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I just recently got an account with a mortgage call center for one of the major financial institutions in my area.  I placed a vendo 721 and ap 122 at this location.  There are currently 60 people working there, but they will eventually grow to 150 employee's.  I was servicing my machines yesterday and one of the employee's ask me if I could offer coffee because they have nothing.  I told her I would look into it and share some ideas with her manager.  It's never been my intention to get into the coffee business, but I don't want to miss out on this revenue, as well.  What are my options?

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You have several options depending on which avenue you prefer. 

 

  • You could provide traditional OCS (Office Coffee Service) with 2 - or 3 - burner brewers that could be pour-overs or plumbed in.  You would then sell the coffee and ancillary products to the location while keeping the decanters clean and providing maintenance on the brewers. 
  • You could provide single cup machines, of which there are a variety of styles.  They sit on a counter or a stand and, if they use beans and soluble products, offer coffee, chocolate, french vanilla and other flavors made from those ingredients.  They will hold only one cup size.  This machine can be coin operated.
  • You could also put in a K-cup machine which allows the customer to choose from a rack of potential flavors, what they wish to brew.
  • Either of these last two machines can also be leased to the account while you are also selling them the products that are used in them.
  • Lastly, is a full size coffee vending machine.  It will take coins and bills, of course, be dual cup and bankable with your machines. 

You can find all of these machines available on the used market, but be sure to buy from a trustworthy used equipment seller so you can be trained in the operation of whichever you get.  The pour over and plumbed in brewers are fairly affordable as new machines, but you can always get single cup or full size machines new though they are very expensive.

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Only get involved if management will ban all other brewing devises from the premises in writing.

 

All the thermoses they want but no other brewers.

 

I like the looks if the one in this link. But I have never seen one in person.

 

People seem to love there K cups

 

http://www.keurig.com/?sc_itemid=%7B23D4E0D2-FAFF-4140-9D84-B20EEF2531E4%7D

 

 

Walta

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I am also trying to get a grasp on the coffee venture.  I am debating between dealing with k-cups or traditional burners but I think it really depends on demographics.  Young, white-collar seem to like k-cups while older, blue collar prefer the traditional burners.

 

What I don't want to do (and you probably don't want to do either) is invest into a market that is trending down.  I think traditional burners still have a long way to go before they get completely phased out though.

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Like walta said offer a Keurig machine and sell the pods out of the snack machine.Or another way to get around the commercial UL listing thing is to "donate" a standard non vending style brewer to them free of charge with an invoice showing it was a donation to them free from you.

 

I am pretty sure techvend sells the snack machine insterts that help vend the pods.

 

Or try your hand at offering OCS and see if they will do that.

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I just recently got an account with a mortgage call center for one of the major financial institutions in my area.  I placed a vendo 721 and ap 122 at this location.  There are currently 60 people working there, but they will eventually grow to 150 employee's.  I was servicing my machines yesterday and one of the employee's ask me if I could offer coffee because they have nothing.  I told her I would look into it and share some ideas with her manager.  It's never been my intention to get into the coffee business, but I don't want to miss out on this revenue, as well.  What are my options?

I haven't set up coffee yet but I have done a lot of research and found that the Keurig K-kup system is the cheapest entry and there are a lot of flavors available.  The machines run between $200 and $350 and Technivend sells the snack machine adapters to vend the K-kups at about $20 a pop.  The full on coffee vending machines start at about $4,000 and can really go up, maybe as high as $12,000.

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Without having done any research of my own, there are two drawbacks I see to the K cups.  One is that they are all coffee - no chocolate, tea or soluble french vanilla?  You also have to deal with customers bringing their own K cups to use in your machine, preventing you selling to them.  There are several retail K cup knockoffs on the market now and most are cheaper than the K cup brand - and they all work in the Kuerig machine.

