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H.U.M.A.N. healthy vending


psears

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Actually the Jofemar machines delivery system works quite well. It is very different from what we are used to seeing and as such has not been widely accepted.

Most of these healthy vending companies do not manufacture machines, they just rewrap standard machines so they have pretty to them.

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Most of these healthy vending companies do not manufacture machines, they just rewrap standard machines so they have pretty to them.

That is absolutely correct. I took a long hard look at the yonaturals "business opportunity", then they went away and reformed as Fresh Healthy Vending using a franchise concept. I actually have a couple of e-mails from the two different companies but are from the same person. They are using AMS combo machines that have a custom vinyl graphics package on them, and selling them for around 10K a piece which is more than twice full retail on those machines.

You can create your own green healthy vending machines for about half the price.

I looked at the concept really hard to learn about the products they are selling. Go walk through Whole Foods and you will find many of the products being offered in these "branded" machines. I have incorporated some of the products into some of my regular machines as a "premium product" and have been generally pleased with the results.

I personally would not buy into any of these concepts.

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mission,

are those type of products easily sourceable wholesale?

just curious

I started out by talking with the grocery manager at my local Whole Foods and he readily agreed to special order stuff by the case for me and got a slight discount as well.

One I figured what items I could actually sell I went direct to UNFI. The Vistar of the natural and organic foods world. Like Vistar you need to order $1,000 to avoid extra delivery charges. So now I will order from UNFI and pick up a few things as needed at whole foods until I can order the minimum.

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I started out by talking with the grocery manager at my local Whole Foods and he readily agreed to special order stuff by the case for me and got a slight discount as well.

One I figured what items I could actually sell I went direct to UNFI. The Vistar of the natural and organic foods world. Like Vistar you need to order $1,000 to avoid extra delivery charges. So now I will order from UNFI and pick up a few things as needed at whole foods until I can order the minimum.

based on ur comments in the past, i suspect the stuff doesnt actually sell ?

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based on ur comments in the past, i suspect the stuff doesnt actually sell ?

Quite the contrary actually.

I'm sure we all have conversations with our customers on a regular basis about "healthy vending". My standard comment when someone mentions healthy vending is this (in a lighthearted manner with a smile), " There is nothing healthy that comes out of a vending machine, especially when it is used as a primary source of nutrition. That's why it's called a SNACK machine and not a MEAL machine. That being said there are items you can choose that are less bad for you. "

One of the big problems for the "healthy vending" movement is that there is no national standard or accepted criteria as to what is considered to be healthy. We have the NAMA Fit Pick program, in Texas we have Squaremeals and then there is the organic and natural concept to name a few. When I was grumbling about lost sales by being forced to convert my snack machines in the City of San Antonio contract to 100% healthy items it was for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it was MANDATED. I simply dislike the idea of someone thinking they have the right to tell others what they can or cannot purchase to eat. There is no way that this change will have any measurable effect of the health and fitness level of the city employees. Part of the reason we are seeing an approx 40% reduction in sales is that many city employees now bring their own snacks from home and we have also documented a few occasions where an employee is selling the stuff we were forced to take out of the machines to their coworkers out of their desk.

Secondly, we went with the squaremeals criteria which is the criteria adopted by the Tx Dept of Agriculture for school nutrition programs. Like the Fit Pick program which looks at a %age of total fat, carbs, etc. squaremeals also takes into account portion size. This more restrictive criteria greatly limited the products available to us that even would make the grade, much less even be an item that people would want to purchase on a regular basis. This is what got me looking into the organic and natural products out there in the first place.

Under the squaremeals criteria some things that qualify as healthy will have you shaking your head. Some examples, Funyons, Snyders Kosher Dill chips, and Andy Capp Hot Fries. How's that for healthy eating? Now many of the organic and natural products also don't meet the criteria established by squaremeals but at least those items are 100% no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. So the question comes around again. What is healthy vending?

After reading an article in Automatic Merchandiser about putting premium items in your machines and operators seeing positive results I decided to give it a try with the organic and natural products as a premium product offering. After months of trial and error I've found a number of items that sell fairly well and I can make a profit of over .50 per turn on them as well. As far as I know I am the only one in my area to be doing this so I really have no competition at a location that wants and is willing to buy these products.

