The much-heralded Flying Turtle robotic drinks machines have made their debut in UK petrol retail outlets, and plans are underway to scale the brand.
A Certas truckstop and Jet dealer are the first to install the units, which dispense hundreds of hot and cold drinks from milkshakes to matcha and mochas.
The machines, which are commonplace in Thailand, and have 10,000 installations in nine countries, were introduced to the UK at The Forecourt Show last April.
Since then, one made an appearance at Forecourt Trader’s On The Road event hosted by David Charman, and operators who attended were interested in taking a unit.
The business, which has a warehouse in Battersea, has just begun a trial with a coffee equipment provider to distribute and service machines to outlets in Lincolnshire, East and West Sussex, and parts of Kent.
Establishing such agreements with other companies, such as vending machine suppliers, is the most effective way for the brand to reach scale, says Flying Turtle Beverage co-founder Thomas Morrison.
Unusually for the UK market, the touchscreen cabinets allow customers to customise their drinks with various sweetness levels, extra shots, crunchy biscuit toppings and coffee bean selection, including the Geisha bean as a speciality upgrade.
The latest model produces 500 drink options, says Morrison, including protein shakes, slushies, sparkling fruit soda, smoothies, premium coffees and teas.
He took delivery of a batch of machines last week and says that he has five that he is still looking for homes for within the M25, where his team of four is able to refill the units with ingredients and water.
“All the retailer needs to do is to provide electricity and a metre square of space,” says Morrison, “we provide the machine, the materials, refilling and maintenance.”
A revenue share, where retailers receive a return of at least 20%, is the favoured arrangement, but the business will consider another model where retailers pay for a certain amount of drinks per month.
Certas Energy is trialling Flying Turtle at its Watling Street Truckstop near St Albans in Hertfordshire at J9 of the M1, and says that if sales go well it hopes to roll the brand out at its other haulage stop-offs and company-owned estate of Gulf forecourts, including its unattended sites where it may put the units under canopy.
“Three weeks in and it seems to be doing well,” says Certas Energy head of estate development Mike Heaton. “We had a glitch with taking payments, but the guys came out straightaway,” he says.
“We’ve been discussing Flying Turtle for quite a while which we liked because it adds something different to the drinks we already provide. And if the café shuts at 10pm drivers can still get a drink. It looks good: clean and fresh.”
Top-sellers for the truckstop include a matcha and an espresso protein shake, which will both retail at £4.59 once an initial half-price promotion ends. A strawberry energy drink, which will cost £2.79, is also proving popular with truck drivers.
In a LinkedIn post, Brentford Service Station, the other petrol outlet with a machine at its high street site, says Flying Turtle is meeting a demand for innovation. Manoj Agnihotri, retail head of development and operations of the wider Brentford Service Group, says: “Forecourt drinks have barely changed in a decade. Our customers have. They want choice, speed and quality at 6am and at midnight. So we have stopped waiting for the big chains to go first. Independent forecourts can lead.”
They are among 12 locations with Flying Turtle, including two shopping centres, a leisure facility, a gym, a university campus and at Wimbledon’s tennis club.
“We have to be careful not to bungle things by not having support in place for the machines we provide,” he explains. “I don’t want to provide a bad service.”
