Remember the three “Q” ‘s:

1. Buy a Quality vending machine….
2. At a Quality price…
3. Place it on a Quality vending location…

And you’ll have a quality business.

The first step is to determine which vending business gives you the best return on your money while taking the least amount of time.  You want a good balance.  Here’s what I mean.  Let’s say you find a business that generates a great amount of money but takes a great deal of work.  Well, anybody can make a lot of money.  What good is the money if you don’t have the time to spend it?  On the other hand, you may find a business that takes four or more years to earn your money back but little to no time at all.  An example of this might be investment securities, the stock market etc.  That’s a great way to leverage your time but with slow results, not to mention high risks.
There are many types of vending businesses that produce a healthy return on your money, however some are very labor intensive.  A perfect example of this would be the snack and drink business.  The snack and drink business is a great business.  However, regardless of how good your locations are, there is just too much work involved to make it worth my time and effort.  Picking up $200.00 at a location that has a snack and drink machine will take 1 to 1 ½ hours including drive time.  After your 50% food cost, that’s not leaving much to pay the rest of your expenses.

Let’s contrast this with another vending business.  Let’s say you own one giant gumball machine.  The machine holds 3500 gumballs.  Once that machine sells out, it will have $875 in it. Don’t go to it until it has sold 80% of the product.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a good location or a bad location.  Understand, this is just an example.  How long it takes for a machine to sell out depends on the amount of customer traffic in the lacerations. Under normal circumstances, you should be able OT service 3 stops per hour. Do the math. Now, that's worth your time! By the way, gumballs cost around 2 cents and cell for 25 cents. Pretty good, huh?

Now, I used two examples that are extreme opposites just to make a point.  Some vending businesses are simply a much better use of your time than others.  Bulk candy, gumball and similar type vending machines that have large capacities, are easy to service and are extremely impressive to the location, give you the best chance to make the most money with the least amount of effort.  The fact is, the profit margins are much higher since the food cost is 50% less than snack and drinks, the capacities of the machines are much greater if you operate the machines we suggest, and the method of service is much more efficient.  Hey, don’t plop in one gumball at a time like you would a coke, candy bar or potato chip.  Grab 500 quarters.  Lift the lid and poor.
Let’s look at the most important issues in vending, location, location and location.  The fact is the market in the U.S. is fairly saturated with machines.  If a location allows machines, they probably have them.  If a location doesn’t have machines, they probably don’t allow them.  The question you need to ask yourself is, “why in the world would they let me in the location?”, especially if they have vending machines already.  The answer is “if you don’t show them an impressive vending machine, they probably won’t let you in the door”.  This is why we only operate impressive machines on our local vending route.  Here’s what we’re talking about:
The most impressive vending machine in the world is the U-Spin Spacesaver.  This merchandiser comes in two different models.  The 4-Spin and the 8-Spin Titanic.  Their names reflect the amount of selections offered to your customer.  No other single merchandiser offers this many selections of bulk candy, gumball, mints, toys and gum while standing a mere 10 inches wide.  Wow!  A location may have a single, double and a triple selection bulk candy vending machine and still not offer as many selections as the 8-Spin Titanic.  The three machines may stand 4 feet wide while the 8-Spin Titanic stands only 10 inches wide.  There are other great machines on the market and most serve a special purpose. Most vendors that use these machines have simply found them to land the great locations and dominate the competition.

What would your rather say when calling on a local restaurant that has a few bulk candy vending machines?

“Pardon me, but I don’t suppose you’d want another two or three selection bulk candy vending machine to help add more clutter to your locations, would you? -(sarcasm)

Or

“Hello.  We provide after-dinner candy services to many restaurants in town with a vending machine that is offers 8 selections of candies, mints, chocolates, toys and more, but stands only 10 inches wide. I’d like to get your opinion on it.  Let me bring it in and tell me what you think about it.” (As you show them a customized color brochure which we can design for you)

The purpose of this Consultation article is simply to help you think about the topics that are most important in order that you may be more qualified to make the right choices.  Most people don’t know what questions to ask let alone which business to start or which vending machines to buy. We’re here to help you with every part of starting your vending business.

Finding Locations--Establishing Your Vending Route

The three most important things your vending business requires to be successful are:

1. Location
2. Location
3. Location

This is paramount to your success in the vending business.

The best and most economic way to establish your route is to do it yourself.  If you’re like most people, they want to start a vending business because they work too many hours already and want to leverage their time.  Having said this, they don’t want to spend additional time finding locations on their own and choose to hire an outside source.  A qualified Professional Location Company is just one method you may choose to have your locations secured in an efficient manor. 

There are several different methods that can be used.  Depending on the type of vending business you’re growing, you may use any of the following methods:

1. Bulk mailer
2. Fax mailer
3. Hire location Company (in person)
4. Hire location Company (via phone sales)
5. Hire (subcontract) local individual (friends etc.)
6. Do it yourself - door to door or via telephone (Recommenced)

One important factor when establishing your vending business is the vending machine you are presenting to the location.  For example:  If you decided to start a bulk candy vending business, you would want to make sure that you purchase a bulk vending machine that impresses your potential client.  If you call on a good location that already has machines, you may want to show them something with multiple selections like the 8-Spin Titanic.  This bulk candy and gumball vending machine offers 8 selections while only being 10 inches wide.  If you were to call on the busiest locations in town that already have machines, you’ll find getting in the door of locations to be very effective with this vending machine.  Remember, the most important opinion is the one of your customer.

When using a Professional Location Company, make sure you find a company that isn’t promising you some “too good to be true” story.  If they claim they guarantee some great revenue in each location or they’ll “replace it for free”, ask them first how many times and for how long they’ll replace that one location for free.  Also, if they say they’ll do it for free, they’re either charging too high a price to begin with or they’re not going to come back out and do it for free.  Understand that the actual locator that does the job retains half of the locating fees.  He or she is independent and locating companies contract the work out to the locator.  They will not come out for free.  The more reasonable guarantees are the ones that say they’ll replace the location for half price.  Look for lifetime warranties.  They can do this because 100% of the funds go to the actual locator so he or she is working for the same amount as they were when the secured the original locations.

The best way to secure great locations:

• Buy a very impressive machine (Think like your customer. Your opinion doesn't matter as much has his/her opinion about the machine)
• Call on the best locations yourself (In person)
• Bring the machine with you (Let the machine do all the selling. Just ask for their opinion)

Happy Vending!