Gloucester based watercooler company diversifies into face mask vending machines

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Nicky Godding

Successful Gloucester business water cooler business, The WCD Group, has signed an exclusive distributor agreement with German vending firm Flavura, for the sale and supply of mask vending machines and masks (Automask) to UK businesses and local government establishments for consumers to access.

Face coverings (non-medical) are now compulsory for people using public transport in England. This move to compulsory face coverings on buses, trains, ferries and planes, and the new rules for hospitals, will coincide with a further easing of lockdown restrictions.

Automask is a tamper and weather proof vending machine which dispenses single-use or reusable cotton face masks with a capacity of around 200 units. The machine is easy to reload and has a contactless payment system, an optional free-vend for corporates or coin operation, if required.

Pete Glanville managing director at the WCD Group said: “We are proud to be the exclusive distributor in the UK for the Automask brand using our established sales and supply operations. Flavura launched the machine in Germany last week with huge interest and we are excited about the prospects in the UK. We know that face coverings will help keep us safe and contain the spread of coronavirus and it’s essential that consumers can easily get hold of one when they need it.”

From our ‘two-man, one-desk’ roots back in 2004 The WCD Group is now a leading drinking water company working with the industry’s biggest equipment manufacturers and supplying some of the largest blue-chip companies in the UK with drinking water coolers, boilers and instant hot taps.

The WCD Group comprises six brands: watercoolersdirect.com; waterboilersdirect.com, airandwaterdirect.com; logistics management at www.letsjobit.com, its fast-growing kettletaps.com site and now automask.co.uk

The Group works with companies across the UK including Barclays, David Lloyd Clubs, Gloucester Rugby, Creed Foodservice, Sainsbury’s, M&S, CBRE, Nationwide and a world-leading logistics company.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.