JCS Vending Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Have an upcoming meeting with a school district interested in our vending services. They're currently in contract w/Coke but contract is ending soon. They have 8 buildings and 3-4 machines in each building. If I get this contract I'll have to take out a small business loan to purchase 20 or more drink machines. I'm thinking I might offer to just take over the responsibilty of ordering/filling their coke machines for them for a fee, but I have no idea what to ask for. Anyone know how much cost is on canned coke products on a 3rd party vendor program? I know it depends but a rough idea would be nice. Also, anyone know if Coke sells vitamin water or bottled water products? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruff84 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Coke owns Vitamin water they also make Disani water as well. Coke won't do can 3rd party anymore. I believe they only do bottles now, and your going to charge them a fee to order and stock their machines? Seems odd, normaly the fee you get is the profit made from the soda you sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Vending Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 They have can machines in their buildings at $.75/can so they must still be doing cans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Cans are better for most vendors as they have a longer shelf life but you should plan on getting multipriced machines so you can sell bottled drinks as well. Depending upon the thickness of the bottle, many bottled drinks won't vend well in a traditional stack style vendor as they tend to squash down as you stack them up and cause malfunctions with the vend bucket. This is why people prefer the glassfront machines when they know they'll be dealing with a lot of different bottles. I'm not sure if you read my post to your last thread but you need to consider leasing at least some of your equipment as the glassfront machines cost 5 to 6K. Again, I'd talk to Bill (Technivend) about this post haste if I were you. You must get an accurate idea of your costs before signing any contracts. You may find that you only need ie: 10 glassfronts and 10 bubblefronts thereby lessening your overhead ( clean multipriced bubblefronts can be bought for about 1K - your small business loan). Regarding your offer, just give them the same deal as Coke but service the machines yourself - which is all they're asking for. Ps. Bubblefront and stack style are synonymous - the basic soda vendor you see everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Have you tried pulling cash sales data from the machines door closed totals? I do this on large accounts so that I know what Im getting into before I set them up, especially if they are asking for a high commission. Just punch the 4 2 3 1 4 and enter the totals and then come back in a week and check again and compare. With this in mind, you can disable this feature so it cannot be used against you, which I highly recommend. Its "con 4" option on royals, not sure on any other machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Also consider that at least 3 months out of the year, you are going to make next to nothing due to school being out. I would also figure this into the mix when you go to get the loan. Also check into the state's healthy crap in schools. When Indiana did it, several vendors lost their rear ends. In Indiana, you can't put soft drinks in the machines. Only juices, water/vitamin water. As for the snack machines, no chips, cakes, or candy bars etc. It had to be all this baked crap and healthy nuts and bars... Just my 2 cents worth on what to check into... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donut Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Also check into the state's healthy crap in schools. When Indiana did it, several vendors lost their rear ends. In Indiana, you can't put soft drinks in the machines. Only juices, water/vitamin water. As for the snack machines, no chips, cakes, or candy bars etc. It had to be all this baked crap and healthy nuts and bars... Same here in California... I'm looking for places to put soda machines just off the school properties for after school... But since I'm in a small town (and county for that matter), I'm not having much luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Vending Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Well after a meeting with the school we've decided that they're going to stay using the 3rd party vending with Coke but they're willing to hire me to service (order/stock). They want me to submit a proposal but I can't do that until I know what kind of revenue these machines are bringing in. They provided me with an 8 month report showing 1,461 cases sold in 8 months however I don't know their cost or sale price so I can't figure anything out. Can anyone give me an idea of what cans cost, bottled water and vitamin water costs through 3rd party vending w/Coke? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Well after a meeting with the school we've decided that they're going to stay using the 3rd party vending with Coke but they're willing to hire me to service (order/stock). They want me to submit a proposal but I can't do that until I know what kind of revenue these machines are bringing in. They provided me with an 8 month report showing 1,461 cases sold in 8 months however I don't know their cost or sale price so I can't figure anything out. Can anyone give me an idea of what cans cost, bottled water and vitamin water costs through 3rd party vending w/Coke? Here in sunny So Cal, the local bottlers charge 33 cents a can vs the 27 cents I pay at Costco, so figure 15% more - this probably holds true for the bottled products as well. I've never heard of the scenario you're describing. It's seems like a better option would for you to talk to the bottler, explain the