Anybody doing Almonds?

[Faith Vending]

I have been asked for these quite a bit recently because it is a good healthy snack. Has anyone vended almonds? Any profit? Where would you get enough almonds to make it worth it without breaking the bank?

[Faith Vending]

I'll be the first to reply. How about jelly beans? Can be profitable but does anyone eat 'em? I guess you have to try them with your best locations and see what happens. I don't want to get out of control here but my locations are getting tired of the same candy. I think this is definitely something to be concerned about.

[philo]

Jim:

If you're dealing mostly with employee break rooms or locations with a fairly static number of employess then my experience has been this; the first 2-3 months are abnormally high due to the newness of the service. The next 3-4 months are a downward slope until the location settles into its normal range. I've had locations start at $50 a month ending up at $15 a month 6 months later. On the other hand I have some retail locations that do consistently well due to the customer traffic. Sometimes changing product helps temporarily, sometimes it has no effect at all.

Regards,

Philo

 

[joebob051977]

I agree with Philo here. I have seen this trend with almost all of my locations. The first month is great, then there's the downward spiral. If you have canister type machines you can easily swap out candy types to give your product sales a small boost. I do believe I read in the Vending Times that rotating your candy can help boost sales so that there is something new every month.

[grumpy]

Chocolate almonds sell very well, but are expensive, check Costco or Sam's. I give three for a quarter. Pistachios are the new "health" nut, supposedly it is the best for good cholesterol and high blood pressure. Still expensive but better return because of the shell they are not really getting a lot. Of course you could use meat only pistachios (without shell) again expensive but no buffer from the shell.

[grumpy]

I'm a believer of changing products, I use seasons as a guide. (In Canada we have two, fall and winter)

Would not be to quick to change a great location products till they actually slow down. Jelly beans in 90% of the locations they are in sell badly, but a steady bad. (About 75% of my locations have Jelly Beans) I like them for their long life, and ability to handle different environments. I should point out that these are vending jelly beans, made for bulk vending not the same that the majority of you buy.

[T BIRD]

I have also been looking at this french burnt peanut that TJ king sells. It seems fairly reasonably priced. Has this pistachio colored burnt sugar thing on the outside that is actually very good. ( to me at least ). Could help a sweet tooth and be a little more wholesome than just plain candy.

[Faith Vending]

I placed a gourmet jelly bean at a good location and turned the wheel way back; cost $10; return $32 if drained. I'll take that; I think the trail mix return will be about the same. All bought at Sam's so might be better deals out there.

Jim

[fvc]

Almonds have one of the longest shelf lifes for nuts yet pmm's have nuts in them and seem to appeal to a larger audience of more mature custimers opposed to skittles for kids

[Jay-Son Vending]

Johnny,

I tried the "Boston Baked Beans" i believe very similar to the french burnt thingy's there...They were very cheap BUT..they did not sell for me..one location out of 16 liked them...I returned most of them to sams...

[vendboy]

I think the french burnt are different thought , are'nt they ? I think 3 chocolate almonds for a quarter is fair, they are expensive.

[Ronzo]

Wow, I must not be watching my vend. I have been giving about 7-8 almonds per vend. Thought it was too cheap to give less than that. Will change vend tomorrow. (Another option I was thinking of was going to a 50 cent mech and keep the same amount)