Sheehan. "David Hawthorne (managing director of Intermatic) is a pure engineer and designer at heart and just had to have a go. The product has grown from there and we haven’t stopped since - introducing our latest Organic version."
Using fair trade organic ingredients giving the candy floss a slightly different taste, this latest machine has now begun testing in the UK with an extra 50 pence added to the price for the luxury of higher quality products. A big topic in the US, this version was due to be on show at the new Amusement Expo in Las Vegas as InterGame went to print.
As far as other markets go Intermatic has been working with Warehouse of Games in the Middle East for the past two years and recently signed a new distribution deal with Galaxy World in Australia, which received its first container of machines in November of last year. Sheehan also hinted that there had been a good?? amount of interest from operators in Russia.
"Over the next 12 month we will continue to look to world markets but will continue to dedicate a lot of time and effort to the US as well," said Sheehan. "If the IAAPA exhibition held in November is anything to go by then we’re in for a good year and so is the amusement industry generally.
"Lack of finance has been one of the main problems holding the industry back but this is slowly but surely changing and will revive the culture of spending. There are some innovative games out there and new customers and opportunities available."
First published March 2010
