Paveitall Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I started 1 year ago in the vending business with two snack machines and 1 year later we are operating 12 snack/soda machines with varying degrees of success. My best snack machine is actually a chilled machine at a Hotel where we offer chips, snacks, candy and a variety of fresh food (Sandwiches & Burritos), this machine averaged $1,800.00/mo last year. My worst machines are located at a trucking company, the snack machine and drink machine both average around $200.00/mo. So if you willing to share, I would like some of you experienced guys/gals to weigh in on what you believe revenues should be for snack & soda machines using the designations of Excellent, Good & Poor location. My inexperienced opinions and limited location info is as follows: Soda Machine Excellent - $1,000.00 Good - $500.00 Poor - $200.00 Snack Machine Excellent - $1,250.00 Good - $650.00 Poor - $150.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I am for $100 a week, per machine. Everyone is different though. Not all accounts are going to be the gravy accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoom Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Your numbers and designation look about right to me by location (one snack and one soda) rather than by machine. However, I have actually avoided any location that requires service more than once per week (I want to be able to pick my kids up from school/take vacations/ski powder days/etc.) so I am not operating real high end accounts. My general thought is to build the business the way you want it to operate rather than how someone else does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I started 1 year ago in the vending business with two snack machines and 1 year later we are operating 12 snack/soda machines with varying degrees of success. My best snack machine is actually a chilled machine at a Hotel where we offer chips, snacks, candy and a variety of fresh food (Sandwiches & Burritos), this machine averaged $1,800.00/mo last year. My worst machines are located at a trucking company, the snack machine and drink machine both average around $200.00/mo. So if you willing to share, I would like some of you experienced guys/gals to weigh in on what you believe revenues should be for snack & soda machines using the designations of Excellent, Good & Poor location. My inexperienced opinions and limited location info is as follows: Soda Machine Excellent - $1,000.00 Good - $500.00 Poor - $200.00 Snack Machine Excellent - $1,250.00 Good - $650.00 Poor - $150.00 Don't get spoiled by your early success. I'd lower all your expectations by one level, For example, I would consider a soda machine that does $500 a month excellent and a snack machine doing $650 excellent. Soda machines normally do about 50% better than snack machines. As you move forward, don't be discouraged if new accounts don't meet your lofty expectations. From my perspective any soda/snack account doing $500 a month plus is worth keeping. I consider any machine not doing $100 a month as a poor performer but many times this will be offset by the performance of the other machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Don't get spoiled by your early success. I'd lower all your expectations by one level, For example, I would consider a soda machine that does $500 a month excellent and a snack machine doing $650 excellent. Soda machines normally do about 50% better than snack machines. As you move forward, don't be discouraged if new accounts don't meet your lofty expectations. From my perspective any soda/snack account doing $500 a month plus is worth keeping. I consider any machine not doing $100 a month as a poor performer but many times this will be offset by the performance of the other machine. I'm with moondog, thats my exact thinking as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metrovending Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I always look at my investment compared to sales, I just set a snack machine that I bought for 250.00 (usi snackmart 3 silver with coinco bill accepter) and installed it in a location that ran 90.00 the first week and 72.00 the second week. I will take that all day long, I just purchased a small route that had two locations with bottle machines that ran about 3 cases a week each & I was able to install snacks at both locations. The other location is running 40.00 a week on the snack machine. Those machines usually about 500.00 a piece in my area so for 1000.00 plus inventory, coins in the coin mechs & moving I'm out about 1500.00 & running about 6000.00 a year in sales on locations I was already servicing. If I had spent 2500.00 each on newer snack machines that are credit card capable, etc. I would have 6000.00 invested for 6000,00 a year in sales if you do this too many times you will struggle to have any cash flow for expansion. The flip side is if you buy all older equipment that wont upgrade to credit card readers later on you will be struggling to keep any decent account. Within 5 years from now we will probably all have to have readers on anything doing more than 100.00 a week, maybe even 75.00 a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metrovending Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Moondog is spot on, there's good money in 500.00 a month locations if you don't have new equipment in them. They are usually loyal because you will get to know half of the people there & if your friendly they will go to the boss and save you if they need to. My dad was in the coffee service business for years, I will never forget the best advice he ever gave me. He said " Did you know that company xyz could buy this coffee at the store, have it delivered from office depot or simply switch to another coffee service. I responded yes and he said they are buying it from us because they like us" He is 82 years old and is still delivering to some accounts, he has had the Coney Islander franchise(6 stores) since at least 1986 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Your numbers and designation look about right to me by location (one snack and one soda) rather than by machine. However, I have actually avoided any location that requires service more than once per week (I want to be able to pick my kids up from school/take vacations/ski powder days/etc.) so I am not operating real high end accounts. My general thought is to build the business the way you want it to operate rather than how someone else does it. Ah yes, the powder days, three sets of tracks before anybody else hits the hill - spent a year in Snowmass my first year out of college and have skii'd that dry powder chest deep. If you go down, the first thing you have to do is get your glove off to clear the snow out of your mouth so you can breath - it's always best not to go down and DON'T STOP!!! And wear leashes or you'll never find your ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfdogs Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Ah yes, the powder days, three sets of tracks before anybody else hits the hill - spent a year in Snowmass my first year out of college and have skii'd that dry powder chest deep. If you go