'Eggcellent' vending machine launched by young entrepreneur near Shrewsbury
A young entrepreneur has found a cracking contactless way to provide free range eggs to Shropshire straight from the family farm.
After four years of planning Henry Gibbs launched his first business, Heart of Shropshire Eggs, in January – and unbeknown to him, would be operating throughout the coronavirus pandemic within the first two months.
Having supplied supermarkets throughout the region, the 23-year-old, of Betton Strange near Shrewsbury, focused his efforts on implementing a bespoke egg vending machine complete with sanitising facilities to allow customers a contact-free transaction 24/7.
The buttonless device, based at his family's Bettonfield Farm, is filled daily with mixed-weight eggs just hours after they are laid from one of his chickens roaming 40 acres of grassland.
Henry learnt his trade farming in Australia before returning home to start his business.
The Reaseheath College graduate said: "I started planning the business four years ago and wanted to diversify in order to come home from western Australia to the family farm – I'm the third generation.
"I explored a few areas but I've always had a love of free range chickens, so we had the birds in throughout January before now launching a bespoke vending machine.
"It's open all day, seven days a week, has a hand sanitising dispenser and uses state-of-the-art packing facilities."
Wanting a unique way to distribute eggs while "keeping up with the times", Henry said the Covid-19 crisis could have provided a stumbling block.
"The global pandemic was very unpredictable but I'd been planning it for so long and everything was in place, so I just had to go for it," he said.
"I use automated packing and a robotic palletiser so in terms of staff it's not too bad. I have one lady that helps part time, but thankfully it hasn't affected us too much.
"I hope people continue to support local businesses. Farm shops and butchers are incredibly important and are proving more so throughout the pandemic – when there's a shortage of eggs in supermarkets you know local places can provide."
Henry added: "There's only a few machines like this across the UK. It's something that's quite nice and it's contact free.
"We've had the initial launch period and people are coming from all over the county, so I'm pleased with how it's going so far and only hope people continue to show their support."
For more information, visit heartofshropshireeggs.co.uk
