BobTHJ Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 A lot of my honor boxes are located at small businesses (less than 10 employees) and they do fine there. I'm trying to figure out a way to inexpensively offer cold beverages to these smaller accounts. Obviously, they are too small to justify a soda machine - but most businesses this size do have a fridge where the employees keep their lunches or bring in their own beverages. I'm thinking of something like an honor box for the fridge - something that would hold 30 to 40 cans or small bottles and fit on a fridge shelf? Does anyone have any ideas or has anyone tried something like this? For now I'm considering filling a few of my existing cardboard honor-boxes with sodas and offering them to a few businesses just to try it out. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 A lot of my honor boxes are located at small businesses (less than 10 employees) and they do fine there. I'm trying to figure out a way to inexpensively offer cold beverages to these smaller accounts. Obviously, they are too small to justify a soda machine - but most businesses this size do have a fridge where the employees keep their lunches or bring in their own beverages. I'm thinking of something like an honor box for the fridge - something that would hold 30 to 40 cans or small bottles and fit on a fridge shelf? Does anyone have any ideas or has anyone tried something like this? For now I'm considering filling a few of my existing cardboard honor-boxes with sodas and offering them to a few businesses just to try it out. Thoughts? I think a lot of honor box people miss the boat when it comes to beverages. In full line vending it is usually around a 60/40 split in revenue with 60% being the beverages. You could use their fridge or buy one of these linked below and stock it. Using their fridge I think you would have a harder time with theft. I would keep the drink selection simple with just 4 selections with bottle water. Charge .75 to $1.00 for a can drink and you should do pretty good. Get you some custom decals for the fron so people have no doubt it is on the honor system. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1110473 If you do it let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobTHJ Posted December 24, 2011 Author Share Posted December 24, 2011 So I decided to give the "Fridge Honor Box" a try. My trial location is a veterinary hospital / boarding kennel. There are approximately ~30 employees, but most are very part time. I have a snack honor box and a bulk candy machine already in their breakroom. Their management is unwilling to consider a soda machine due to space and aesthetic concerns. The employees were all excited about having drinks on hand however. I picked up several wire baskets at Home Depot (in the closet organization aisle) for $12.00 each. I tie-wrapped a small cardboard box into the corner and cut out the cardboard bottom of a flat of chips to line the bottom of the basket. Storage capacity is ~40 beverages. I took a piece of thin cardboard and taped my sign (printed off the computer) to the front of it, then tie-wrapped that to the side of the box. I went with $0.75 pricing for all items except those marked - and used colored round yard-sale stickers to mark energy and sports drinks at a higher price (the sign also displays this for reference). I placed the "fridge box" on December 9th (sticking it on a cleared lower shelf of their breakroom refrigerator), and serviced it for the first time today (bringing a second box to swap-out). My collection was $11.75 (out of an expected $12.00 - COGS was $4.51); I sold 15 of the 40 items in the box. As expected certain varieties of soda sold out completely while others remained untouched. Only one of the more expensive sports drinks sold and none of the energy drinks sold. My plan for future service cycles would be to stock 80% of the primary soda varieties consumed at the location and use the other 20% to experiment with other products. Overall I consider this initial trial a success. I've spoken with several other customers where my snack boxes are located who expressed some interest in adding a fridge-box as well, so I probably will add a few more of these in the not-too-distant future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Congrats, sounds like it may work for you. IMO I think you have way to much variety but I am sure you will figure out what works best overall. Merry Christmas!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis23 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Hi Bob, When I started out in business I had strictly snack boxes after a few years I added a couple of snack vending machines. I never had soda sales when I was in the snack box business. I will be interested in watching how things go for you. Are you using your customers fridge? I have seen people that buy apartment fridges and stock them with soda. I may be a little naive but it sounds like you are thinking out of the box and I commend you for that. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieMac Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hi Bob, When I started out in business I had strictly snack boxes after a few years I added a couple of snack vending machines. I never had soda sales when I was in the snack box business. I will be interested in watching how things go for you. Are you using your customers fridge? I have seen people that buy apartment fridges and stock them with soda. I may be a little naive but it sounds like you are thinking out of the box and I commend you for that. Dennis I'm interested in knowing how it works out too. I do snack and drink machines and just moved into bulk machines and a snack box. I was wondering if I would be able to serve drinks in these smaller locations. Maybe this is how I can do it too. Seems like a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobTHJ Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Congrats, sounds like it may work for you. IMO I think you have way to much variety but I am sure you will figure out what works best overall. Merry Christmas!! I'm not sure I'll continue to offer such a wide variety but did so initially for 2 reasons: 1) to get a good idea of what the location likes to drink 2) to try and move some beverages that had been sitting for a while in my shop before they expire Once I get a good feel for what they like to drink I may bring a few extra cases of those beverages along for them to "self-restock" the box in between services. A more detailed rundown for those interested: The box was on-site for 14 days. During that time the following sales were made: 3 / 3 Diet Pepsi 2 / 2 Diet Coke 1 / 1 Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice 2 / 4 Apple Juice 1 / 2 Gatorade 1 / 2 Hawaiian Punch 1 / 2 Sprite 3 / 7 Pepsi 1 / 5 Mt. Dew 0 / 4 Coke 0 / 4 5-Hour Energy 0 / 2 Monster 0 / 2 Green Tea I plan to swap boxes again this week and will stock the replacement box with extra diet sodas since it seems this location is fond of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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