oheric Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 All- Please forgive me if I have posted to the wrong forum. I'm considering buying a pre established vending machine route, and not knowing the "in's and out's" of this kind of work, I'm looking for advice from the experts. I have many, many questions, but I will start with the value of the business. The current route includes 2 combo snack/soda machines and 6 Coke machines. The asking price is $5500 and according to the current owner, he nets about $150 per week. All machines are within a 15 minute drive from my current residence, so distance to service the machines shouldn't really be a concern. If more info is needed to make a more informed opinion, please let me know and I would be happy to provide. Thanks Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I moved your post the beverage and food vending section. You should have plenty of pros chime in to answer your post here. And, welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 All- Please forgive me if I have posted to the wrong forum. I'm considering buying a pre established vending machine route, and not knowing the "in's and out's" of this kind of work, I'm looking for advice from the experts. I have many, many questions, but I will start with the value of the business. The current route includes 2 combo snack/soda machines and 6 Coke machines. The asking price is $5500 and according to the current owner, he nets about $150 per week. All machines are within a 15 minute drive from my current residence, so distance to service the machines shouldn't really be a concern. If more info is needed to make a more informed opinion, please let me know and I would be happy to provide. Thanks Eric Given that the seller only owns the two combo machines this price is probably high. To value the combo machines, I'd need the make. I wouldn't pay more than 3 months gross ($3.600 plus the fair value of the combo machines. I find it odd that there are no standard snack machines in this mix - it could be a perfect match. Combo machines do not work well as snack machines as they can't hold enough product to be profitable (see Cost to Service). About the only place I would use a combo machine is as a satellite machine in a larger location like the management office of a large mfg. facility. If the two combo machines are Chinese made, you don't want them at any price. See my post regarding the bottler owned machines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Welcome to the forum, Eric. This is a great place to make these inquiries and it's good that you are asking questions before buying anything. The machines you are considering sound like the dregs from someone's route and, considering they don't own 6 of the machines, might be overpriced. You need to consider that you will only be buying 2 combo machines, the quality of which is not known, and then the balance of the value is only in the locations. First off, you need gross sales figures, not net sales. His net will be different than your net as your expenses could be higher or lower than his. You need the make and model of the combo machines, as there are some imported sub-par machines that you should never buy, even on location. To answer your question in your other post regarding the relationship with Coke - you will be a "third party vendor" with Coke. The third party agreement generally states that you will be responsible for minor issues with the machines such as price changes, product changes, coin jams and bill jams. Any other things that go wrong that can't be fixed without parts is usually taken care of by Coke. This policy can vary by bottler and by the quality of the local Coke vending techs. Coke will also move the machines, but don't expect them to move your machine from one location to another. Many times they will pick up the machine from the old account and you will then need to order another machine for the new account. Check with your bottler to see how they do this. You will also be last on their list for moves as their full-service machines take precedence. In exchange, Coke will require you to purchase a minimum number of product cases per month, per machine from approved wholesalers. This can be from Coke direct (the most expensive), from a vending products wholesaler such as Vistar, or perhaps from some food service provider in your area. You will have to check with your third party rep. This is the part of the deal that usually sinks new vendors as most small locations do not sell enough product for you to meet the minimums. This leaves you with a deficit and subject to having Coke pick up your equipment. Basically, if you don't already have several of your own soda machines out to help you make your minimum purchases, this is a failure from the start. As Moondog said, it is strange that these Coke machines aren't alongside any snack machines, but again I'm sure these are the dregs from someones vending route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 As a pure equipment and inventory purchase the price is not unreasonable. You do need to verify that the machines are owned by him and not lease machines from Coke. Get make and model info and report back, there are some machines you want to avoid like the plague. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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