Buzz Bites For Everyone

[lucks]

Guys,

We had our machine designed to fit next to coffee pots in break rooms and waiting rooms , so we are not targeting the wrong crowd. Anyway, we have heard from many vendors that want to try our product out but do not want to buy the machine that was designed for the product.

I am not sure how well you will do selling the chews out of capsules in the basic bulk machine but Mad Dog wants to let you try.

For VENDiscuss members we are offering 1 case minimums

There are 1440 pieces to a case. If you order one case it is 25cents per chew plus shipping.

If you order 2-3 cases it is 20 cents per chew, and if you order 4 cases or more you will get them for 15 cents per chew plus $1 per pound shipping.

If you have locations with mostly adults as the clientelle give them a try. Please don't put them in front of restaurants or anywhere little children might confuse them as candy.

[grumpy]

WoW Gary,

It's nice to see a proactive business decision, changing your business model to give nay sayers an opportunity to see if this product could work for them. It now puts you in the same league of Business Opportunity as Dentyne Ice and Certs. (no need to buy a special machine, just product) As for not targeting kids you may want to look at your sales flyer tool on your web site page 14 I believe.

[lucks]

Your right about the sales flyer, that should be off the site sometime today. I really believe in our product and we have many new flavors coming out. Some people like original , others love the mint, Our new flavor is going to be more fruity. I think the fruity flavors will get a lot of the younger generation 18 and up.

[bacho]

How does this affect the distributors that invested $10,000+ because they were guaranteed to be the only vendor in their area? I pity the people that were under that impression. Maybe that's why Craigslist and Ebay are flooded with the machines and product.

[Bravo Duck]

 I suggested this quite some time ago so I'm glad to see you take a step in the correct direction.

[grumpy]

How does this affect the distributors that invested $10,000+ because they were guaranteed to be the only vendor in their area?

bacho if you think of this as a franchise instead of a distributorship, you may come to an idea on how they are operating. They probably did not use the term franchise because of the laws that control disclosure. (franchise laws are very particular)

That being said, without seeing the actual agreement the master distributor may have complete control deciding at what levels others are allowed in you playing field.

As for used equipment being sold off, does that surprise you. Many people jump in on all different kind of bandwagons without taking personal stock of themselves. How many vendors have quit on this board? And that is something that is fairly easy, tried and true. (bulk vending)

It would take a special person with the right drive and "friends" to be a success in buzz-bites. Definitely not for everyone, just like most franchises.

[grumpy]

 I suggested this quite some time ago so I'm glad to see you take a step in the correct direction.

Tom are you willing to give it a try now that Gary has opened the door to this opportunity? And could you please fill in your profile to show what part of the world you are from?

[lucks]

Tom,

Believe it or not but we take those suggestions very seriously. I think its a very good one and would like to follow that as a business model. We knew our product would do well in vending and thats why we designed the machine. But you are right, we shouldn't isolate the people who have been in vending forever. Hopefully opening our product up to all vendors will work for all of us.

[Bravo Duck]

Tom are you willing to give it a try now that Gary has opened the door to this opportunity? And could you please fill in your profile to show what part of the world you are from?

No, It is a specialized/niche product with a very high wholesale cost, so I wont be adding it to my inventory anytime soon. The same holds true to a lesser extent for Dentyne Ice/ Certs, but I may try them as a premium branded product on down the road. Especially if Steve develops a wheel for Oaks. Hint, Hint.

I intentionally left the location on my profile blank when I joined so the vendors in my area would not feel inhibited about sharing their best practices. I'm in the Dallas, Texas area.

[grumpy]

Thanks for the location Tom, how about just putting Texas in your profile, if my memory serves it is the everything is BIG state.

Buzz bites is the same product cost as DI, but returns more money if the same vend count. Not trying to sell you on the idea, but if the public sees a .50 value and buys; it has the potential for more dollar returns. (if this makes sense)

Separate question, are you able to keep your COGs below 30%?

[Bravo Duck]

Thanks for the location Tom, how about just putting Texas in your profile, if my memory serves it is the everything is BIG state.

Buzz bites is the same product cost as DI, but returns more money if the same vend count. Not trying to sell you on the idea, but if the public sees a .50 value and buys; it has the potential for more dollar returns. (if this makes sense)

Separate question, are you able to keep your COGs below 30%?

