Mark Trotter started Yo Naturals 2 1/2 years ago. With 30 years in the vending-machine industry, he believed he could be successful selling healthy food. He started with 10 machines in the San Diego area. The company now has 12 warehouses, delivering snacks to 70 distributors in 110 cities across the United States. Among the 500 snacks distributed are Pirate's Booty baked snacks, Cliff bars and Horizon Organic milk.

Dehart believes that having Yo Naturals in town will actually make people think more about vending snack foods, and that factor will help her business. When she was brainstorming her business idea, she considered becoming a franchiser for Yo Naturals machines, but couldn't afford the $50,000 owner-operator fee. She's in the process of writing her business plan for her own company with her husband.

Natural food is a necessity in Dehart's home. Her daughter has had skin allergies from food with certain artificial dyes and preservatives.

Dehart envisions vending machines that dispense juice boxes and milk instead of soda pop, and fruit or healthy organic treats instead of potato chips and candy bars. Dehart's goal is to price food from 75 cents to $1, which would be comparable to the prices of junk food in vending machines.

Both children and adults tend to eat healthy at home, but when they're at school or work, they eat vending-machine foods that are often starchy, fatty or sugary, said Dehart, who worked for a decade in the medical field before she had children. She believes that if people are given a choice, they — and even many children — will choose healthier foods.

She plans to use the $10,000 from Advanta to purchase new and used vending machines, which cost from $1,000 to $4,000. She hopes find schools in the next month that want to be her customers, and she eventually wants to expand into offices.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com