garnaout Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Hello guys, I am new to the food & beverage vending. I started initially with bulk vending only to realized that it's not for me, I waited till I made my initial investment and sold the machines. Now as I am looking into the food & bev and mainly trying to do strictly healthy vending (w/o having to go through a shady franchise company) , it looks to me that most of the machines break very often. I thought I'd reach out here to the experts and ask the following 2 questions: 1- What are the best /most recommended machines for food & bev (combination of parts availability, price, and durability). I looked around the forum and found alot of inconsistent answers that got me confused a little . 2- Why is the healthy vending business not picking up? I thought about it a few years ago and now am still surprised to see that people are still placing machines that sell junk food. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I've tried the healthy vending approach only to go broke. It seems that people that eat healthy do not look to a vending machine for their nutrition. Junk food sells 100 to 1 over healthy food. You just can't force people to buy what is good for them. If you put a granola bar and a snickers on the table, the snickers will be gone in seconds, the granola bar will sit there for days. I sit and watch people make purchases from vending machines and it doesn't matter what shape they are in, nearly every time they will get a sugary or salty snack and a soft drink. If you are going to loose sleep over that then vending may not be for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Hello guys, I am new to the food & beverage vending. I started initially with bulk vending only to realized that it's not for me, I waited till I made my initial investment and sold the machines. Now as I am looking into the food & bev and mainly trying to do strictly healthy vending (w/o having to go through a shady franchise company) , it looks to me that most of the machines break very often. I thought I'd reach out here to the experts and ask the following 2 questions: 1- What are the best /most recommended machines for food & bev (combination of parts availability, price, and durability). I looked around the forum and found alot of inconsistent answers that got me confused a little . 2- Why is the healthy vending business not picking up? I thought about it a few years ago and now am still surprised to see that people are still placing machines that sell junk food. Thanks in advance! As the saying goes, "opinions are like asses, everybody's got one." when it comes to equipment. One we all would agree on is that you need to stay away from imported machines and stick with the major American brands. After that, IMO, are better off finding the right equipment to fill you needs at the right price. Now about the healthy vending.... it depends on what you call healthy. If you are looking at the organic and natural products as being the definition of healthy then yes it remains a small but growing niche market segment. IMO, the main reason for this is the cost, lack of variety made for vending and availability through the distribution system. If you use the NAMA fitpick program as your guide then you will find that in many cases the machines already have 20-25%,or more, items considered to be healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Hello guys, I am new to the food & beverage vending. I started initially with bulk vending only to realized that it's not for me, I waited till I made my initial investment and sold the machines. Now as I am looking into the food & bev and mainly trying to do strictly healthy vending (w/o having to go through a shady franchise company) , it looks to me that most of the machines break very often. I thought I'd reach out here to the experts and ask the following 2 questions: 1- What are the best /most recommended machines for food & bev (combination of parts availability, price, and durability). I looked around the forum and found alot of inconsistent answers that got me confused a little . 2- Why is the healthy vending business not picking up? I thought about it a few years ago and now am still surprised to see that people are still placing machines that sell junk food. Thanks in advance! i. I prefer AP snack machines and Royal soda machines for both durability and availability of parts. 2. Healthy vending products don't sell well because they usually taste like crap - I should know as I've pulled a lot of stale healthy product out of my machines which I tried to eat. I can't even get the dog to eat it and he eats anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I've got some Cliff bars in a machine that are about a year old and taste the same today as they did when I first put them in. Everytime I try one I think, what the heck IS this and why am I eating it? lol Bosses be like, "I want to see my work force eating more healthy so they will be happier and more productive". Employees be like, "Is it Friday yet?". What's the difference between a fresh healthy snack and a stale healthy snack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I've got some Cliff bars in a machine that are about a year old and taste the same today as they did when I first put them in. Everytime I try one I think, what the heck IS this and why am I eating it? lol Bosses be like, "I want to see my work force eating more healthy so they will be happier and more productive". Employees be like, "Is it Friday yet?". What's the difference between a fresh healthy snack and a stale healthy snack? What bosses really like are Monsters - you never want to run out of those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksfan9325 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Another overlooked issue is that there really isn't a company that has mainstreamed a healthy vending product. A lot of the decently tasting healthy products, aren't available at vendor suppliers. I think there is much work left to do in the area of "healthy vending". It's like high speed rail in America. We are so addicted to our cars, that we may never really use/need high speed rail, even though the idea sounds so sexy at first. Stick with SAD foods (Standard American Diet), until we have more products of high quality nutrition available. Snickers, Chips, cookies. Once the government tells us we can no longer sell these, then we can all shift to healthy and go broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garnaout Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 A lot of very valuable advices guys , thank you so much! Are there any snack vending other than the AP that you recommend? The reviews on it look good but I am trying to have a few to pick from. And definitely agree that they ave to be made in the US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Crane national Rowe ams Soda: vendo and dixie narco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 A lot of very valuable advices guys , thank you so much! Are there any snack vending other than the AP that you recommend? The reviews on it look good but I am trying to have a few to pick from. And definitely agree that they ave to be made in the US Welcome to the forum! It's good that you have been reading around here before making an investment and that you already know that bulk vending isn't for you. As you can see, most operators haven't drank the "healthy vending" koolaid and through their experience they have all concluded that healthy products won't sustain a vending operation. The franchises have some success only because they are the exclusive supplier to their locations, so the healthy products are forced down the customer's throats. However, if you dissected their revenue you would find that their gross sales are maintained only by the very high prices they must charge due to their high product costs, but their unit sales will be much lower than those through a standard fare machine. In instances where the healthy machine is sharing space with a standard fare machine, the healthy machine doesn't do very well and is usually removed. As you've read, there are a variety of machines made here in the US that are very suitable for your use. There are combo machines made by AMS, AP, National/Crane and USI. Whether you use a combo machine or full size machines depends on a variety of factors at a location such as space availability, number of employees, public exposure, foot traffic, type of work environment, etc. As a beginner you should focus on the simplicity of can vendors - finding locations, finding good machines, moving machines, buying and stocking products, etc. - until you know that this is the business for you. Cans give you easy access to products from a variety of sources and a longer shelf life than bottles. Once you get experience with soda machines then you can branch out into snack machines but keep in mind that it will take 5 or more snack machines before you can efficiently spread your case count inventory among your machines without it expiring before it gets to a machine. I also want to note that your possible confusion of what machines to use and the problems that many seem to have is due to the nature of this forum - we answer many questions about machine problems and you won't usually see glowing reports of machine operations because that's not what generally gets posted. Remember too, that if you're buying used machines, repairs are part of the business. There are a lot more moving parts than on bulk machines, but I think full size vending machines get more respect from customers and less vandalism than lonely bulk machines might have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garnaout Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 @AZVendor thanks a lot for your thorough response! Regarding the first section, my plan is the same. A contract with the location owner where they get their royalties on the condition that my healthy machines will be the only machines there - no competition whatsoever. Of course I can't expect someone to choose a CLIFF bar vs. a Kit Kat. Kit Kat tastes better period. The prime target locations will be Gyms, schools, large offices, hospitals, etc. And yes, you're right the profit margin would be high. Basically, the plan is to imitate an existing system of a franchisor w/o having to pay the unnecessary royaltees or worry about the legitimacy of their operations As far as the machines are concerned, it seems that machines breaking are part of the business. Is it recommended to be able to personally service them? are there any certifications I should consider to be capable of doing so? or is it more common to get a repair guy every time the machines break? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 If you can so basic maintenance on your car and around the house you can learn to fix vending machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garnaout Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Glad to hear. I am handy in general, so it should be a good learning experience. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 You're on the right track by doing the healthy vending on your own. You can actually purchase your own machine graphics too, so you can emulate what the franchise machines look like. When you mentioned that "yes, the profit margin will be high", I hope you mean that you recognize your profit margin might not be high because your product cost is high, and that you will then have to put above average prices on your products in order to maintain your profit margin. When doing this don't give the farm away in commission to the locations. Approach them without mentioning commission until they bring it up, then have in mind what you're willing to give them. Don't give away too much or you will never achieve the profit margins you need. There is no certification needed to repair a vending machine except for refrigeration work, just good experience. It is advisable to find someone locally that can do repairs for you as you won't always be able to do a repair yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 If you can so basic maintenance on your car and around the house you can learn to fix vending machines. This is true. However, being able to fix a vending machine does not make you a mechanic. Vending repair is easier. Trust me. I know. Darn stepvan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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