Yes, you read that headline correctly. In a mall in Singapore, you can buy Norwegian salmon out of an ATM machine. The ATM opened in January 2019 in the Wisteria shopping mall and proved to be so popular that there are now dozens of ATMS supplying 200-gram fillets of salmon around Singapore.
The company behind the vending machines, Norwegian Salmon Pte Ltd, intends to make salmon affordable for everyone by cutting out a lot of costs: storefronts, distributors, staff, etc. The fillets sell for $4.25 (U.S.), which sounds like a pretty great deal to me. The salmon in the machines is kept at -4 degrees Fahrenheit, so it can remain fresh for up to two years.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsz5Q38HTwp/
Singapore was a natural choice for the company to establish the salmon vending machines because the fish is very popular there and the city-state is known for its vending culture. People in Singapore get many things from vending machines, including ice cream, pizza, salads, books – even luxury cars.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0xN0snnLDm/
Norwegian Salmon Pte Ltd’s founder and CEO, Manish Kumar, who is from Norway, said about his company’s product:
“Part of the reason why I made sure to show that my product is Norwegian salmon and not just any salmon is because Norway has such high standards for sustainability, health, and safety when it comes to the farmed salmon that it exports. The motivation for the Norwegian Salmon ATM was to make Norwegian salmon time- and cost-effective for everyday people. We put the nutrition facts for our salmon on the front of every ATM because we are proud of how healthy it is.”
The machines do not accept cash, but they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What do you think? Would you buy frozen salmon from a vending machine? I think I would!