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Without having done any research of my own, there are two drawbacks I see to the K cups.  One is that they are all coffee - no chocolate, tea or soluble french vanilla?  You also have to deal with customers bringing their own K cups to use in your machine, preventing you selling to them.  There are several retail K cup knockoffs on the market now and most are cheaper than the K cup brand - and they all work in the Kuerig machine.

 

In large accounts people bring their own stuff all the time and use our napkins, sporks, salt, pepper, etc. Some accounts require visa coolers that in the end promote and support people having a place to store their items brought from home. It is just one of those necessary evils of the vending business.

 

 

In low volume accounts where a full size coffee vending machine is not practical I don’t care if they bring their own or not. Offering the table top Keurig brewer is just a way to please the account yet be very cost effective in doing so. It will make you a little money but not take forever on your ROI.

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The coffee business is a very nice business to be in! I love it!

Your goal is too sell as much coffee and allied products as possible. I use only fresh whole beans. The beans get ground up by the coffee machine, steeped and then delivered to a cup. I use 8-12 oz cups which I sell for .08-.10 cents per cup. I charge $15 per pound of coffee beans and I sell ALLLIED products like stix, sugar, raw sugar, honey, splenda, lids, real %18, %10 and %3 cream. I double my money on sweeteners, charge by the litre for milk products and throw in stir stix for free!

For office coffee service I recommend you use a coffee brewer like this;

http://www.cafection.com/images/brochure/galleria_feuillet_eng_coffee_avalon_cafection.pdf

The machine grinds, steeps and spits out a fresh cup of coffee in about 20 seconds. FRESH GROUND COFFEE can not be beat. This machine also vends hot choc ( sell hot choc for $10 per pound or by the bag) it also vends French vanilla. Customers love starbucks beans, Columbian beans and a third choice just in case some customer loves coffee from Africa or Marley coffee!

If a customer complains ( and they will ) that the coffee is too strong you can adjust this and solve the problem! I use these machines, they are great...no problems in seven years! I lease mine at $130 per month. You can hook this machine up to run on a bottle of water, plumbed into a water line...plain and simple machines! Best value for the dollar!

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Without having done any research of my own, there are two drawbacks I see to the K cups.  One is that they are all coffee - no chocolate, tea or soluble french vanilla?  You also have to deal with customers bringing their own K cups to use in your machine, preventing you selling to them.  There are several retail K cup knockoffs on the market now and most are cheaper than the K cup brand - and they all work in the Kuerig machine.

My thought on the K-kup system would be to find a few blends that aren't typically available.  Given that it only takes a few people that buy an item consistently to turn a good profit,  you could easily net $200 a month with this - not bad considering the initial investment was only about $400.  AND,  you're not locked into all the heavy maintenance

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Why vend the K-cups to the employees?  I work at GE and they buy the coffee packets for the typical burners.  Employees don't pay for coffee.  If GE went down the route of K-cups, as an employee I'd expect the company to buy the coffee.  Actually, we do have an Lavazza espresso machine that uses a variation of the K-cup and my employer buys boxes of those too.

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If the account requires a K cup machine but won't pay for the coffee, then the operator can sell them to the employees out of a snack machine.  K cups are becoming a very popular type of coffee machine in locations, partly due to the ability to make a terrific cup of coffee that's many times superior of that from a typical batch brewer or some single cup brewers.  The biggest advantage to K cups is the variety of coffee flavors that can be provided.  The biggest disadvantage is that K cups are becoming popular in retail stores and location peeps tend to bring them from home, curtailing some of the sales made either direct to the employer who pays for the service or sales through a vending machine.  Someone has to pay for the machine and if it's not done by selling K cups then the employer has to pay a lease fee on the machine - both a lease and product sales are ideal.

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Why vend the K-cups to the employees?  I work at GE and they buy the coffee packets for the typical burners.  Employees don't pay for coffee.  If GE went down the route of K-cups, as an employee I'd expect the company to buy the coffee.  Actually, we do have an Lavazza espresso machine that uses a variation of the K-cup and my employer buys boxes of those too.

