jpbutler Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hi My name is john butler and I operate butler vending from central jersey. Been on this forum for about a month. Lots of great info. I've been in the full line business for a little over 3 years and have about 100 machines. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserri Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Welcome John! Its great to have another Tapatalker on board. Im sure the full liners will be happy to see you as well. Sent from my Android using Tapatalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hi My name is john butler and I operate butler vending from central jersey. Been on this forum for about a month. Lots of great info. I've been in the full line business for a little over 3 years and have about 100 machines. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk Welcome, how did you get started? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
How2vend com Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbutler Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Welcome, how did you get started? Sorry that it has taken so long to answer this, but I figured that it would take some time to get this story down. I have heard that most new entries into this business get screwed to a certain extent on their first purchase. Not only did I get screwed, but I got screwed over and over and over again for more than 2 years. To make a long story, less long, in the spring of 2008, I decided to get out of the rat race I was in and start my own business. So, I quit my job and started looking for a business to own. I eventually settled on purchasing a vending franchise because it was just too good to be true. ;o) I did my due diligence on this purchase and no major red flags came up. But, there were a lot of little signs that should have made me wary of the deal, and in my eagerness to get going I chose to ignore them. For a price of 70 cents on the dollar I bought a franchise in Northern New Jersey that included a turn key route, with tech support from the franchisor, sales people, accounts with coke, pepsi and VSA with purchasing at a considerable discount and all equipment was equipped with either dex kits or dedicated boards that provided remote monitoring of the equipment. I put down a little less than half of the purchase price of the route, bought a new dodge sprinter outright, and then borrowed the rest of the purchase price of the route from a shell company set up by one of the franchisor's investors. Initially, I was going to get an SBA loan, but I was unwilling to secure it with a lien on my house, so the franchisor in an act of good will came up with the scheme to loan me and another new franchisee the money. How nice of them. So now I am off and running. Oh boy. On the first day of my new adventure, the warehouse that was supposed to support the NJ franchisees started to close down and fired all of the route drivers that were covering my route and the other unpurchased franchises. So I had to do my training and turnover in an accelerated fashion to ensure that my route was adequately serviced. The training involved learning the software that allowed me to interface with the remote monitoring technology. What I liked about the route and what I still love is the remote monitoring. Then and now, I start my day by opening the software application and connecting to the remote server. I am able to among many other things, see what machines need serviced that day and plan my day that way. I print out a restock list for each machine in each account of what to restock and then go to my warehouse and load up large totes with the product for each snack machine as well as fill my truck with the required soda for each stop. This way I don't have to have a large box truck loaded with stock, go into each location, inventory the machines, run back out to my truck and load up. I can load up for each stop in the warehouse and then efficiently stock each machine. more to follow ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpbutler Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 So, my largest account is a hospital that is doing over $2000/wk and the contract is up. But everything is cool because the salesperson for our franchise has it all sowed up and we are about to sign another 5yr contract. Then the franchisor fires all of the salesman in the organization, most of the remaining management, and files for bankruptcy a mere 2 months after my purchase. I thought about suing them at this time but I felt so overwhelmed with the business and just didn't know what to do other than protect my accounts and plod along. By the end of December 2008 another company was formed by a real golpher of a crook and they took over the franchise. Meanwhile, I do a massive price increase on all of my accounts in order to make them profitable during the christmas slowdown and end up losing 3 accounts. But now I am no longer hemmoraging money because the pricing was too low. So, thru the first half of 2009, I get all of my pricing correct and let go of some non productive accounts, move machines around to get rid of my bad machines and generally get my house in order. By June of 2009, I am netting a nice chunk of money and feeling ok. Then all hell breaks loose. The franchisor starts having money problems and although we pay them royalties and tons of other charges as well as commissions, which are supposed to be a passthru, things are not getting paid for at their end. The remote technology quits working intermittently because they are not paying the bills, they sell off all of their inventory of machines which we could use to add new accounts and they are not paying commissions to our commissioned accounts. I start losing accounts thru the next six months and by then end of 2009 I have lost 50% of my route. I cannot afford to grow because all of my extra money goes to paying royalties and other bullshit charges. My attitude goes to golpher. 2010 rolls around, I hire a lawyer and spend the next 9 months battling them thru arbitration. Finally September of 2010 rolls around and we have agreed on settlement terms to get me out of my franchise, which involves me paying them a nice chunk of cash. Meanwhile, I am not paying the franchisor royalties and neither are alot of the other franchisees because they suck so bad. This has the intended effect and they are forced into bankruptcy by another shady company out of New Zealand that is their major creditor. That company is awarded all assets, moves in tells us remaining franchisees that we must now pay them royalties and use their remote technology. Well basically we all tell them to pack sand and most of us ignore them and don't pay them a dime. They too go bankrupt and I/we are finally left with our businesses free and clear. So, that is the current state. From November of 2010 till now I have finally been able to operate as the sole proprietor of my business. I have added quite a few new accounts in 2011 and hope to do real well in 2012, too. I love this business and enjoy going to work each day, finally. So, what have I learned: Don't trust anyone completely in business, do your due diligence and listen to the little voices that tell you something is wrong. There are some genuinely bad people out there who will screw you, but there are also some really great people in the business who are willing to help and share their knowledge. There are just too many darned people in the vending business in New Jersey. Do whatever it takes to keep your good accounts. They are just too hard to replace. JPB So, what have I learned: Don't trust anyone completely in business, do your due diligence and listen to the little voices that tell you something is wrong. There are some genuinely bad people out there who will screw you, but there are also some really great people in the business who are willing to help and share their knowledge. There are just too many darned people in the vending business in New Jersey. Do whatever it takes to keep your good accounts. They are just too hard to replace. JPB Oh and one more thing: NEVER EVER EVER buy into a vending franchise. The model doesn't work. You will be competing against people who do not have the overhead that you have eg: royalties and other payments that force you to keep your prices high and limits your ability to add accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Wow, sounds like a baptism by fire.... and I thought that I was the only vendor that got screwed over getting into the business. :lol: Looks like the worst is over for you. If you'd like to chat sometime my phone number is on my website. Look down on my signature for the link. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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