If you buy one case of Buzz Bites to try then cost is 50% + shipping + capsules +  time & energy  to encapsulate them.

I'm below 30% on everything except PMM.

 

[grumpy]

tstrong wrote:

If you buy one case of Buzz Bites to try then cost is 50% + shipping + capsules +  time & energy  to encapsulate them.

I'm below 30% on everything except PMM.

 

Actually I just checked and I'm too, except MMP is close to 50%.

Hypothetical

I do not how big your route is but, I'm guessing if you tried buzz-bites and it worked for you. You would buy their machine, and four cases at once for cheaper COGS. Which is the same for DI, unless you run Beavers with shallow wheels or their conversion insert for the one machine they have made it for. And $.25 per vend is still a larger return then $.18 per vend, for a test case.

I'm not trying to persuade you to try it but in the interest of information I like things to be equal. It's been said that buzz-bites is a bad biz-op were DI is not bad. (to me about the same) Now they are equal in ability to provide product to the vendor from one distributor and use in any machine of choice. Albeit with work and more cost on the vendor by putting them in capsules, but t-bird does that for DI, and maybe others.

[Bravo Duck]

I'm not trying to persuade you to try it but in the interest of information I like things to be equal. It's been said that buzz-bites is a bad biz-op were DI is not bad. (to me about the same) Now they are equal in ability to provide product to the vendor from one distributor and use in any machine of choice. Albeit with work and more cost on the vendor by putting them in capsules, but t-bird does that for DI, and maybe others.

Today is the very first day that Buzz Bites and Dentyne Ice/Certs have had any similarity in business models. Before today the business model that Buzz Bites most resembled was Vendstar.

My motivation for pointing out the flaws in the Buzz Bite business model has been discussed at length in other threads (I'm trying to save newbies $10,000), but I'm curious as to why you're defending it.

[AmuseStar Vending Co]

Gary,

I am glad to see you are offering these to us. I feel that you took a step away from the Biz op by offering this deal. I will consider buying some.

Kyle

[polecat]

Not that I care to debate the issue about the business models now being the "same", considering the products are polar opposites; ie. sugar free, healthy, health benefits, #1 selling product in fastest growing segment vs. high caffeine, health risks with younger consumers, unproven/ unknown brand awareness, etc. but there certainly are differences. Not to say there isn't a market for a good energy product...

However, I do wish to clarify the COGS issue.

1 BAG of DI is about a 32% COGS, freight included.

1 CASE is about 27%, freight included.

There is still a very significant difference in the financial model. Even vending 4 DI for .50 is a COGS of about .16, vs. .25 for the Buzz Bites - Not including shipping. And this is comparing 1 BAG vs. 1 CASE. Case vs. Case is DI 27%, BB 50% + shipping costs.

I hope I'm not coming across as overly defensive. The BB model has always been everything we're not. I'm happy to see them expanding their offering but the financial numbers are still very different.

Best,

Steve

[grumpy]

Tom

Everybody has a right to run there own business any way they see fit. (legally) Just because people do not agree with a business model does not make it a rip-off or the owners impostors and liars.I’m not defending Buzz-Bites exclusively, I’m trying to get people to open their minds and think for themselves, not to get a mob mentality. In our forum of Vendiscuss how many vendors have or thought of buying into Buzz-Bites. As far as I can tell ZERO, excluding the ones who already have them or are members of Buzz-Bites.

 

Tom your discussions have been inteligent and thought provoking, some others have been a little nastier. Why, it’s the mob mentality that this is a biz-op so its got to be bad. How does anybody here know its bad? Because somebody told them!

 

Do I believe energy chews have a place in bulk vending? Yes, is Buzz-Bites the one to lead the way? Unknown to me, but somebody has to do it first or it will never be done. So lets take this oppurtunity to learn what is right and what is wrong with the product in the context of our industry. Every biz-op offers an oppurtunity to learn, sometimes it is bad sometimes it is good.

