FAU Student’s Plan to Provide Healthy Meals from Vending Machine
Wins Business Pitch Competition
Boca Raton, FL – A Florida Atlantic University management major who wants to create a company offering restaurant-quality healthy meals from a vending machine won the $10,000 first prize in the 14th annual Business Pitch Competition held by FAU’s College of Business and the Adams Center for Entrepreneurship.
The meals from custom-built vending machines from Royal Vending Sydney can refrigerate, heat up and dispense the food to the consumer in 90 seconds or less.
Feinstein graduates in May from FAU, but the idea for the company started in 2018, when he was an undergraduate at Florida State University. Living in a campus dormitory with no access to a car, he was left to whet his late-night appetite with sodas, candy and chips from the dorm’s vending machines.
“I weighed over 325 pounds, and my eating habits were terrible,” said Feinstein, now 24. “With all this technology we have, I always wondered, ‘Why are these vending machines outdated?’”
Feinstein later came back home to Boca Raton and enrolled at FAU, where he developed his idea for balanced meals on the go.
He said he will use the prize money to build his venture, working to put the vending machines in airports and universities. He hopes to launch the first vending machine in three to six months, and eventually he wants to franchise the business.
Fit Oven was one of 44 entries in FAU’s annual pitch competition that awards budding entrepreneurs seed money for their business ventures. Because of the pandemic, this was the first year since 2019 that the entire contest was held in-person.
John Thomerson finished in second place and won $5,000 for Pet HealthCare Innovations, a company that makes devices for dogs with mobility impairments.
Third place and $2,500 went to SoFlo Cycles, a company created by Jack Wachter to provide motorcycles to riders in Florida and the southeastern United States.
Feinsten and Thomerson, both mentored by the Adams Center’s assistant director Kevin Cox, Ph.D., will represent FAU at e-Fest, a national business competition this week in Minneapolis.
“I was impressed with the number and quality of entries this year,” said Roland Kidwell, Ph.D., director of the Adams Center. “That also resonated with the judges. They definitely can see a lot of entries turning into successful ventures.”
The $1,500 winner of the FAU Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program’s business contest was August Davis. He was the recipient of the Eric H. Shaw Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for On French, a food preparation and delivery service. Andrea Smith won $1,000 by finishing second with GG by Amara, a company providing personal care products.
Davis and Smith become FAU’s representatives for the statewide pitch competition June 17-18 at the Veterans Florida Virtual Expo in Orlando. Veterans Florida is a nonprofit agency created by the state to help military veterans transition to civilian life and promote Florida’s status as the nation’s most veteran-friendly state. For more information, visit veteransflorida.org.
The Business Pitch Competition is part of FAU’s Innovation and Business Development.
Adams Center for Entrepreneurship:
The Adams Center for Entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) College of Business brings students, faculty, and the community together to fuel the innovation needed to create new venture opportunities in the ever-changing global marketplace. The mission is to create and educate entrepreneurial leaders who will find sustainable solutions to economic and social problems. The Adams Center is named in recognition of FAU graduate and entrepreneur Scott H. Adams.
Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