stocking problem, and just take over the accounts as a normal third party vendor. You use their machines, buy all the product from them and stock the machines yourself in lieu of the schools doing it. As a word of caution - some bottlers can be very obtuse but I think the scenario I mentioned above is worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Vending Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's much more complicated unfortunately. Some buildings want to keep doing it themselves b/c they keep the profits for their PTA and Sports booster clubs etc. Some buildings would love for someone to come do it for them and they don't care about the profits so this is the only way I could really do it is peace-meal by buildings. They sent me some reports showing they purchased 1,461 cases between 10/2011 and 6/2012. Even if I get 1000 cases of the business I think I'm looking at a good buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's much more complicated unfortunately. Some buildings want to keep doing it themselves b/c they keep the profits for their PTA and Sports booster clubs etc. Some buildings would love for someone to come do it for them and they don't care about the profits so this is the only way I could really do it is peace-meal by buildings. They sent me some reports showing they purchased 1,461 cases between 10/2011 and 6/2012. Even if I get 1000 cases of the business I think I'm looking at a good buck Have you discussed replacing the machines that they don't want to fill with your own machines or does there contract with coke not allow this? How many building/machines are they wanting to keep to themselves & how many are they prepared to let you fill? Have you looked into getting reading of the machines that they are wanting you to fill like Broncho suggested? This is the first thing I would suggest you do as this will give you an idea of what you will do excluding the machine they are wanting to keep doing themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Vending Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's an exclusive contract so no other vending machines. Here's the math I'm figuring, your thoughts appreciated. Over 10 month period the school sold 282 cases (in buildings that would want my service) Building 1 - 113 cases Building 2 - 30 cases Building 3 - 10 cases Building 4 - 27 cases Building 5 - 8 cases Building 6 - 20 cases Building 7 - 37 cases Building 8 - 20 cases Building 9 - 17 cases They are 30 minute drive from my home. So 1 hour drive time total. Building 1 - service once every other week (total service time that day including drive time approx 4 hours) Buildings 2 - 9 service once/month (total service time that day including drive time approx 7 hours) Total hours worked over 10 months 115 hours I would charge no less than $15/hour ($1725 pay over 10 months) $1725 pay divided by 282 cases is about $6/case fee to order and stock What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 It's an exclusive contract so no other vending machines. Here's the math I'm figuring, your thoughts appreciated. Over 10 month period the school sold 282 cases (in buildings that would want my service) Building 1 - 113 cases Building 2 - 30 cases Building 3 - 10 cases Building 4 - 27 cases Building 5 - 8 cases Building 6 - 20 cases Building 7 - 37 cases Building 8 - 20 cases Building 9 - 17 cases They are 30 minute drive from my home. So 1 hour drive time total. Building 1 - service once every other week (total service time that day including drive time approx 4 hours) Buildings 2 - 9 service once/month (total service time that day including drive time approx 7 hours) Total hours worked over 10 months 115 hours I would charge no less than $15/hour ($1725 pay over 10 months) $1725 pay divided by 282 cases is about $6/case fee to order and stock What do you think? I don't like it JCS and here's why; Out of 1460 cases, you're only getting 280. Given that the maximum profit per case is about $10 buying from the bottler, that's $2,800 max per school year. Over 10 months figure $280 per month to handle 9 buildings every other week? That's about $15 for each servicing and leaves nothing for the school. Sounds like Coke is cherry picking the best locations - I'd walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCS Vending Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Very good point. It's not Coke who is picking, it's the buildings themselves. The High School makes up for the rest of the cases I'm not getting. The High School wants to keep stocking themselves as to keep the profits. It's the other small buildings that don't want the bother. Even at $15/hour as I outlined above I'm not sure if it's worth it to me. $20/hour yes but $15.....to burn my day off from my regular job I just don't feel the value at $15/hour as terrible as that sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falls Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 If you take over stocking are you tied to using products ordered from coke through the school? If not I'd think they are meeting their minimum order with the machines they are stocking themselves, and you could stock with product bought cheaper from external sources. I know the coke machines have sales counters, but don't know if they compare sales to orders in your area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruff84 Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Is there a slight chance that if you do take over the select few accounts they are offering that it could turn into something bigger down the road? Perhaps as they see your work ethic when the coke contract expires they might choose your service instead of cokes. Could be your foot in the door where you have to deal with the crumbs for a year or so and eventually get to take the whole pie home with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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