 

A lot of companies provide free coffee from the Bunn style brewers, but people have gotten caught up in the Starbucks craze and want the higher end stuff (I could care less about Starbucks but do enjoy a good cup of coffee and buy the expensive bagged beans).  The K-kups come in at least 200 different varieties and you can get them at 40 cents versus a $1 sales price (better coffee at a lower price than Starbucks for your customers)

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Okay, I was thinking that the employer didn't want to mess around with buying K-cups him or herself, but would buy through the vending operator, who would make some margin on the sale along with the lease of the machine.  I would imagine that more coffee would be consumed by employees if it was 'free' to them.  But then, you'd be selling all the coffee at close to what you bought it in bulk so who knows.  Just thinking out loud.  I'm still living on the road and, as such, haven't had the opportunity to sink my teeth into these problems as an actual vendor yet.  : ) 

 

Don't let me distract the conversation.  Sounds like a good problem to have.

 

Cheers,

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When the location buys the product and provides it free to the employees, whether it's for a batch brewer or K cups, that will definitely be the best scenario for the operator.  Nothing moves faster than free products.  The problem is that the economy has turned so many locations away from offering free coffee to their employers that a sell-to-customer model must be used.  So you see many batch brewer accounts turned into coin operated accounts with single cup and K cup machines.  In some cases, that's the only way to keep the account.

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I agree with AZVendor completely.  "Free" is the best selling point to the final consumer.  The question is, who is willing to pay for the "free" coffee.

 

I have some questions for anyone who has dealt with k-cups.  Are the keurig machines reliable?  Do people traditional coffee drinkers feel comfortable with k-cups?  And can you get k-cups for CHEAP anywhere?  I only see them for about 55 cents/unit anywhere I look.  I haven't found a cheap distributor (if they exist) but I also haven't looked very hard.

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I agree with AZVendor completely.  "Free" is the best selling point to the final consumer.  The question is, who is willing to pay for the "free" coffee.

 

I have some questions for anyone who has dealt with k-cups.  Are the keurig machines reliable?  Do people traditional coffee drinkers feel comfortable with k-cups?  And can you get k-cups for CHEAP anywhere?  I only see them for about 55 cents/unit anywhere I look.  I haven't found a cheap distributor (if they exist) but I also haven't looked very hard.

 

Sam's club online has a lot of 80 packs at 40 cents per - I was figuring a dollar vend price but I'm not sure about the shelf life

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One very important thing you need to consider is that if you have a K-cup machine people will often bring their own k cups in and use your brewer at no charge, then steal your cup, creamer, sugar etc..... this can add up to a loss on your end if enough people catch on. I would recommend a Bodecker brewer in a situation like that..... However not just anyone can use a bodecker.... unless you have permission from bodecker..... 

 

www.bodeckerbrewed.com

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One very important thing you need to consider is that if you have a K-cup machine people will often bring their own k cups in and use your brewer at no charge, then steal your cup, creamer, sugar etc..... this can add up to a loss on your end if enough people catch on. I would recommend a Bodecker brewer in a situation like that..... However not just anyone can use a bodecker.... unless you have permission from bodecker..... 

 

www.bodeckerbrewed.com

 

That's interesting Ab - how much does this unit cost and how much variety do they support?  I'm a soda/snack vendor and became interested in coffee several months ago due to an offhand request from an employee at an account that already provided free Bunn style coffee but there was an interest in a higher quality product.  I researched several of the higher end machines including the Saeco systems but arrived on the Keurig system, combined with the snack machine adapters, as it seemed a more prudent choice as a test. This particular account is growing fast and I'm scheduled to install another soda and two more snack machines in the next three months, but the current lunch room is scheduled to be remodeled so I'm in holding pattern as far as the coffee goes.

 

I'm not particularly worried about people bringing in their own product - if everybody did that, we'd all be out of business  :blink:

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Often the biggest loss is if there is a water machine near a pod machine... people prefer the coffee cups over the cone paper cups... and when people use them all day long it can really add up...

