Business is booming all over the country for Human Healthy Vending. But not here. In fact, the Santa Monica company has only two machines installed on its home turf.

That’s about to change. Human (which stands for Helping Unite Man and Nutrition) plans to install up to 50 vending machines in Los Angeles County in the next year and 250 in the next three years. The machines sell only healthy food and drinks.

Chief Executive Sean Kelly said he waited to expand locally until he knew the company could handle the growth.

“We know it will be one our highest growth markets,” he said. “We wanted to make sure all the kinks were worked out before we made a very strong push in our backyard.”

The company, which has nearly 700 machines in 35 states, installed its first machine in Los Angeles last year at Jewish private school Shalhevet near the Miracle Mile.

Human sells its machines to operators for $7,000 to $10,000 and helps them stock machines through contracts with vendors such as cereal maker Kashi Co. of La Jolla.

Operators keep their sales money. Human makes its money by selling the machines. It also charges for operator training, sells advertising and gets product rebates.

Kelly, who co-founded the 20-person company with Andy Mackensen in 2007, acknowledged that Los Angeles could be a difficult market because of the growing number of options for healthier eating.

“The competition is very intense,” he said.