JCS Vending Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Hi everyone, My bulk candy/vending business only started in July 2012, in August 2012 we landed our first large account (1 soda/1 snack and 1 cold machine). So I have not been in business long but just got an amazing opportunity I need your help with. My sister in law is a teacher at a local Jr. High School. She told me they pulled their soda machines out of the school the other day and might be a good time to call them. She had already inquired with her principal about getting us in there as their vendor. I called him and he tells me they have a contract w/Coke that if they have machines it must be from Coke however they are very unhappy and had all of the Coke machines removed last week because they are required to order product themselves, stock themselves, etc. They don't want that responsibility. He said he spoke with the district business manager and that she'd be very interested in speaking with me about possibly switching vending services for their district. I called her and her secretary returned my call saying that the Assistant Superinendent of Finance wants a meeting with me regarding our vending services. I received the message after school hours so I haven't called back yet. In our area even situations where bids and contracts are involved it's really all about who you know. We're a very very friendly and neighborly type of area, we're known for it and being "local" gets you tons of leverage over a company like Coke. So I have a very good chance at landing a school district account. Needless to say with the little experience I have in this industry I am very nervous because of what this could mean for our business and family. The principal told me they had 4 machines in his Jr. High alone. 1 in each of 2 teacher lounges and 2 in the student eating area. No sugary drinks allowed and that vitamin water was a big seller there at $1.25 each. He loved the idea I could customize drink machines to the types of drinks they want instead of all Coke products. Can anyone give me any information at all on school district accounts? Type of revenue I could expect, bidding process, commission if any? Any information on school accounts you could share with me would be great. The district consists of 8 schools. The one where the principal works that I spoke with alone has 72 teachers. Not sure of student count but by going by general class size likely about 1000 kids in his school alone. Thank you, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfdogs Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Can't speak to how to work with the district, but I do have a couple of school accounts. They are snack only due to Pepsi having the district account. My elementary school snack account does about $250 a month when they are in session. The high school teachers lounge does about $175 a month. The technical school attached to the high school does about $850 a month (snack/frozen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Based on no "sugary drinks", I think you'll be looking at glass front vendors if you land this account. They're much easier to deal with when you're doing mostly bottled beverages. That said, you'll be looking at big bucks up front unless you lease the equipment. I'd talk to Technivend about this as he's the Royal distributor for New England. Whether or not it makes economic sense is another question. If the school is currently stocking the machine themselves they should be able to give you a rough idea of their volume. Do the math and hopefully it will show good profit potential (sometimes you have to make a big leap when the "iron is hot"). Since the key issue here is servicing the machines, just offer the same deal as Coke - it doesn't sound like you're in a normal competition here. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indiana Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 It sounds a little scary to me, at first, just considering the need to purchase machines for so many schools, without having much of an idea of what sales figures to expect. There are also definite resource implications here; not sure what you're able to afford in terms of time. Overall, of course, this sounds like an incredible opportunity that I would definitely pursue (after overthinking it) if I were in your shoes. Congrats and good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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