 

As far as the Bodecker Brewer goes.... It does 10+ coffee's, 10 teas, Hot Chocolate and yes.... no joke Chicken Soup! ( big seller in the office in the winter months up here when everone gets sick) 

 

For price, they run about $1000 a unit CDN. That sounds like alot for a pod machine, but well worth it. It is basically solid stainless inside and out... no cheap plastic, and was designed to last forever. You can rebuild them over and over just like a bunn. They are manufactured by Newco and use mainly Newco parts. It only has 1 moving part. And water and air pumps are cheap and easy to replace.

 

The great thing about bodecker is there is no homeowner model. If you qualify you can become a bodecker distributer, like myself, and no one else can use those machines in your area... but depending on where you live it may not be possible to become a distributer... aka a large city where they will be looking for a big player to distribute.....

 

It's a great machine, but only a select few can get them.....

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Often the biggest loss is if there is a water machine near a pod machine... people prefer the coffee cups over the cone paper cups... and when people use them all day long it can really add up...

 

 

That terrible. Unless, of course, you're selling the cups to the account.

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Often the biggest loss is if there is a water machine near a pod machine... people prefer the coffee cups over the cone paper cups... and when people use them all day long it can really add up...

 

As far as the Bodecker Brewer goes.... It does 10+ coffee's, 10 teas, Hot Chocolate and yes.... no joke Chicken Soup! ( big seller in the office in the winter months up here when everone gets sick) 

 

For price, they run about $1000 a unit CDN. That sounds like alot for a pod machine, but well worth it. It is basically solid stainless inside and out... no cheap plastic, and was designed to last forever. You can rebuild them over and over just like a bunn. They are manufactured by Newco and use mainly Newco parts. It only has 1 moving part. And water and air pumps are cheap and easy to replace.

 

The great thing about bodecker is there is no homeowner model. If you qualify you can become a bodecker distributer, like myself, and no one else can use those machines in your area... but depending on where you live it may not be possible to become a distributer... aka a large city where they will be looking for a big player to distribute.....

 

It's a great machine, but only a select few can get them.....

The price doesn't turn me off but it's out of my league here in So Cal if they'll only work with one vendor.  There are some huge vending companies here.

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I am providing K cup brewers to about 20 accounts right now, some have 2 or 3 of them. K cups can now offer numerous, coffee, tea and hot choc options. Revenue is handled several ways.

 

1. I sell cups in the machine at $1.00 per and customer provides ancillary items themselves.

2. I sell cups in the machine AND invoice location for ancillary items

3. I sell cups and/or ancillary items and they handle allocation to employees

 

Coffee service is not yet a significant part of the business, less than 5% but growing. One of the main motivations to expand into k cup from traditional OCS is the request of customers and that some of my competitors are now providing them. The pricing varies by location, the more revenue from sodas and snacks the better the price I offer on the K cups and ancillary items.

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I am providing K cup brewers to about 20 accounts right now, some have 2 or 3 of them. K cups can now offer numerous, coffee, tea and hot choc options. Revenue is handled several ways.

 

1. I sell cups in the machine at $1.00 per and customer provides ancillary items themselves.

2. I sell cups in the machine AND invoice location for ancillary items

3. I sell cups and/or ancillary items and they handle allocation to employees

 

Coffee service is not yet a significant part of the business, less than 5% but growing. One of the main motivations to expand into k cup from traditional OCS is the request of customers and that some of my competitors are now providing them. The pricing varies by location, the more revenue from sodas and snacks the better the price I offer on the K cups and ancillary items.

 

Which machine are you using Mike?  How are they holding up?

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Started out using the ones at Sam's, they hold up ok, not like a Bunn that'll last a decade. Not totally sure how long the service life will be as most are on location 6 months or less but they are not coming apart at the handle and brew basket like I thought they would. Biggest problem has been lime scale buildup with our hard water.

 

Just ordered a couple of the B3000 models, plumbed in capable machines, to try at one of my higher volume locations, about twice the price as the Sam's version.

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