Coffee machines, serving 60 hot and iced drinks, now at SkyTrain stations | Daily Hive

Coffee machines, serving 60 hot and iced drinks, rolled out at SkyTrain stations and SeaBus terminals

G&A Robot beverage vending machine at SkyTrain's Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

Some shades of Japan’s famous vending machine culture are beginning to appear on Metro Vancouver’s public transit system.

Commuters in need of a quick caffeine fix now have access to new beverage vending machines at nine SkyTrain stations and SeaBus terminals — and growing.

High-tech beverage vending machines that use internal mechanisms to prepare and mix ingredients have now been installed inside eight SkyTrain stations and one SeaBus terminal, providing passengers quick access to everything from lattes to iced Americanos while they wait for their train or ferry. Even more locations will soon be rolled out.

This is not to be confused with a typical beverage vending machine that dispenses factory-prepared bottled drinks.

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G&A Robot’s beverage machines use fresh liquid milk — not powdered milk — to prepare the drinks when ordered by a customer. As well, all coffee beverages are espresso-based, with the machine freshly grinding its supply of coffee beans from Vancouver’s very own 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters.

There is even a small window on the front side of the machine where customers can smell the aroma of the beans.

In total, each machine can prepare up to 60 different hot and cold beverages, including an assortment of lattes, Americanos, cappuccinos, and mochas, as well as milk teas with regular, matcha, mango, and taro flavour options.

There are also specialty and seasonal beverages, such as refreshing dragon fruit, lychee, lemonade, and orange drinks.

g&a robot beverage machine skytrain commercial broadway station

G&A Robot beverage vending machine at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

During the ordering process using the machine’s large touch screen, customers can even customize the level of sugar and ice in their beverage.

The wide range of options is comparable to, if not exceeding, the number of beverage menu options found at many brick-and-mortar cafes. Moreover, the prices are highly competitive with brick-and-mortar cafes prepared by baristas; generally, the G&A Robot machine prices are lower — generally ranging from approximately $2.50 to roughly $4.50, inclusive of tax. The quality is also comparable.

All beverages also come in one cup size only, with dedicated slots in the machine dispensing different lids and straw types for hot and iced drinks.

A “restaurant-in-a-box” concept

Upon inquiry, Ian Zhu, the business development manager for G&A Robot, told Daily Hive Urbanized that the company’s founder and CEO, Steven Zhang, found his initial inspiration for creating the business concept during the peak of the pandemic.

The need for preparing food in a health-safe and sanitized environment led to the idea of a “restaurant-in-a-box” concept — a compact machine to prepare fresh food and beverages, offering convenient, grab-and-go dining options, while minimizing person-to-person contact.

Through a locked, clear door, customers can peer through and watch the machine’s mechanisms prepare and mix the drink. When complete, the cup rotates toward the door, which unlocks and retracts for the customer to grab.

After each beverage order is completed, the beverage circuits and tubes of the machines are flushed with hot water automatically as a cleaning procedure. The machines found on TransLink’s public transit hubs are also serviced on a daily basis by G&A Robot’s operations crew, who perform refills of the water, milk, coffee beans, and other ingredients, and conduct basic cleaning. Additionally, the machines are deep-cleaned by the crew every three to four days, which follows the company’s strictly regulated standard of procedure.

On the touch screens of the machines, customers are also able to view the real-time conditions for health safety transparency, including the refrigerator temperature, the time and date the milk supply was filled, and the last cleaning times of the milk and water circuits and tubes.

Prior to ordering, customers can also toggle and view the nutritional information for each beverage.

G&A Robot beverage vending machine at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

To bring the machine to life, Zhang — who comes from a background in the retail and manufacturing industries — partnered with Kai Geng, who holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from SFU, and Leo Li, a seasoned multi-unit franchisee who oversees several food and beverage retail stores across Canada.

The idea gained the momentum it needed after the trio attended the Consumer Technology Association trade show in Las Vegas, where they found themselves walking kilometres just to buy a cup of coffee that cost about $10.00. That experience cemented their plan to launch the venture, with the “G” in the company’s name standing for Gourmet and the “A” for Automatic.

“All of my colleagues may come with a different background, but what brings us together is our shared passion for food and beverage, and our vision to leverage technology to bring delicious, convenient, and personalized food and beverage service to places where traditional cafes and restaurants are not accessible,” Zhu told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Beverages, ice cream, and meals at rapidly growing number of locations

Currently, there are a total of nine G&A Robot beverage vending machines found on TransLink’s public transit system across Metro Vancouver:

SkyTrain Waterfront Station
SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station
SkyTrain 29th Avenue Station
SkyTrain Joyce-Collingwood Station
SkyTrain Metrotown Station
SkyTrain Lake City Way Station
SkyTrain Sapperton Station
SkyTrain Richmond-Brighouse Station
SeaBus Lonsdale ferry terminal

Expect this list to quickly grow as more locations are added.

