beardedone Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I currently have a rowe 4900 snack machine in a movie theater break room. They are asking for healthier items. I tried health bars but they are expensive and not really selling, I think because of the price I have on them. They were wanting things like apples or bananas and even sandwiches. I feel I'm very limited because of no refrigeration and my spirals are not big enough to fit those items. The location isn't do enough sales to justify buy something newer that can handle all that. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 In my experience, movie theater breakrooms are some of the worst vending locations ever. If the employees have free access to popcorn and/or soda (and why wouldn't they?) then your sales will never we up to par for the number of employees there. It's also very likely that you don't have good soda sales either for the same reasons, if you even have a soda machine there (in all the theaters I serviced only one had a soda machine). Don't waste your time trying to meet the unrealistic expectations of some idiot manager. I guarantee you that the kids who work there won't be interested in the slightest about anything healthy. Just stick to normal low fat, low sugar items you probably already carry. Licorice, nuts, crackers, Sun Chips, baked chips, granola bars are just a few of the healthier items that you may already be using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardedone Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 In my drinks, the best seller is yoohoo.. it's an easy place to get my feet wet I guess but your right, it's not a great place for machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I currently have a rowe 4900 snack machine in a movie theater break room. They are asking for healthier items. I tried health bars but they are expensive and not really selling, I think because of the price I have on them. They were wanting things like apples or bananas and even sandwiches. I feel I'm very limited because of no refrigeration and my spirals are not big enough to fit those items. The location isn't do enough sales to justify buy something newer that can handle all that. Any suggestions? I'd yank that machine and leave them two heads of Kale on my way out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I used to service several movie theaters something like over 7 years ago and there were a few problems. I was told that they are supposed to pay for their snacks if they wanted some (at employee discounts) but popcorn and soda was free. The only "catch" was that if you liked Coke and they had Pepsi products, you would have to get your fix out of the vending machine. One thing that I was told though was that, even with the employee discount, a lot of stuff was cheaper out of the snack machine than it was from the theater. Things like candy often wouldn't sell much at all but certain varieties of chips would sell out between cycles. Also, if the theater sold Coke products, then something like Mountain Dew would sell well. REGARDLESS of what sold and what didn't, the best theater did about $100/week at BEST!!! $100/week isn't bad at all, but there was a lot of work you had to do just to get to the break room to service it, including calling someone from "security" (ie. manager) to let you into the break room each time you needed in. Parking was an issue. Navigating through customers was an issue. The fact that the theater didn't usually open until something like 10am at the earliest was an issue. Issues aside, the reason why they probably want "healthier" stuff is because one or two people complain about having nothing but fattening stuff out of the machine. And trust me.... most people don't care that YOUR products are fattening, they care that FOOD is fattening in general. There is no real nutritional food that is healthy and non-fattening unless it's fruits and veggies.. and maybe beef jerky. Also, the sandwich request would probably be related to the fact that, if they even have access to sandwiches in the concession area, they probably pay a high price even with a discount. The fact is that you'll never get that rowe 4900 to be able to vend sandwiches or produce without paying a fortune AND opening yourself up to mega lawsuits for food sickness. If this account does anything less than $50/week out of a snack machine, then I can guarantee you that the big boys probably won't want to ever fool around with it. With that said, you probably have no risk of losing the account by not providing what they want. I respond firmly to my customers that food is not profitable and I will be at risk to be held liable for health food violations for even trying it without a food machine (which costs too much). My advice is to just tell them no. Most vendors don't even offer food unless they currently service snacks AND soda and their annual sales are over $10,000/year. Even then, it is no guarantee to make food profitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen watson Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I currently have a rowe 4900 snack machine in a movie theater break room. They are asking for healthier items. I tried health bars but they are expensive and not really selling, I think because of the price I have on them. They were wanting things like apples or bananas and even sandwiches. I feel I'm very limited because of no refrigeration and my spirals are not big enough to fit those items. The location isn't do enough sales to justify buy something newer that can handle all that. Any suggestions? Set guidelines for machines. An example would be 30 employees, soda only. 50 employees, soda and snack. 100 employees, soda, snack and cold food. This way when a small account wants more than the location can justify you can pull your company guideline card out and show them your company standards. You can also have a menu with prices for them to choose from. If it's not on the menu, "I will look into it" or "Sorry, we don't carry that item" are my responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Healthy options always sound good but seldom does anybody choose a fibre bar over a Kit Kat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidStateVending Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Whenever a customer drops the "H" bomb (healthier), I say, "In my experience, when your employes are working, they do not want healthy. Also, healthy items tend to cost me more. However, we can try a couple of healthy items and see how it goes. But if they do sell and expire, I simply won't sell them anymore". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosvending Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 The thing with healthy items is, it's all or nothing. If you put healthy next to junk food, the junk food will win out. If you go all healthy, sales could be fine, depending on the location, but margins may be smaller. Bottom line, you can't effectively mix the two. We have many locations that are all healthy and they do a high volume, but at a blue collar site it won't really work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Stuff like pretzels will sometimes hold out even in a mix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardedone Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 This is mainly for teens so I think I'll stick to junk food. I do have some "healthier" snacks but I'm not going overboard with them. Thanks for all the input. Stuff like pretzels will sometimes hold out even in a mix Just added them last week. Sold about 8 in a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I already carry granola, trail mix, nuts, pretzels, and a few other healthier options but what people want is a fresh sandwich. No amount of baked chips will satisfy them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdsVending Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 You better put some trail mix and granola bars. Cheese its. Gardettos. I also like the Herrs Good Nature Vegetable crisps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 You better put some trail mix and granola bars. Cheese its. Gardettos. I also like the Herrs Good Nature Vegetable crisps. Does anybody make a granola bar that doesn't taste like it came out of the south end of a north bound donkey? Those Nature Valley bars taste like sawdust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardedone Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 clif bars are pretty good but they are not cheap.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Does anybody make a granola bar that doesn't taste like it came out of the south end of a north bound donkey? Those Nature Valley bars taste like sawdust.The peanut butter ones with the candy peanut butter bottoms are goodThe oats and honey is good too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkhusker Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 We are doing ok with Nutrigrain Strawberry bars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avi Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 The thing with healthy items is, it's all or nothing. If you put healthy next to junk food, the junk food will win out. If you go all healthy, sales could be fine, depending on the location, but margins may be smaller. Bottom line, you can't effectively mix the two. We have many locations that are all healthy and they do a high volume, but at a blue collar site it won't really work. Cosvending, Can you give me some tips on what healty items you sell? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 The BIG question no one has asked what is the current revenue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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