CTLP/365 Retail Markets

CTLP: Customers unbothered by deal, while competitor highlights potential path to completion

Customers and competitors of Cantaloupe and 365 Retail Markets appear relaxed in general about the merger of the two providers of unattended point-of-sale (POS) devices and services, notwithstanding complaints to enforcers by one competitor, according to numerous interviews with industry participants.

365 announced the acquisition of Cantaloupe in June 2025, merging the two POS providers. The deal received a second request from the US Federal Trade Commission in September. 

CTFN previously reported a view from a person familiar to the matter that 365 thought the agency’s investigation would conclude in early January.

In interviews with CTFN since, third parties expressed mostly constructive views about the proposed merger, though one in particular suggested to CTFN issues with the interoperability of competing vending management systems (VMS), while acknowledging a potential path to resolve the issue.

Separately, a district general manager at one of the largest customers of Cantaloupe and 365 that uses its own VMS told CTFN he is unbothered by the proposed merger, as did a senior vice president at a large foodservice company, who added it would be “suicide” for 365 to force customers to use its VMS.

Meanwhile, competitors have seen an uptick in new customer activity since the deal was announced, according to a vice president at a competing POS firm, showing that operators may be preemptively seeking — and finding — alternatives to the merged entities' ecosystem. He said the merger “has been a positive move on our end” since announced. 

An executive at another direct competitor said the deal could accelerate his firm’s growth, highlighting the ability of customers to choose an alternative provider in the market.

The owner of a competing provider of hardware and VMS, which also offers a kiosk-conversion service for operators to inexpensively switch from one VMS to another — on which CTFN reported in November — noted his company had quickly and inexpensively converted dozens of machines recently on behalf of kiosk operators wishing to switch away from Cantaloupe, saving them thousands of dollars in software fees. This conversion process is done through software developed by the company.

Separately, the CEO of a VMS provider who had spoken with the FTC in September — prior to the second request — expressed generally negative sentiments about the transaction. His comments focused on vertical foreclosure of competing software vendors, by which 365 could restrict kiosk operators from using third-party VMS software within their 365 or Cantaloupe machines.

CTFN notes the merging parties would be hard-pressed to foreclose existing customers, especially larger micro-market foodservice operators like Canteen (which also runs its own VMS) and Aramark, given their size and leverage.

Still, in recent years, 365 has been reluctant to allow new third-party integration with its hardware, even blocking an operator’s use of another VMS provider’s software. Cantaloupe, conversely, has shown openness to third-party integration.

The owner of the competing provider of hardware and VMS said a 365 executive recently expressed remorse for shutting its doors to third parties over the past few years and, once the deal is complete, wants to open this channel of cooperation again.

The CEO of the competing VMS provider who spoke with the FTC told CTFN that if 365 reopened the door to third party integration again, he would “definitely” be in favor of that. 

Third party integration would likely resolve one of the major problems the deal might be facing, CTFN notes, should staff at the FTC conclude a vertical consent decree incorporating an interoperability remedy is necessary to allow the transaction to proceed.

Another concern the CEO expressed to the FTC was price-bundling practices at Cantaloupe and 365. If unbundled, operators could see certain software fees increase as much as five times.

To counter this, the CEO stated they are talking with several different cashless kiosk hardware providers to partner and compete by offering similar pricing benefits to kiosk operators.

The National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) has vending-data intercharge (VDI) technical standards that promote switching and compatibility between systems. The head of the VDI task force is Chad Francis, a vice president at 365.

The second competing vice president, who previously worked at Cantaloupe and focused on micro markets, told CTFN that a divestiture — if required — could include previously acquired assets, as those were made in order to directly compete with 365 in micro markets, such as Three Square Market (32M).

One question that remains outstanding is how the FTC would define the market. When analyzing the different POS mechanisms, the scope of the industry broadens. 

Clients of Cantaloupe and 365 mainly offer unattended self-service kiosks, though they also provide smart coolers and smart vending machines, often marketing this latter option as a viable alternative to kiosks. 365 calls its PicoCooler, for example, the “centerpiece of a small workplace micro market”, while Cantaloupe says its Cooler Café carries the “product mix of a micro market”.

The market definition therefore likely includes both self-service kiosks and smart vending operations, making it broader than just kiosks.

The smart-vending space has many other players such as HAHA Vending, Micromart, Vending Concepts, Vendekin and Vendtek, and there is a variety of VMS services to back them such as VendingOps and VendSoft, to name a few.

As for potential new entrants in the POS arena, Televend, a European company that is building its own VMS, has made significant strides in the US market, while various other European companies, as well as Chinese and Indian firms, have also taken up market share, according to several people interviewed for this story.