System and method for dispensing and sale of bulk products

A bulk product dispensing system for dispensing and sale of bulk product to consumers at a vending location, comprising:

• a dispensing station comprising an ID tag reader and a bulk product dispenser for dispensing bulk product into a re-usable container which includes an ID tag providing a container ID uniquely identifying said container;
• a database server comprising:
• a) a container database storing for each of a plurality of containers, the container ID and associated container information comprising:
• container characteristics, comprising a container type and at least one of a container size and weight;
• and container fill history;
• b) a user information database storing for each of a plurality of users, a user ID uniquely identifying the user and associated user information comprising user preferences;
• and
• c) wherein each user ID is linked to the container ID for each of one or more containers registered to the user ID and the container ID for each of said one or more containers is linked with user preferences selected for the container ID;
• a dispenser controller comprising a processor, a machine readable medium storing instructions and a communication interface configured for communication with the ID tag reader and with the database server, the dispenser controller being configured to communicate with the ID tag reader to obtain the container ID of a container placed at the dispensing station and to communicate with the database server using said container ID to perform a lookup of the user ID, associated user information, associated container information, and user preferences selected for said container ID;
• a user interface for communication with a user;
• said dispenser controller in communication with the user interface, the user interface configured for receiving from a user a product fill request for at least one product selected from a plurality of bulk products available to be dispensed by said dispenser, said product fill request comprising a user selected amount of each of said at least one product;
• said dispenser controller configured to verify compatibility of said product fill request with said container by verifying the product requested satisfies restrictions based on said associated container information and user preferences selected for the container ID and responsive to said verifying, either controlling said dispenser to fill said container with the user selected amount of the at least one product, or displaying a warning to the user if the product fill request is not compatible.