gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I have a location in an office building that does about $70-80 a week. It is currently a Pepsi landscape, a Coke landscape, one combo (that the refrigeration doesn't work in), and two snack machines (a four wide and 113 I think). The building owner wants to upgrade because he doesn't like the look and he wants cold food options like salads. He also wants credit card readers. I could easily switch the two drink machines for a glassfront at no cost. But getting into refrigerated foods is something I know nothing about and I don't think it does enough business to warrant it. What kind of cold food machines are there for things like sandwiches and salads, and what I need to know? Would it be worth it? How would I put together a quote for this guy? Thanks for any help. (I am still new to this. Only been operating machines for about four months.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magiccity726 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Are you saying that you have 5 machines at this location and they make a combined $80 a week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 If this location with 5 machines only does $70-80 per month then you need to pull the machines and put them into 2 locations that each do much better than this. I would then tell them that they are insane to request newer machines and cold food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Yes, they were there when the guy before me bought it. I don't know what the story on it is and how it got to be that many machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 3 minutes ago, AZVendor said: If this location with 5 machines only does $70-80 per month then you need to pull the machines and put them into 2 locations that each do much better than this. I would then tell them that they are insane to request newer machines and cold food. It's $70-80 per week, not month. Not sure if that changes your view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 They either had more people that were laid off or the previous vendor was a moron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I completely agree with the others. I don't know what you mean when you say "pepsi landscape" and "coke landscape" but having 5 machines is beyond overkill for that location. I can easily handle $150/week out of a soda and snack machine without going there more than once per week. A simple 5-wide snack and a single 8-10 select soda machine will easily handle that location. A food machine should be out of the question, prices should be at the local standards, and credit card readers and everything else should be out of the question as well. I would have downsized this from the get-go. I don't know how you could possibly avoid stales there, unless everything is no more than 50% full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magiccity726 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 1 minute ago, gelaro said: It's $70-80 per week, not month. Not sure if that changes your view. It's an ok location but there are at least 3 machines that should be pulled. 1 soda and 1 snack should be there period. Make up a story why cold snacks are a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I never want to make someone feel like they got a bad deal, and I will (try to) be the first person to tell you that 70-80 per week isn't bad depending on your area. I'll take accounts that do 70-80 all day long here, but I would never try to manage 5 machines. I have a location right now that requested a combo machine in their warehouse so that employees can have access to "something" after hours. The main vending area has a Royal GIII and a National 147. The combo machine is a National 474 I think. Basically, I currently collect maybe $60/week and the majority of that is out of the soda machine (selling bottles). I fill the snack machine AND the combo machine maybe 5-deep at most selections except pastries which are 1-deep. At $60/week, I am about to simply cancel the location because I have stale problems everywhere. That royal is capable of doing over $200/week without really selling out of much, and the snack machine should be able to do about the same by itself. Basically, with the right setup, I should be able to collect well over $400 in a week between those three machines combined at a good location (but that might require a food machine or something a bit nicer). Although $60 is nice, I would be SO much better off cancelling the location entirely. In fact, it was $60/week last I checked (used to be $140+/week before they made some "changes" to their company). It might be less now. Point is, I probably lose all of my profits in the form of stale products unless I work twice as hard to rotate all of the product in two large machines. Something like a Dixie Narco 276e and a USI 3013 (3-wide) snack machine would suffice for $60/week, but I would rather cut my losses and find a better home for those work horses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Yea, way too much equipment for that amount of revenue! Cold food is a tough market to not lose money even in a good account, and this ain't a good account... you will bleed money if you try, and no one else with any experience will offer it to them either. I would tell them nicely that 3 machines are leaving and they will have a drink and a snack machine. If you are doing credit cards already you could offer to provide them if the location is willing to pay a monthly equipment fee until the sales come up to about 100/week per machine (set a fee to cover the monthly service and recover the hardware cost in 2 or 3 years). If you are not already doing cards I would not get into it for a location like that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I will share some calculations I did a few years ago as part of a research paper I had to do for college. Mind you, I was going to college for a degree and for knowledge, not for a job as I was already an entrepreneur. When I did the math, I came to the conclusion that the "ideal" location needs about $250/week in revenue to warrant having TWO credit card readers. Anything under $150/week for a location meant that the sales boom from credit card readers might not exceed the cost of the readers themselves. This was probably back in 2011 though. Today, I want $150/week between a soda and snack (combined) to warrant having two readers. The cost of readers has gone down and the implicit benefits of the card readers can offset the cost of the unit (ie. your validator stops working or the coin mech fails but the card reader allows customers to keep making purchases). At $80/week, even with serious price increases to bring it to $100/week, I wouldn't install credit card readers straight off the bat. If you don't mind me asking, what are your general prices? 20 oz soda, LSS chips, pastries, candy, etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 11 hours ago, AngryChris said: If you don't mind me asking, what are your general prices? 20 oz soda, LSS chips, pastries, candy, etc.. All snacks are $1.00, which is obviously more profit on some things and less on others. All sodas are 20 oz. bottles at $1.35 at this location. (My other locations are $1.50). I don't like that price but it was grandfathered and I haven't wanted to rock the boat on it yet. This is a good opening to do that perhaps. My profit margin is about 45%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 11 hours ago, AngryChris said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Thanks for the input. Here's what I am thinking. Since I can get a glass front for an even swap for the two pop machines, I will offer that. It will look better and have more selection. I think I can get a CC reader on that without much trouble and with little or no cost to me directly. When I do this, I will raise the price to $1.50 and charge the CC fee to the buyer. With regard to the food machine, I will give him a quote for a cold food machine to give an idea of the cost and then tell him that I am not in favor of it because the cost is too high and the risk too great for me to take on. If he wants to buy the machine and guarantee a certain amount of income per week, I will manage it. I am sure he will turn that down. I will suggest cutting back to one snack machine and agree to two if he demands it (because at present I have nothing to do with a spare machine anyway so essentially "storing" it there is no skin off my nose; I do have someplace I can put the combo). I told him the other day that some of the stuff is not moving much which I can say is because there are too many products in too many machines and stuff no body wants. It is the candy and nuts and things that have a longer shelf-life so I am not having expired product. The chips and pastries move decently. Question is what is a model and price of a decent cold food machine that I can give him as a quote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 No cold food, period. Tell him the machine is $3000 which some places sell refurbs for. You'll never make money on cold food, it's always a loss leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 A brand new shoppertron from crane runs over $8,000, tell him THAT and end the cold food argument... otherwise I like your plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I agree you have too many machines on site. Assuming your machines are on site for the entire building, correct? My approach would be the glass front and a snack wit the bottom row used as lunchables. You can put in items that do not require a microwave (unless you have one there) items such as cheese crackers, bumble bee tuna, chicken salad or seafood salad. Add some pastry to that row and you are set. See if he will go for that idea. In many states the board of health gets involved with cold food. Once he hears that he will back away. Of course, not sure if his state is one of them. With the income you mentioned this should be enough. Good Luck B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cblomqui Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 How many people work at the office building? If there are at least around 80, you could pitch a micro market and do cold food + snacks & drinks rather easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelaro Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 21 hours ago, cblomqui said: How many people work at the office building? If there are at least around 80, you could pitch a micro market and do cold food + snacks & drinks rather easily. There are probably a hundred or so. He discussed a micromarket with the previous vendor that I bought from. It's not what he wants and it's not what I want to get into I don't think. The previous vendor who has a very large company doesn't think a micromarket will work there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Most of what I have read or heard about micromarkets leans toward having 300+ people minimum. You also have to be in a location where shoplifting can be detected/deterred and will be dealt with by the employer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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