Case studies:

The client

Vending Direct is a New Zealand leader in vending machine supply and micro-retail solutions. For over 20 years, they have provided convenient, high-quality food and beverage options to workplaces, gyms, healthcare facilities and public spaces across the country.

With the largest product range in the New Zealand market, Vending Direct offers an end-to-end service, from machine installation through to restocking and ongoing maintenance. As the business has continued to grow, so too has the need for a flexible workforce that can keep up with changing operational demands across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

For People & Culture Manager, Briana Hunt, Sidekicker has helped Vending Direct access reliable workers quickly, maintain productivity across sites and build a more scalable approach to temporary staffing.

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The challenges

Keeping pace with a fast-moving operation

Vending Direct’s staffing needs can change quickly from day to day. With fluctuating order volumes, staff leave, absenteeism and changing site requirements, the team needed a way to scale their workforce up and down without adding unnecessary operational pressure.

Workforce flexibility became increasingly critical as Vending Direct entered a significant period of operational growth and transformation. The acquisition and integration of additional businesses, expansion of service requirements across regions, and relocation into a substantially larger facility in late 2025 created greater variability in operational demand, staffing requirements, and workflow complexity across their business.

“In an environment where customer demand, operational priorities, and integration activities can shift rapidly day-to-day, having a flexible staffing solution is essential. It enables us to respond efficiently to changing business needs, maintain service continuity, support growth initiatives, and scale our workforce up or down in a way that is both operationally sustainable and commercially responsible.”

Traditional temp agencies were too slow and inconsistent

Before using Sidekicker, Vending Direct had relied on traditional temp agencies to help fill gaps in their rosters but found the experience too slow and inconsistent for the pace of their operations.

In a fast-moving logistics and supply environment, waiting for an account manager to return a call created delays and gave the team low visibility over who would arrive on site, or if they would arrive at all. Worker reliability and quality also varied, making it difficult to build a consistent temporary workforce.

“We had previously engaged a number of temporary staffing providers; however, we experienced ongoing challenges with consistency, reliability, and the overall quality and suitability of candidates supplied. Given the operational demands and fast-paced nature of Vending Direct’s business, this created difficulties in maintaining continuity, productivity, and service standards. As a result, we did not consider those arrangements to be a sustainable or effective workforce solution for the business.”

The solution

A faster way to fill shifts across multiple sites

Sidekicker gave Vending Direct a faster, more flexible way to respond to staffing needs across its operations. Instead of relying on phone calls, emails and manual back-and-forth, the team can now post shifts, review applicants and coordinate coverage directly through the platform.

For Briana, the speed of the platform has been one of the biggest advantages, particularly when managing last-minute requirements across multiple locations.

“The responsiveness and speed of the Sidekicker platform has been extremely valuable from an operational and workforce planning perspective. From Head Office in Auckland, I’m able to coordinate short-notice staffing requirements across multiple regions, including Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, and secure suitable workers within a matter of hours. This has significantly improved our ability to respond to unplanned absences, maintain operational continuity, and minimise disruption across the business.”

More visibility and control over hiring decisions

Sidekicker also gave Vending Direct more control over who comes onto their sites.

Instead of having workers assigned by an agency without any visibility, the team can review applicant profiles, previous experience and work history before making a hiring decision. This has helped Vending Direct improve the quality of workers selected for each shift and build a more consistent temporary workforce.

“The visibility and control to be able to review detailed profiles of all applicants before making hiring decisions has a huge impact on the quality of staff we get. Even if a Sidekick hasn't worked with us before we can view exactly what roles they have done on the Sidekicker platform, and who they have worked for to find a fit for our needs ”

The results

The results highlight how Sidekicker has helped Vending Direct build a more reliable, productive and cost-effective temporary workforce.

• Average star rating given to Sidekicks is 4.97/5 stars
• Average time to first apply is <20 minutes
• Sidekick no-show rate is <0.50%

A reliable workforce that keeps productivity high

With access to star ratings, reliability scores and Talent Pools, Vending Direct can identify high-performing Sidekicks and bring them back for future shifts.

This has helped the team build a pool of reliable workers who understand Vending Direct’s processes and can step into shifts without the productivity drop-off often associated with temporary staffing.

“Getting experienced Sidekicks in to fill gaps in our roster has helped us maintain productivity and minimise disruption when covering short-term staffing gaps.”

A more cost-effective alternative to traditional agencies

Sidekicker has also helped Vending Direct move away from a traditional agency model that was both costly and inconsistent.

As Vending Direct’s usage has grown, Sidekicker has continued to support the business with a pricing model that works for their evolving operational needs.

“With Sidekicker the pricing we started on was super competitive, and as we have scaled our usage our pricing has been adjusted accordingly, so we find we get great value from the platform …it has evolved into an important part of our broader workforce planning approach"

A core part of Vending Direct’s staffing strategy

For Vending Direct, Sidekicker has become more than a way to fill last-minute gaps. It has become a flexible workforce solution that gives the team the speed, visibility and reliability they need to support a fast-growing operation.

With the ability to scale quickly, rehire trusted Sidekicks and maintain productivity across sites, Vending Direct now has a temporary staffing model that can keep pace with the demands of the business today, while supporting its growth into the future.

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