down, the first thing you have to do is get your glove off to clear the snow out of your mouth so you can breath - it's always best not to go down and DON'T STOP!!! And wear leashes or you'll never find your ski I lived in Vail for five years...good old days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I lived in Vail for five years...good old days! The back bowls in Vail are powder heaven - just can't be skii'd out on a good powder day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfdogs Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 The back bowls in Vail are powder heaven - just can't be skii'd out on a good powder day I sometimes wonder what the heck I'm doing in Kentucky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoom Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Sounds like you guys have figured out the "white room" reference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Your numbers and designation look about right to me by location (one snack and one soda) rather than by machine. However, I have actually avoided any location that requires service more than once per week (I want to be able to pick my kids up from school/take vacations/ski powder days/etc.) so I am not operating real high end accounts. My general thought is to build the business the way you want it to operate rather than how someone else does it. Same here, but 2 weeks ago I got an account that needs to be serviced every 4 days. Im gonna try and add a crane combo and that should add to the 7day schedule. It depends on your goals but id say Bad $150> Good $300< great $800< per machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Sounds like you guys have figured out the "white room" reference! I had no idea that was what your screen name referenced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfdogs Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Sounds like you guys have figured out the "white room" reference! Where are your powder days spent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 Don't get spoiled by your early success. I'd lower all your expectations by one level, For example, I would consider a soda machine that does $500 a month excellent and a snack machine doing $650 excellent. Soda machines normally do about 50% better than snack machines. As you move forward, don't be discouraged if new accounts don't meet your lofty expectations. From my perspective any soda/snack account doing $500 a month plus is worth keeping. I consider any machine not doing $100 a month as a poor performer but many times this will be offset by the performance of the other machine. Good info, with my weaker location only having $200.00/Mo in sales should I consider dropping it and looking for an better spot? I do have used equipment at the site so the investment is very low but I believe I could do better elsewhere. Same here, but 2 weeks ago I got an account that needs to be serviced every 4 days. Im gonna try and add a crane combo and that should add to the 7day schedule. It depends on your goals but id say Bad $150> Good $300< great $800< per machine Thanks White Room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 I always look at my investment compared to sales, I just set a snack machine that I bought for 250.00 (usi snackmart 3 silver with coinco bill accepter) and installed it in a location that ran 90.00 the first week and 72.00 the second week. I will take that all day long, I just purchased a small route that had two locations with bottle machines that ran about 3 cases a week each & I was able to install snacks at both locations. The other location is running 40.00 a week on the snack machine. Those machines usually about 500.00 a piece in my area so for 1000.00 plus inventory, coins in the coin mechs & moving I'm out about 1500.00 & running about 6000.00 a year in sales on locations I was already servicing. If I had spent 2500.00 each on newer snack machines that are credit card capable, etc. I would have 6000.00 invested for 6000,00 a year in sales if you do this too many times you will struggle to have any cash flow for expansion. The flip side is if you buy all older equipment that wont upgrade to credit card readers later on you will be struggling to keep any decent account. Within 5 years from now we will probably all have to have readers on anything doing more than 100.00 a week, maybe even 75.00 a week. All but 4 of my machines are new, I have all 4 of the older used machines at my slower accounts and I sometimes wonder if having the older machines with no CC readers isn't partially to blame. I have 6 Crane machines with the intergraded CC readers, so far 40% of my sales come from CC. I wont order a machine without a CC reader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoom Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Where are your powder days spent? Mt Hood. Not quite the ideal CO or UT powder but it is pretty good! Paveitall - I look at my slower accounts as free machine storage until I find a better location. I do not have a warehouse for storage. However, right now I have the spare time to be servicing the slower accounts. If I had a full time job or vending was a full time job I would be much quicker to pull the plug on those accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Why not flip them? I have found crappy accounts making unDer 200 a month and the machines there single priced or older machines pay maybe 5-600 for the pair, then when I see they dont do well I flio them for 2-3k and use that for better machines or accounts. This method has worked like a charm, I only put newer machines in nicer locations. Warehouses, refinery, shops can all use older equipment. Call centers and offices, hospitals etc need new stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Good info, with my weaker location only having $200.00/Mo in sales should I consider dropping it and looking for an better spot? I do have used equipment at the site so the investment is very low but I believe I could do better elsewhere. Thanks White Room If you were to work 40 hours a week just doing $200 a month accounts, could you make a living? I don't think so. When I first started, in my zeal to grow, I opened a bunch of such accounts - thirty machines in 6 months, locating is easy when you take anything and everything The painful lesson I learned was that I was not making much profit and basically chasing my tail around just keeping all those machines running. You're better off with a few premium accounts and reserving your spare time for growth potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 Mt Hood. Not quite the ideal CO or UT powder but it is pretty good! Paveitall - I look at my slower accounts as free machine storage until I find a better location. I do not have a warehouse for storage. However, right now I have the spare time to be servicing the slower accounts. If I had a full time job or vending was a full time job I would be much quicker to pull the plug on those accounts. I love it, never thought of it that way "free storage". I'm going to find a new home for those machines. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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