The Global Gumball company is a multinational company that manufactures and distributes gumball and candy dispensing machines and related replacement parts. The company was founded in 1975, and is headquartered in Illinois. The company's first products were gumball and candy vending machines that were sold as expensive specialty items in places like casinos, restaurants, and amusement parks. The company grew rapidly with the introduction of the first self-service gumball machine in 1988. This was followed by gumball machines that dispensed candy bars, and later candy cups, which are the most popular type of machine today. The company has also expanded into making gumball machines that sell other types of food, such as ice cream, hot dogs, and soft drinks. Global Gumball also makes gumball machines that are ideal for personal use in homes, offices, classrooms, and other places where the machines are more common than people. The Global Gumball company has a large number of types of gumball machines, including self-service models that dispense gumballs to customers who insert coins or tokens into the machine, some models which only dispense gumballs when a consumer inserts a coin or token into the machine after it starts dispensing them, other models which only dispense a small amount of gumballs at a time to help ensure they do not run out quickly. Global Gumball also makes various types of machines that sell candy bars or candy cups. Gumball machines manufactured by Global Gumball can be found almost anywhere where there is a need for them - they are found in grocery stores, schools, churches, airports, government buildings, and anywhere else that people visit frequently.