I recently got a chance to meet with Frank Parisi of Parsal Vending. This meeting came about through another member Havending. So Anthony (Havending) knowing that I was interested in the chicken machine text me one day and asked if I was interested in meeting Frank, already knowing the guys ties to the industry I jumped all over the opportunity and told him line it up as soon as possible. So by that afternoon Anthony had lined up a meeting with Frank 4 days later. We were to meet at a home he owns in south Florida and was gonna have lunch at the club house at noon. This was about an 8hr drive for me so I decided to leave the day before. I pulled out around 10:30am on a Monday morning. Got about half way there when I blew a tire that ended up sending me across the interstate in a 360 spin, a semi truck narrowly missed me when I slid in front of him going sideways down the interstate. The truck finally slid off the road thru the ditch and up on to an embankment. I got out accessed the damage then quickly changed the tire and got back on the road. When the tire came apart it ripped off one of the fender brackets and caused some other damage to the rear fender well. Got to the next exit on the donut spare tire and had 4 new tires put on at a wal-mart. About 2 hours later I was on my way again. Once I had got to within an hour from Naples, Fl, where his house is at I decided to get a hotel room. Didn't want to spend a lot of money so I chose a Howard Johnson. First thing I noticed was a room upstairs with the door standing wide open with 2 girls standing in the doorway. First thought was they must be smoking. I observed them for a few more moments until it hit me. PROSTITUTES! They were casing up the guest checking in to see who to approach. Now I would like to say the story gets really exciting here but since I'm a happily married man working on 10 years now the night ended with me falling asleep watching tv in my room, alone. The next day I decided to get a bite to eat at chic-filet for breakfast. After getting the food I was headed back to my hotel when I heard a noise, when I got to a stop light I hop out and found I had ran over a nail, yes one of the brand new tires that had just been put on the day before was quickly loosing air. I pulled off and put the spare back on, oddly enough it was the left rear which was the same spot the tire the day before had come apart. I got back to the hotel in time to choke a chicken biscuit down and take a quick shower before I had to get back on the road and drive the rest of the way on the spare since I didn't have time to get it fixed before needing to meet Frank. Well an hour later I was there. I ended up spending the whole day with Frank. First met his wonderful girlfriend Annie, super nice, a great host and easy on the eyes to boot fellas. Next we had some lunch and ended up talking about vending for hours. Frank is a real vending nerd like a lot of us, he eats, sleeps and breathes this stuff. After a long lunch we ended up going back to his house and relaxed. It wasn't long when I found myself In a situation I had not expected, Frank holding out his phone saying "here it's Roger Folz, talk to him for a little bit". We talked vending for a little bit got to hear some old war stories and some of his insights about vending. We hung out for a little longer, got to talked to several members of the Parsal team. Seems Frank has put together a very experienced team having recruited several of Rogers old crew. One of many things I came away with about Frank and his team, they are all about working with operators and getting new ideas. By this time I figured our day wrapping up when Frank asked if I would join them for dinner. Not wanting to impose I declined the offer, but Frank insisted. We ended having dinner at The Cheese Cake Factory. Now I had never eaten there so didn't know what to expect. I must say I have a new favorite restaurant. The food was awesome. Frank being the host he is insisted on paying. We left the restaurant and went back to pick up my truck from his house. Frank and Annie offered me a place to stay for the night but I really could not accept besides already haven taken up there whole day I had a buddy that lives down there I wanted to visit with before I got another hotel room. I can't say enough about Frank and Annie's generosity, great down to earth people. During mine and Franks conversations he shared experiences and stories of other successful operators and pointed out several ways that he seen as the best ways to be successful in the business. Never felt like I was being pitched to just given good solid advice from an industry veteran. We had only gotten half way through the day when I knew this was a company I wanted to work with. I don't want to say to much cause I'm not sure what Parsal wants out there right now but I will say the "All American Chicken" is just the beginning for Parsal Vending. Expecting my first chickens Monday or Tuesday, can't wait.