About NARI

A national initiative to modernize autonomous retail — being built as an industry institution, not a vendor platform.

NARI is a nonprofit industry initiative for America’s vending, unattended retail, and autonomous retail ecosystem. Its purpose is practical: help operators — especially independent ones — adopt AI-assisted operations, smarter equipment, connected systems, and better business practices, with better deals, clearer guidance, and a trusted path through the transition.

NARI's mission is to accelerate the AI and robotics transformation of autonomous retail — and to make it fair, strengthening operators, providers, workers, and communities together, as a model for how the physical economy modernizes without leaving people behind.

Why NARI exists

A fair and practical autonomous retail transition.

AI, robotics, connected equipment, and new operating models are rapidly reshaping physical retail. Smart autonomous equipment and AI capabilities are becoming accessible, but most independent operators still lack the internal capacity, purchasing power, and guidance available to large platforms and well-capitalized companies.

NARI creates a shared modernization pathway so the transition does not concentrate value at the top. Its test is practical: operators, providers, workers, local communities, and customers should all be better off. Automation will reshape the sector either way; NARI exists to make its benefits broadly shared rather than narrowly captured.

Principles

NARI’s principles

Operator-centered

Every NARI program must create clear, practical value for operators.

Partner-open

NARI works with multiple qualified providers and does not belong to any single platform or company.

Independently governed

Material decisions follow transparent review, conflict disclosure, and recusal.

Data-aware

Operators retain control of their business data and operational knowledge. Shared benchmarking is voluntary and anonymized.

Practical

NARI prioritizes deployable programs, real operating evidence, and measurable improvement over hype.

How it works

How the NARI model works

NARI combines several practical mechanisms rather than forcing operators into one program or technology.

Shared intelligence and capability — research, education, roundtables, practical guidance, and voluntary benchmarking help the sector understand what is changing and which approaches work.
Open modernization pathways — NARI develops provider-review criteria, interoperability principles, category roadmaps, pilot frameworks, and implementation models open to multiple qualified providers.
Collective access and preferred terms — where operators share common needs, NARI organizes cohorts and develops group-purchasing, financing, preferred-term, and provider-sponsored voucher programs.
Programs built around real demand — training, financing, implementation support, modernization packages, and location-access programs emerge where operator needs meet credible provider capabilities.
Rules shaped by participants — operators and providers help identify barriers, shape standards and data principles, and improve program design. No single company controls the pathway, and no provider reviews its own offer.

Together, these mechanisms create shared industry infrastructure: better information, clearer choices, stronger operator capability, more open standards, and practical programs that improve business conditions across autonomous retail.

Governance

How NARI is governed

NARI is incorporated in Washington, DC, with recognition under Section 501(c)(6) pending. Its governance is designed to serve the sector rather than any single company, platform, or provider:

Board of Directors — holds fiduciary responsibility for NARI’s mission, finances, governance, and major policies.
Advisory Council — brings together experienced leaders across retail, technology, equipment, finance, real estate, policy, and research. It advises but does not override the Board.
Procurement Commission — reviews program terms, provider offers, operator value, and conflicts of interest. No provider reviews its own offer, and NARI takes no undisclosed referral or success fees.
Provider Council — gives participating providers a consultative role in identifying market barriers, technical needs, category roadmaps, and program priorities. It does not control provider review, procurement, or program awards and confers no guaranteed exclusivity.

Operators help shape relevant programs, governance principles, data rules, and modernization priorities. Operators retain control of their businesses, provider relationships, operational knowledge, and data. Shared benchmarking is voluntary and anonymized. Full conflict-of-interest, provider-review, data, and program-integrity policies will be published as they are formally adopted.

What's real now

Founding phase

NARI is in its founding phase. Already in place are the organization’s incorporation in Washington, DC; an initial governance framework; active discussions with founding operators and providers; operating experience contributed by Manna Coffee’s autonomous-retail network and its AI Digital Twin powered by Co:llective; and the State of Autonomous Retail research process. Recognition under Section 501(c)(6) is pending.

Now being built are the Founding Modernization Program, the first operator cohort, the broader partner network, formal provider-review and conflict-of-interest procedures, operator representation mechanisms, data and benchmarking policies, and the first research roundtables.

Founding members are not joining a finished platform — they are helping shape the institution before its programs and rules harden.

Participation

What participation means

For operators — contribute real operating needs and gain practical guidance, voluntary benchmarking, reviewed provider pathways, and access to cohort-based programs — while keeping control of your business, relationships, and data.
For providers — participate in pilots, working groups, and program design; demonstrate value in real operating environments; and reach operator demand through transparent pathways without controlling standards or program decisions.
For the sector and its allies — contribute to shared research, education, interoperability principles, workforce capability, and the State of Autonomous Retail program.

The goal is a stronger, more open market — not privileged treatment for any single member or provider.

Ready to participate?

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