Dynamic Pricing · Kava OS Pro
The 6 p.m. sandwich shouldn't cost the noon price.
Dynamic pricing for vending works when it's predictable and easy to explain. Kava OS marks fresh food down as it nears its date, shifts prices by time of day and applies employer subsidies, all inside guardrails you write. Sites using expiry-aware pricing throw away 33% less fresh food.
- fresh-food waste
- −33%fresh-food waste
- convenience fees charged to shoppers
- $0convenience fees charged to shoppers
- per device per month on Pro
- $39per device per month on Pro
Four reasons a price changes, and nothing else
Expiry-aware markdowns
Fresh items step down as their sell-by date approaches, on a curve you choose per category. The last day sells instead of spoiling.
Time of day
Lower prices in slow hours to pull demand forward, or hold them when the building is busy. Breakfast can cost less after 10 a.m.
Employer subsidies
An employer funds all or part of selected items, by site, group or time window. Shoppers see the subsidized price on the door display.
Brand-funded promotions
Discounts paid for by a brand run as scheduled rules with start and stop times, measured through Retail Media.
Waste is a pricing problem that shows up in the trash.
Here is an illustration with round numbers. A cooler holds 12 sandwiches dated Thursday, priced at $8.00, costing $3.20 each, so $38.40 is on the shelf. Without markdowns, 7 sell at full price and 5 go in the bin. Revenue is $56.00 and gross margin is $17.60.
Now add a curve: 20% off on Wednesday evening, 40% off on Thursday morning. The same 7 sell at full price, 3 more sell at $6.40 and 1 more at $4.80. Revenue is $80.00, margin is $41.60, and one sandwich is thrown out instead of five. Nothing sold below cost.
Real results vary by site. Across 8Kava deployments, expiry-aware pricing cuts fresh-food waste by 33%.
- Curves are set per category: sandwiches, salads, dairy, bakery.
- The floor is your choice: cost, or cost plus a margin.
- Shoppers see the current price before the door opens.
How a markdown rule gets written
Pick the items and sites
Choose a category, a list of items or a single SKU, and the devices where the rule applies.
Choose the curve
Full price until a set time before the date, then the steps you want. Example: −20% at 24 hours, −40% at 8 hours.
Set the guardrails
A floor, a maximum change per move, quiet hours when prices hold, and a limit on how often any item can change in a day.
Preview against last week
Kava OS shows which items the rule would have touched last week and what it would have done to revenue and waste.
Go live and watch
Every change is logged with the rule that triggered it, so a strange price always has an explanation.
The limits, in plain terms
Price limits
- Floor
- Never below cost, or cost plus a margin you set
- Ceiling
- Your list price unless you write a rule that says otherwise
- Maximum move
- Set per rule or action type, for example ±15% on Kava Agent proposals
Timing
- Change frequency
- Capped per item per day
- Quiet hours
- Hold prices steady during windows you choose, such as lunch
Accountability
- Change log
- Every price change with its rule, time and the person or agent behind it
- Rollback
- One click for price changes made by Kava Agent
- Display
- Current price shown on the door display or touchscreen before purchase
Less in the bin, more on the receipt
Could you explain every price to the person paying it, in one sentence?
Dynamic pricing earns its bad name when it means surge pricing on people who can't go anywhere else. Try the night-shift test. If a nurse at 3 a.m. asked why a sandwich cost what it did, would the answer be "it's dated tomorrow, so it's cheaper" or "you're stuck here, so it's more"? The first builds loyalty. The second builds complaints. Write only rules that pass.
How we think about shopper fairness
Markdowns, not surges. Rules in Kava OS start from your list price and move down for freshness, slow hours or a subsidy. Charging above list takes a rule someone writes on purpose and can defend.
The price before the purchase. The current price is on the door display or touchscreen before the shopper taps. Prices change between transactions, never during one.
No hidden fees. No cashless convenience fee is ever imposed on shoppers, whichever processor you use.
Discounts that are explained. Subsidies and loyalty prices show up as what they are, so the person next in line understands why their price differs.
Night shift used to eat from a bag of chips at 3 a.m. Now they eat a real meal, and I get an audit-ready temperature log without anyone touching a clipboard.
Dynamic pricing questions
Will a shopper see the price change while standing at the cooler?
No. The price shown when they tap is the price they pay. Changes apply between transactions, and the door display or touchscreen always shows the current price first.
Can I limit how far prices move?
Yes. Every rule has a floor, such as never below cost, and a maximum change per move. You can also set quiet hours and cap how many times an item changes in a day.
Does it work on legacy spiral machines?
Time-of-day prices and subsidies work on any machine connected through Kava Link, which supports remote price changes. Expiry-aware markdowns fit fresh formats like Kava Cooler best, where dates are tracked per restock.
How do employer subsidies get billed?
Subsidy spend is tracked per site, group and time window, and reconciles with payroll deduct through HRIS connectors. Payments & Loyalty covers the setup.
Can Kava Agent change prices on its own?
Only if you set price changes to Auto, and only inside your guardrails. Every change is logged and can be rolled back with one click. Kava Agent is part of Autopilot; Dynamic Pricing is part of Pro at $39 per device per month.
Where to go next
Stop paying to throw food away.
Try Dynamic Pricing free for 30 days on up to 10 devices as part of a Pro trial. Start with one category and one curve.