Sorry for rambling so long.

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no need to apologize the comments are greatly appreciated. when you say

After months of trial and error I've found a number of items that sell fairly well and I can make a profit of over .50 per turn on them as well.

do you mind sharing? or is that a trade secret.

thanks for the insights and comments

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no need to apologize the comments are greatly appreciated. when you say

After months of trial and error I've found a number of items that sell fairly well and I can make a profit of over .50 per turn on them as well.

do you mind sharing? or is that a trade secret.

thanks for the insights and comments

That's top secret and if I told you well......... just kidding. The one thing I have found is that the things that sell best look very similar to existing products. I am pretty much doing this only with snack items right now, only in 5 wide machines with 5-8 columns reserved for organic and natural items so I am not taking away too many options from those that don't want to pay for this lineup. The gray/white collar type location is where the sweet spot seems to be. If you want some specific items PM me and I will send you a list.

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  • 2 years later...

What's interesting is that H.U.M.A.N. is no longer a "business opportunity" but a franchise now. They converted over to a franchise just over a year ago. H.U.M.A.N. has grown significantly over the past 2 years.

 

One of the things that separates H.U.M.A.N. from its competition is it's machines. Where most vending companies offer a traditional coil based machine, H.U.M.A.N. offers machines with conveyor belt technology. In addition, their machines are actually quite attractive. If you haven't seen their machine line up, do it.

 

In the end, you'll want to align yourself with a group that is going to offer you the machine support and training you need to be successful and I've noticed that H.U.M.A.N. offers just that. The companies that offer coil based machines will tell you that you'd be foolish to go against "the coil", after all it's proven and more moving parts naturally = more money more problems. I haven't found that to be true in my research. If anything H.U.M.A.N. machines are just as reliable as any other machien out there.

 

 

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that just because "Human" sells as a franchise now doesn't relieve them of the category "business opportunity", because that's still what it is.  You can't candy-coat a risky venture by calling it a franchise but, I imagine, you could better define a "territory" if you call it a franchise. 

 

In addition, an attractive machine does not a reliable machine make.  I would, as an experienced vendor, stay away from any newly developed vending mechanism such as "conveyor belt technology," especially sold as a business opportunity or "franchise," until many other vendors were stuck with potentially troublesome machines for a couple of years.  Then, if they were still being built and working properly, I might consider them if they proved to be better at vending products than a proven dual spiral machine with a vend sensor. 

 

I'm not going to argue about the reliability of a machine I've never seen, but I doubt that any "coil based machine manufacturers" have to worry about the competition.  I am very skeptical of a machine that claims to have fewer moving parts, fewer problems, costs less and still does the job of a proven vending delivery method.

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What's interesting is that H.U.M.A.N. is no longer a "business opportunity" but a franchise now. They converted over to a franchise just over a year ago. H.U.M.A.N. has grown significantly over the past 2 years.

One of the things that separates H.U.M.A.N. from its competition is it's machines. Where most vending companies offer a traditional coil based machine, H.U.M.A.N. offers machines with conveyor belt technology. In addition, their machines are actually quite attractive. If you haven't seen their machine line up, do it.

In the end, you'll want to align yourself with a group that is going to offer you the machine support and training you need to be successful and I've noticed that H.U.M.A.N. offers just that. The companies that offer coil based machines will tell you that you'd be foolish to go against "the coil", after all it's proven and more moving parts naturally = more money more problems. I haven't found that to be true in my research. If anything H.U.M.A.N. machines are just as reliable as any other machien out there.

As community administrator, I am compelled to point out that this member works for H.U.M.A.N. so his "opinions" about the opportunity/franchise/machines are naturally going to be favorable.

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As community administrator, I am compelled to point out that this member works for H.U.M.A.N. so his "opinions" about the opportunity/franchise/machines are naturally going to be favorable.

Well with a H.U.M.A.N. Rep around let me ask this, do you guys mandate specific products to sell like the Fresh Healthy Vending guys or do uou provide a list of "approved products" to work from.

