U-Vend Inc., Santa Monica, Calif., has announced a multiyear licensing agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB) that aims to increase its North American footprint through the sale of MLB premium ice cream products.
Scheduled for availability later this year, consumers will be able to purchase baseball-modeled ice cream, each sold with an MLB team-branded collector bat, from select convenience and national retail stores across the United States. The product also will be available at certain high-traffic MLB-branded self-serve kiosks and merchandisers.
U-Vend currently has more than 130 traditional self-serve kiosk operations across Southern California and Las Vegas.
“The profile of our current business model provides U-Vend with excellent cash flow and solid recurring revenues,” says U-Vend CEO, Raymond Meyers. “Our long-term vision has always been to leverage a premium product across a variety of points-of-sale including retail, convenience store, gas station and other high-traffic operating facilities. The MLB partnership also affords us a significant opportunity to leverage certain digital technologies in ways we have always hoped to. We couldn’t be more excited to be offering a great product in cooperation with Major League Baseball, a globally recognized brand, in a family-friendly way.”
Each U-Vend kiosk and merchandiser also will come with built-in video screens featuring MLB advertising and promotions. — M.Q.