 

How many of us were told by friends and familys that it was a bad idea. IBM told Bill Gates there was no need for PC’s. (DOS) We can look at the business world at most of the large names in any sector and see winners and losers. I’m sure GM, Ford, and Chrysler never thought they would lose the posistion of the big three. Toyota is number one, kind of funny if you remember the cars from the 70’s and 80’s. How about McDonalds, did anybody ever think that the big M would close any units? (a few years ago 850 I think)

 

I own a franchise, the franchsor is small but I’m sure you could ask the 10 or so franchises that walk away and are or have tried suing the franchsor if they thought that they were taking advantage of and the answer would be yes. Yet I am successful as 30 others are. It truly comes down to people taking responsibilty with themselves, and being honest in what they can do and what they cannot do.

 

I can honestly say that I do not have the energy or ability to sell buzz-bites, it is new and would take someone else to do this then me. Doesn’t mean that when it is better known that I would not sell it.

[grumpy]

Not that I care to debate the issue about the business models now being the "same", considering the products are polar opposites; ie. sugar free, healthy, health benefits, #1 selling product in fastest growing segment vs. high caffeine, health risks with younger consumers, unproven/ unknown brand awareness, etc. but there certainly are differences. Not to say there isn't a market for a good energy product...

However, I do wish to clarify the COGS issue.

1 BAG of DI is about a 32% COGS, freight included.

1 CASE is about 27%, freight included.

There is still a very significant difference in the financial model. Even vending 4 DI for .50 is a COGS of about .16, vs. .25 for the Buzz Bites - Not including shipping. And this is comparing 1 BAG vs. 1 CASE. Case vs. Case is DI 27%, BB 50% + shipping costs.

I hope I'm not coming across as overly defensive. The BB model has always been everything we're not. I'm happy to see them expanding their offering but the financial numbers are still very different.

Best,

Steve

Sorry Steve did not know about freight.

Healthy? There is a sweetener in there is there not.  As bulk vendors my opinion is we do not sell healthy stuff, not even nuts as most have sugar or salt.

My real comparison is that you are the only supplier just as they are the only supplier. DI uses a special machine as BB uses a special machine,(DI being less expensive) both can be worked around. All of the naysayers were using these as an example, which is why I stated that you were the same type.

And as another point, I really do not care how you operate your business nor do I care how buzz-bite operates. In the end I can choose to buy from you or not. But I will not run down how either of you conduct your business, as it is your business.

[Jax Snacks]

We now have 3 energy suppliers - Buzz Bites, Livewire and Energisers. If a vendor really wants to get into energy vending, they should contact all 3 and get them to start bidding against each other. Since one has offered the product independently of the machine, the others will have to follow. The product price should come down as well along with some shipping rate discounts - also demand that they do the capping. Gotta luv competition!

Jax

[candyman007]

The Buzz Bite product, look and feel, and the overall marketing of it has really dwarfed what the other energy companies have been able to do. 

I love my bulk vendors to death as I do my Buzz Bite distributors.  The similarities are very apparent.  Everyone is in the same position.  They want to make money! 

I've seen Bulk Vendors fail and I've seen Buzz Bite vendors fail but I have seen MANY MORE SUCCEED! 

Now that Mad Dog is offering 1 case minimums the product is much more appealing to the average vendor.  Eventually they will make the price the same no matter how many cases (15 cents per BB.)  I understand they are hesitant now but they will learn!  You open it up to the masses and you create BUZZ and isn't that what the BB is all about?! 

The next step is to sell the Decals for round globe machines, then you will really be in business!  The possibilities are endless!

Regards,

Robert Patterson, President

http://www.kickstartlocations.com

[Jax Snacks]

I am taking a neutral position on the energy market. But...

How do we know that this product will still be popular a year from now? Many bulk machines experience a "novelty spike" in the beginning. Sales are really good the first three or four months. But when the novelty wears off, the sales drop considerably. This happens a lot in break rooms (the target for buzz bites) since it's the same employees day after day who eventually cut back or get bored with the product.

I want to hear from these same buzz bite vendors one year now. And if they can say "I told you so", then more power (and quarters) to them! Until then, I will only re-invest my hard earned cash in candy, toys and gumballs. I sincerely wish all of the energy vendors and locators the best of luck!

Jax

[candyman007]

Jax,

Great point my friend! I truly do agree with you on the break room aspect!

The best place for Buzz Bite machines are restaurants. You have a constant turn over of employees and patrons and it's a place where you are on your feet all day long!

Regards,

Rob

http://www.kickstartlocations.com

[T BIRD]

I will continue on the sidelines and observe.