Either way, what criteria do you use to consider something "healthy" and acceptable to use in a H.U.M.A.N. Branded machine?

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Well with a H.U.M.A.N. Rep around let me ask this, do you guys mandate specific products to sell like the Fresh Healthy Vending guys or do uou provide a list of "approved products" to work from.

Either way, what criteria do you use to consider something "healthy" and acceptable to use in a H.U.M.A.N. Branded machine?

 

I'm really hoping they've got Crunchy Cheestos, Pork Rinds and Jalapeno Chips on that list - just don't know what I'll do if they don't  ;D

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Cool machines but this would never work in Houston.  We are the fattest city and people get pissed  when I remove one column of  Hershey bars LoL you try and put in healthy stuff and you get complaints lol.  Maybe in Austin it would work

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well with a H.U.M.A.N. Rep around let me ask this, do you guys mandate specific products to sell like the Fresh Healthy Vending guys or do uou provide a list of "approved products" to work from.

Either way, what criteria do you use to consider something "healthy" and acceptable to use in a H.U.M.A.N. Branded machine?

Well its been almost 2 weeks since I asked the question.... so I guess we are not going to get a answer..... maybe if we all went running in with our checkbooks to throw money at him we could get a answer...... or maybe he quit coming around because we "outed" him as working for H.U.M.A.N ;D .

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Well its been almost 2 weeks since I asked the question.... so I guess we are not going to get a answer..... maybe if we all went running in with our checkbooks to throw money at him we could get a answer...... or maybe he quit coming around because we "outed" him as working for H.U.M.A.N ;D .

Hey now, you would be upset as well if someone started bashing such a good business model. I mean, imagine if you thought of a way to resell something that you dont make, have input to, or in any way is a new idea for around a 300% markup. Imagine taking a brand new machine you bought off of A&M, HA Franz, VE or the likes for $2900 and slapping a $100 sticker on it and reselling it for $9000. Who wouldn't use that business model if they could?

 

Just to be clear, we do custom fronts on our machines all the time and I just did a site for a customer of 8 machines. Cost me a little under $600 for the customization + my time. I dont use tuffronts any more for vinyl because I can make graphics myself and there are tons of online companies that will print it for you for under $3/sqft

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  • 1 year later...

I actually found my way here from perusing the HUMAN marketing materials and I'm glad I did. treadmill's suggestion was awesome, that Daniel Rubin Vending thread was awesome, left me wondering if it was a plant too.

 

I like the idea of having a support network in place when starting out, but they've upped the ante to a $35,000 franchising fee now and that's definitely a turnoff. Still, repair support, business support, and location assistance sounds very appealing. They also do have several competitors and some require less initial capital.

 

Then again, entrepreneurs are meant to wear many (i.e. all) hats at first. I think my first step will be to grab RTJ's ebook and go from there, but I am leaning towards either buying a one off machine that's already placed somewhere or a homeless machine and going through the ropes of finding it a location by myself. It could be a much more cost effective route of determining whether the industry is something that holds long term allure.

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...repair support...

 

I strongly suspect that their "Repair Support" will consist of:

1 ) "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

and

 

2 ) "Are you sure it's plugged in?"

 

followed by

 

3 ) "You need the left handed whatsamadingy grommet. You're in luck, it's on sale this week for $299.99."

Call my cynical, but...

 

...no, just call me cynical.

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I strongly suspect that their "Repair Support" will consist of:

1 ) "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

and

 

2 ) "Are you sure it's plugged in?"

 

followed by

 

3 ) "You need the left handed whatsamadingy grommet. You're in luck, it's on sale this week for $299.99."

Call my cynical, but...

 

...no, just call me cynical.

 

Couldn't have been said better..

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I strongly suspect that their "Repair Support" will consist of:

1 ) "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

and

2 ) "Are you sure it's plugged in?"

followed by

3 ) "You need the left handed whatsamadingy grommet. You're in luck, it's on sale this week for $299.99."

Call my cynical, but...

...no, just call me cynical.

I thought you were describing crane tech support
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