Steven Estey - Saint Mary's University

Feature Article
Taking
Healthy
Snacks National
16 MAROON & WHITE I SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
By Alan Johnson
April Glavine and Ryan Johnstone are
behind Lean Machine, vending machines that
offer nutritional snacks and beverages.
Ryan Johnstone and his business partner April Glavine
are taking a bite out of North America’s billion dollar
snack food industry - and they are doing it with
healthy foods.
The two Saint Mary’s University alumni graduated
together in 2004 with very different degrees, but over the
past years they have built a business that has raised money
for community groups, put fresh fruit in school vending
machines and most recently made apple snacks a hit at
movie theatres.
Johnstone graduated with a Bachelor of Science and lives
in Truro. Glavine graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce
and resides in Saint John, New Brunswick. They say
the distance can sometimes make the operation of Lean
Machine a challenge, but when you’re trying to cover
the Canadian marketplace, the points of view from two
different provinces can be a very good thing.
The company started when the pair developed a health
snack vending machine model to take advantage of the
increasingly strict nutrition policies being adopted within
school boards and health care administrations.
“In Nova Scotia we knew a chocolate bar ban based on the
province’s food and nutritional guidelines was coming, so
we tested replacement options from fruit to granola bars on
all our friends,” says Glavine.
With the help of Terra Beata, a Lunenburg cranberry
operation, they looked at dehydrated fruit options. They
tested a range of products from pears to cranberries, but
settled on apples with their distinctly Nova Scotian appeal.
The company went to work and Vita Pome Apple Crisps,
served in individual snack-sized bags, were born.
“Our vision was to have something that satisfies that crispy,
snacking craving,” says Johnstone. “But at the same time,
it’s not loaded with fats or preservatives.”
A 40-gram bag of apple crisps contains 140 calories
and seven grams of fibre, making up 28 per cent of
recommended daily intake.
Spotlight: Green Entrepreneurs
Vita Pome has been on the market for a couple of years. It
is not only sold in vending machines, but following in the
footsteps of the chocolate bar industry, the treat is finding
success in student fundraising campaigns.
The company’s most recent coup comes in the backyard
of its candy bar and fast food competition: movie theatres.
Since the beginning of the summer, Vita Pome has been
available in vending machines at several Empire Theatres
locations in Metro Halifax.
“At Empire Theatres, we have a great track record of
introducing new products that our guests may want to try,”
says Empire’s Dean Leland.
The pair’s product development efforts have leaned heavily
on food experts at PEI’s Holland College, which has allowed
Lean Machine to utilize each vending machine at the school
as a separate focus group for product growth. The machines
allow clients to choose among 50 initial products, five
developed by Lean Machine, and the rest by competitors.
Although the company started with servicing the local
market, it has national aspirations. Glavine and Johnstone
recently struck a deal with the Rocky View School District
in Calgary that will see all of the district’s vending machines
branded with the Lean Machine name and coloring. The
pair is also bidding on what could turn out to be lucrative
health district contracts in various parts of Canada.
The pair’s success may be driven by a ceaseless commitment
to the customer, but they also credit the lessons of their
professors, mentors and business heroes they brushed up
against while at Saint Mary’s University.
“You know I came into the university world chasing my
curiosities about science, but always knowing that business
is what made the world turn,” says Johnstone.
“Saint Mary’s provided me with context and connections and
experiences that I’m not sure I would’ve been able to receive
at another institution. The faculty provided a great backbone
for the foundations of my business mind and how I was able
to connect the dots between science and business.”
MAROON & WHITE I SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY 17