wbuffett Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Hi everyone, A new prospect called me yesterday about adding a snack/soda combo machine to their breakroom. Its a nursing home about 8 miles from me. He said its about 60 employees working 3 shifts a day, residents and visitors would likely not use it. My concern is when I asked him if they had vending already he said yes but the machine was always empty and they had to call the vendor to refill...poor service. To me this is a red flag. If the acct. were a good one I would think the vendor would be on top on it. What do you think? Also this is the first time that I would buy a machine for an acct. Any other new acct I've gotten I've been able to move from an unprofitable location that I inherited when I bought this smallish route. So what should I be looking to pay for a refurb machine by itself? I phone a guy I've dealt with for repairs knowing he deals refurbs too. He said he's acquiring some in a week of so. He said he'd have a usi combo (19 snack select and 6 soda select), he said between $1000 and $1200. What do you think of the price assuming he does good work? How would you evaluate the acct to try to justify the machine placement cost? Thanks alot, Warren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 probably the reason that its always empty now is because its a combo!! If there is room, and the location will accommodate it, try and get a dedicated snack and dedicated soda machines, you and they will be much happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbuffett Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 My sense is that they had a snack and a soda machine but they just remodeled the breakroom and want to save alittle space. He specifically requested a combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 In my opinion 60 employees and 3 shifts will be way to much for a single combo machine. You might have to fill it 2-3x per week. If it was me, I just don't know if i could justify spending ~$1000 on a piece of equipment that is not a good match for the account, and I might pass. If you could get some full sized equipment in there, it might be a winner for you. I'm sure others will chime in soon with their take on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I've seen locations like that do $5 a week from two dedicated machines and I've seen them do $70 a week from a combo. It's a crap shoot as to the sales volume. If you are adventurous and are willing to experiment then give it a shot with the USI pair you can get. You will need to service it at least every two weeks. The sixty employees might not produce high sales if there is free food service for them but you won't know until you do it. The currently empty machine could easily be because the account is lousy and they don't want to service it, or it's a lousy vendor who doesn't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Hi everyone, A new prospect called me yesterday about adding a snack/soda combo machine to their breakroom. Its a nursing home about 8 miles from me. He said its about 60 employees working 3 shifts a day, residents and visitors would likely not use it. My concern is when I asked him if they had vending already he said yes but the machine was always empty and they had to call the vendor to refill...poor service. To me this is a red flag. If the acct. were a good one I would think the vendor would be on top on it. What do you think? Also this is the first time that I would buy a machine for an acct. Any other new acct I've gotten I've been able to move from an unprofitable location that I inherited when I bought this smallish route. So what should I be looking to pay for a refurb machine by itself? I phone a guy I've dealt with for repairs knowing he deals refurbs too. He said he's acquiring some in a week of so. He said he'd have a usi combo (19 snack select and 6 soda select), he said between $1000 and $1200. What do you think of the price assuming he does good work? How would you evaluate the acct to try to justify the machine placement cost? Thanks alot, Warren A combo is too small for a location of that size - I have a similar type of account and they would wipe a combo clean in two days. If there is more space I'd put in a larger soda machine and maybe a 3 wide snack if it's that tight in there. If you're stuck with a combo, plan on hitting it twice a week and I'd recommend an AMS over the USI you're looking at or even an older Crane 474. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKK Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Im sure ur talking about the huge usi combo that has a cd6 built into it. Tgats a good combo have like 3 of them. I think its a perfect machine for that location. I dont see that place doing more than 75 a week. Ofcourse could do less or more but if its just for employees wouldnt do too good. But the usi is great for a place like this maybe fill up once a week maybe every 2 weeks collect 100 each service...u can vend waters in it which do good in these places, coke sero would sell well too more than likely. Bland chips like lays, fritos etc.. If its a miracle and it empties every week, thats good, if you see it does way too much sales, id tell them u need bigger equipment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoom Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Hmmm, I just passed on virtually an identical account. Are you in Oregon? My thought was pretty much what has been expressed here. Might make a nice account. I have some nursing homes with closer to 150 total employees that are awesome locations. However, the abandonded/empty existing combo was flag 1. The expressed need for a combo due to space constraints was flag 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbuffett Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 The combo is a 3 wide. What do you think of the price of the machine? WhiteRoom- no im not in Oregon. Why would space constraints be a flag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry1973 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Why would space constraints be a flag? because it limits your ability to install the proper equipment that you and they need. The person at the location who you are communicating with don't understand exactly what dilemma that your going to be dealing with if the account does sell a lot. You will either be the next vendor who does a terrible job in their eyes with a machine that is empty seemingly all the time OR you will be there every 2 days to fill, collecting half the money and taking twice as much time and fuel as with larger equipment. The only hope would be as AZ said and this could be a loser account, but in that scenario it wouldn't be a wise business decision to buy the equipment in the first place (in my opinion) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteRoom Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 The space constraints were not the flag, simply the fact that they could only take a combo. Strange as it may sound, I am not interested in accounts that need to be serviced more than once a week - I value my spare time and vacations too much! So, to hit the numbers I want an account to hit, a combo isn't going to work. It will either be too slow, or it will require service more than once a week. I suppose I could have taken it on, established sales numbers and tried to flip it, but since I would have had to buy the machine I didn't think I would make much via that route. So, that second flag is more of a personal thing for me. Again, this might be a good account and fit into your business plan perfectly. As for the value of the machine, I haven't seen quality built combos for under $1k ever up here, so I don't think the price is bad, but others here probably have better info on that. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.