Coffee Vending - Pros/Cons, Thoughts in General

[pacificar]

I am thinking about getting into coffee vending in Office buildings. I have experience with traditional vending, but am intrigued by coffee machines. Starbucks style coffee drinks seem to be so popular, why aren't there more specialty coffee vending machines out there? Has anyone tried it? What are the pros and cons? What are the biggest lessons you learned? What type of locations did you place them at (we are looking at office buildings, but other ideas are appreciated). What type of profit margin do you have? Are they difficult to maintain/keep clean?

As an FYI, we are looking at the Jofemar Coffeemar G-500 or S-500.

Any thoughts are appreciated. I did a search on the forum for coffee but most of what is discussed is coffee service and that is not what we are looking for.

Thank you!!

Christine

[Vendors Tech]

First of all, I wouldn't use Jofemar. They are a Spain based company and there are about 2 distributors for parts in the US. NO company besides theirs is going to know the first thing about them. You won't ever be able to get help with repairs or problems from any local repair people.

Second, unless you KNOW your current vending machines inside and out and know how to at least replace the validator and coin mech and change machine prices without having to look at the manual, coffee machines are a big no no. They require monthly or even weekly special care and cleaning. There are thermostats, heating elements, pumps, etc, which can be a pain to replace, service, and clean. The machines will need their canisters and hoses cleaned at least once a month, maybe more depending on how busy the account is. They are just hard and time consuming to operate.

Third, the profit is not very good unless you can sell A LOT of coffee, and not have your machine break down often. I have found that demand for coffee, especially from a vending machine, is ever as great as it seems.

[mission vending]

I am thinking about getting into coffee vending in Office buildings. I have experience with traditional vending, but am intrigued by coffee machines. Starbucks style coffee drinks seem to be so popular, why aren't there more specialty coffee vending machines out there? Has anyone tried it? What are the pros and cons? What are the biggest lessons you learned? What type of locations did you place them at (we are looking at office buildings, but other ideas are appreciated). What type of profit margin do you have? Are they difficult to maintain/keep clean?

As an FYI, we are looking at the Jofemar Coffeemar G-500 or S-500.

Any thoughts are appreciated. I did a search on the forum for coffee but most of what is discussed is coffee service and that is not what we are looking for.

Thank you!!

Christine

A couple of comments....

1. The vendors in large accounts typically provide such a service for their locations with full size coin operated coffee machines and/or coffee service as well.

2. Smaller locations often don't warrant the capital cost required to get a machine in the location, that's why they have a coffee service.

So from my experience you are in somewhat of a no man's land, so to speak.

For most operators running these type of machines are a lot of hassle due to the lack of manpower to effectively clean and maintain them. One idea would be to offer your services to vending companies on a subcontract basis. There is a local company that does this here for vending companies with ice cream.

One guy I know locally recently sold his vending business and is going into something along the lines of what you are considering. The difference is that he placing a high end coffee/expresso type machine with no coin op. These machines are metered and he invoices off the meter readings. His market is luxury dealerships, lawyer and doctors offices etc. He only has around 10 machines out at this point but in his words he is "satisfied so far" with the results.

[Walta]

Don’t even conceder coffee machine unless you can get an agreement from the location that they will remove and ban all other brewing devices.

Coffee was big a few years ago. I don’t think anybody made much money. Coffee and food are machines are things you put in to get locations and hope you make enough on soda and snacks to cover the losses.

Walta

[VendingTech305]

Coffee OCS (Office Coffee Solutions) is blowing up..... i dont believe these people are steering you away from it... It has the greatest profit margins and easy to maintain.

The Jofemar G-500 is a good machine, (I have Years of Owning One) but there new G-250 and G-546 are even better...

plus JOFEMAR trains you from an operators stand point and also a technical standpoint. i think you should contact them and get their input and perhaps pay them a visit. They are in MIAMI Fl.

to give you an example of the profit margin:

a coffee which consumes most of the products stock in the machine comes out to a cost of about .25-30 cents.. i sell my coffees all day for 1.00 -1.25 and sell and average of 120 cups a day...... NO COMPLAINTS HERE....

[topgun22x]

Where do you buy your coffee supplies from? Milk, French Vanilla, cups, stir sticks etc. I have the Saeco 200G Rubino.

[mission vending]

Where do you buy your coffee supplies from? Milk, French Vanilla, cups, stir sticks etc. I have the Saeco 200G Rubino.

Most vendors use a vending wholesaler like Vistar but there are minimum order sizes to meet to avoid delivery surcharges for products appropriate to use in the Barista Supremo Saeco SG200 by canmax.

I'd suggest you contact our resident expert Greatdane for better information on where to get product for your Saeco SG200.

[kiwi]

Where do you buy your coffee supplies from? Milk, French Vanilla, cups, stir sticks etc. I have the Saeco 200G Rubino.

Like mission said.. Greatdane would be the best person to talk too!

Just make sure you are using fresh quality beans if you are wanting to make a good cup of coffee. Coffee beans go stale very quickly so the sooner you can use them the better.

I pick-up our beans direct from the roaster that roasts them for us & when I deliver them they are never more than a few days old. I also only supply enough to last a company a week or two so they can use them before they start to lose their flavor.

[Clewis]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forum.

I have been doing snack and drink vending for a little over a year. my biggest account is asking for a coffee vending machine.

Since they are my biggest account I told them I would provide one for them.

I have two options:

1. JBC 525 Coffee Machine 

2. Seaco 200g Coffee Machine 

These are both used machines since I don't really see the value of buying a $6000 coffee machine.

Which machines would you all get?

 

Thank you for the input.

 

 

[davekro]

I have operated Colibri and Saeso DA79 (from mid 90's) for years where it was free to employess and I billed the account per cup. Back then you could get away with .80¢/ cup and that was very profitable. When the economy turned down and free vend went away, I had to install coin mechs and I tried to seel at .50¢/ cup  then .25¢ per cup and they never made any money. In my years of experience post crash, I would not bother trying to vend (employee pays) with espresso machines. Mind you they had the option of free OCS coffee (mine too) vs. paying for a latte, etc.

So my experience is, if the account won't pay for a monthly lease fee (call it 'equipment maintenance fee') for an espresso machine plus guarantee to buy all product from you plus cups, personally I'd pass. These automated espresso machines require a fair amount of work to keep going, so there needs to be profit to cover you there.  Reg OCS is relatively low labor and service comparatively.