The first G&A Robot beverage vending machine on the public transit system was launched at SkyTrain’s Surrey Central Station in July 2025, but it was removed shortly after due to its bulkier and less reliable first-generation design. Zhu says a second-generation machine — more compact and technologically improved — was installed at Commercial–Broadway Station in late August 2025, with another set to return to Surrey Central Station as a permanent upgraded replacement.

As well, G&A Robot will also be installing an ice cream vending machine at SkyTrain’s Brentwood Town Centre Station. It will dispense soft-serve ice cream, made of a vanilla-flavoured Dairyland mix, with customers provided with the option to choose from three syrup toppings (mango, chocolate, and strawberry) and three solid toppings (rainbow sprinkles, M&M’s, and Oreo crumbs).

It intends to roll out more machines onto the public transit system gradually.

Various types of the company’s vending machines can also be found at other locations beyond the public transit system, including beverage vending machines at UBC’s Gage student residence, Killarney Community Centre, BCIT Burnaby campus, and H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.

Ryan Hunt, the CEO of the Museum of Vancouver, which shares a building with the space centre, told Daily Hive Urbanized that he has set forth on a personal challenge of trying and ranking all 60 beverage options in the G&A Robot machine.

The ice cream vending machines can also be found at both BCIT and BC Place Stadium, and they also have grab-and-go bento-style boxed meal machines at the space centre, Richmond Hospital, and UBC.

g&a robot beverage machine hr macmillan space centre

G&A Robot beverage vending machine at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. (H.R. MacMillan Space Centre)

g&a robot bento machine hr macmillan space centre

G&A Robot bento vending machine at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. (H.R. MacMillan Space Centre)

Right now, the company operates over 40 fresh food and beverage vending machines across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Zhu anticipates roughly 20 additional fresh food and beverage vending machines will be deployed over the coming weeks, and the company has plans to expand to more markets across Canada by the end of 2025 — establishing operating bases in Victoria, Calgary, and Toronto.

G&A Robot also has a smartphone app available on both Android and iOS, which offers a map of the machine locations and discounts for frequent customers.

Over the last few years, as a way to boost ancillary revenue and add amenities for passengers, TransLink has been working with various companies and vendors to roll out vending machines onto the public transit system, with other companies providing machines that sell freshly squeezed orange juice, packaged sushi meals, and even whimsical air balloons.

This includes TransLink’s partnership with Snackyo, a company that has deployed vending machines selling a selection of imported Japanese snacks and beverages, including an assortment of Pocky sticks, Pokemon-branded gum, Doraemon-branded chocolate balls, chocolates, crackers, gummies, and other uniquely Japanese sweets and savoury treats.

TransLink told Daily Hive Urbanized that Snackyo vending machines are currently available at SkyTrain’s Capstan Station, Olympic Village Station, and Metrotown Station, with the first machine installed at Capstan Station in December 2024. Additional locations are being explored by TransLink.

Zhu also emphasized that G&A Robot drew inspiration from the widespread success of vending machines in Asia, where they have become an integral part of daily public transit life, and sees strong potential to replicate that success in Metro Vancouver.

In many parts of Asia — especially in Japan — vending machines are ubiquitous fixtures in and around public transit hubs, providing an extraordinary variety of goods around the clock.

In Japanese train stations, beverage vending machines are highly common, offering both iced and hot coffee, tea, soft drinks, and even soups. There are also machines dispensing snacks, instant ramen, hot meals, and bento-style boxed lunches, plus more items such as umbrellas, batteries, SIM cards, and capsule toys (gacha-pon).

Japan’s density of vending machines is among the world’s highest — some estimates suggest one machine for every 23 people or more than five million machines countrywide.

Because Japan’s public transit hubs often operate early and late or 24 hours, vending machines serve both commuters and travellers as a fast, unmanned retail option when shops are closed or people do not have time to enter a brick-and-mortar cafe, restaurant, or store. Such machines also take up significantly less space than a brick-and-mortar location, do not require manned labour, and carry far less overall operational and maintenance costs. In Japan, space is limited, especially in major cities, and a major labour shortage persists.

In other Asian countries, the presence of vending machines at public transit hubs is growing, though they tend to focus more narrowly on drinks and snacks rather than the more novel and full meal offerings commonly found in Japan.

G&A Robot beverage vending machine at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

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