About Smoko-Machine
I’m Marcus, the founder of Smoko‑Machine a project focused on making it easier to get cold drinks and practical refreshments to the kinds of sites where fixed vending machines don’t make much sense.
Smoko‑Machine grew out of a simple observation: people take breaks where the work is, not always where the infrastructure happens to be.
On plenty of sites, crews are on decks, in excavations, at remote compounds, or spread along long runs of pavement with very limited access to cold drinks or basic convenience.
The name “Smoko‑Machine” is a nod to the Australian phrase “have a smoko” which means have a short break to grab something to eat or drink in the middle of a hard job.
What we’re working on now
Right now, we’re focused on early‑stage concept and validation work: modelling battery life and refrigeration runtime under different temperatures and usage patterns, sketching how the machine needs to be built to survive real handling on site, and talking to people who actually operate and manage sites about where this could fit or fail. We’re deliberately taking a staged approach, because we’d rather build the right prototype slowly than an impressive but impractical machine quickly.
How we work
We try to keep this project grounded in three things:
Respect for how work actually happens on site, including safety, access and practicality.
Honest communication about stage, assumptions and unknowns.
A willingness to listen to operators, developers and crews and adjust the idea accordingly.
What we are looking for
If you run or develop sites where Smoko‑Machine might make sense, or you’re an investor interested in early hardware concepts with a clear validation path, I’m always open to a conversation. At this stage, useful feedback, pilot opportunities and aligned capital are all part of what will determine whether Smoko‑Machine becomes a real product or stays as a thought experiment.
You can reach me at smokomachine.com.au or via the contact form on this site.
Request a Consultation
If you want to learn more about us and our project, we’d love to hear from you.