Vigo has put something unusual in its car parks. Could the rest of Spain be next?

Forgotten dinner shopping could take you somewhere unexpected in Vigo, where vending machines are serving up frozen seafood in the very last place you might think to look: the car park. You know the feeling. The shops are shut, dinner still needs sorting, and the thought of finding somewhere open is about as appealing as discovering you’ve left your shopping bags in the boot. But what if your nearest car park had a rather unusual solution?

In Vigo, Galicia, drivers can buy frozen seafood from vending machines, including prawns, instead of heading to the supermarket or fishmonger’s. And no, these aren’t machines selling seafood-flavoured crisps. They’re stocked with actual frozen products to take home and cook. It’s an unexpected twist on the familiar vending machine, which has traditionally been associated with emergency chocolate bars, fizzy drinks and snacks that fall out with a thud.

What can you actually buy?

The machines have been installed by Vigo-based Welgood Technologies, a company better known for managing car parks and developing technology for motorists. There are 19 vending machines across eight of its car parks, with frozen seafood available at five locations: Urzaiz, Policarpo Sanz, Independencia, Náutico Cíes and Pintor Colmeiro. 

The selection includes wild-caught langostinos in 800g boxes and peeled, deveined king prawn tails, including smaller packs of around 200g. Prices reported for the products range from €14.10 to €20.60. One of the offerings is an 800g pack of Easy Peel king prawns, sold exclusively through the machines. The shell has been cut to make peeling easier during preparation, saving a little fiddling around when it is time to cook.

Customers can pay by card, while the company is working on integrating product purchases and stock reservations into its mobile app. The idea is to let people secure what they want from their usual car park rather than discover that the machine has sold out.  Naturally, the seafood is frozen, so anyone buying it needs to transport and store it appropriately before cooking. This is not a machine dispensing a hot seafood platter to eat on the bonnet.

Your car park might have dog ice cream, too

Seafood is only part of the experiment. Welgood has also installed machines selling pet products under its Pit&Pet brand, including refrigerated and frozen food, snacks, yoghurts, dog ice cream, toys and hygiene items. The range varies by location, with some car parks offering food while others have a broader selection of accessories and care products. 

The thinking is straightforward: car parks have a steady stream of people passing through, including outside normal shop opening hours. Why not offer them something useful while they are there? Commercial director Patricia Díaz informed that the company wants to challenge the assumption that vending machines are only for unhealthy snacks and fizzy drinks. She said the new service had received a positive initial response, although its longer-term success remains to be seen. 

Could seafood vending machines spread across Spain?

Vigo’s experiment raises an obvious question: could we soon find frozen seafood in car parks in Madrid, Barcelona or Málaga? There is no confirmed nationwide rollout to announce their expansion. The current installations are in Vigo, and there is no evidence yet that the seafood machines are coming to other Spanish cities. However, Welgood offers other brands the opportunity to sell products through its vending network or rent machines for their own locations.

That creates a possible route for the concept to expand if retailers see a market for it. But for now, only Vigo gets to enjoy the fruits of the vending machine, especially as it is  a city closely associated with seafood and the fishing industry. But the underlying principle could work elsewhere: put products people want somewhere they already visit, and make them available beyond conventional shop hours. So next time you head into a car park, don’t just look for your parking space. You might find dinner waiting beside the ticket machine.