kdub3821 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Has anyone started out with one cold food vending machine on a location? If so what did you stock it with? I'm still a small vender in my area so I shop online or at Sam's Club for 90 percent of my inventory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Avoid it if you can. Most food machines break even on a good week. They are a necessary evil in large accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Avoid it if you can. Most food machines break even on a good week. They are a necessary evil in large accounts. Like he said dont plan on making much money (if any) at it but if you want to get the larger accounts then you will not only have to do cold food you will need a pretty extensive cold food program. In other words all frozen varieties from Sam's Club will not work in many situations. It really depends what the competition is doing/offering in your area will determine what you will need to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 AVI is the only other real vender in the area. The stock with burgers,chicken salad, tuna sandwiches, single serve pies, hard boiled eggs,a couple small dinners, milk cereal, and salads. My problem is my area. It's small. Not many companys with a lot a staff memebers. I can put machines out left and right and make small returns but I feel it's time to move up and get a good account with a lot of staff but the only way to do that is with a food machine. Every large company in my area has them. To me it looked like a money maker. It's stocked everyday monday - saturday. I can't remember the name but there is a company that sells all kinds of vending items. Problem is they have minimum orders that would go bad on me before I made any money. I was hoping someone had found items at Walmart Sam's and so on that would be cost effective and customers would like to eat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Just to pick your guys brains on this idea. Hot pockets I can get at Sam's. 17 in a box for 10 bucks. Chicken flat bread sandwiches 9 dollars for 14 and Jimmy dean's breakfast sandwich 14 for 10 bucks. These are not exact prices just rounded. I know profits on the above mentioned are not huge but I'm sure they have a good self life as long as I pick items that sell I sold pull a little profit right? Also are these frozen items ok to put in a cold food machine? I honestly don't know much about them. I have only read two small posts about trouble shooting so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CajunCandy Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Any items you put in a cold food machine, life on it is two weeks max! So make sure the location has plenty enough people without a roach coach showing up! lol! that will kill the food machine. cajun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Out of curiosity why is the max two weeks regardless of packaging date? Also can I write in the contract that no outside sales will be permitted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KychrisKy Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I don't know if you have one in your area but mighty dollar is where I did get most of my stuff, yep for a dollar, and I sold them for 2.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Any items you put in a cold food machine, life on it is two weeks max! So make sure the location has plenty enough people without a roach coach showing up! lol! that will kill the food machine. cajun Not so, many items have 30 day dates if they are nitrogen packaged. Out of curiosity why is the max two weeks regardless of packaging date? Also can I write in the contract that no outside sales will be permitted? You can write in the contract anything you want that does not mean they will accept it. Over the years I have done many that allowed a roach coach on site and if you didnt like it they would find a vending company that would. Obviously you would want to try and make sure this does not happen but sometimes you dont have a choice if you want the vending business. Just to pick your guys brains on this idea. Hot pockets I can get at Sam's. 17 in a box for 10 bucks. Chicken flat bread sandwiches 9 dollars for 14 and Jimmy dean's breakfast sandwich 14 for 10 bucks. These are not exact prices just rounded. I know profits on the above mentioned are not huge but I'm sure they have a good self life as long as I pick items that sell I sold pull a little profit right? Also are these frozen items ok to put in a cold food machine? I honestly don't know much about them. I have only read two small posts about trouble shooting so far. Yes, they are fine to put in a cold food machine but once cold and not frozen you have around 10 to 14 days max unless they are nitrogen packed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Thanks for all the info everyone. My next question is i could buy from Sam's Walmart ext and make it work? I will just need to make sure I find the things that sell and hope to break even or better and make money off of the coffee snack and soda sales. Also what are the good brands of cold food machines to buy and ones to avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacapa Vending Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Hold off as long as possible! Cold food is a lot of work to break even at best. Or it turns into an expensive drink machine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparta_Automation Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 National, Rowe or GPL are decent cold food machines. I have a National 431 on site for a larger account. It makes a little bit of money, not much. But as others have said, it may be a necessary evil to get better accounts. As far as stocking, this is what I have in mine: Mac and Cheese (Shelf Stable) Yogurt Lunchables Cereal and Milk bowl (Cereal is shelf stable) Apples (more or less shelf stable) Cup-o-soup (Shelf Stable) Fruit Jars (shelf Stable) Complets (Shelf Stable) As you will see, most items are shelf stable, so they will last much longer than 2 weeks. Milk and yogurts can last a month if you hit the purchase just right. I purchase most of my stuff either from Walmart or Costco business center. You can expect to break even for the most part on the fresh machine....maybe profit $50/month depending on the size of the account. Travis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Thanks for all the info everyone. My next question is i could buy from Sam's Walmart ext and make it work? I will just need to make sure I find the things that sell and hope to break even or better and make money off of the coffee snack and soda sales. Also what are the good brands of cold food machines to buy and ones to avoid? For the most part NO you can not be competitive in the large accounts with only offering Sams/Walmart items. In the lower volume accounts that really dont deserve a food machine it can work but really not worth the effort to try and make it work. In those situations a cold/frozen combo machine works better if you are wanting to try it. They are not as demanding (most cases) on selections, you can carry ice cream which has a high profit margin (buy for $0.50 and sell for $1.75) and you will have less loss in food if you keep most of it in the frozen section. Even with that it is a hard nut to crack because of the lower volume the accounts will do, high cost of the cold/frozen machines, logistics for frozen/ ice cream is a pain. Like I said if you want to compete for the large accounts you had better have a solid cold food program which includes fresh made items, salads, entrees, etc with a mix of the prepackaged frozen stuff. Keep in mind many of the large accounts with 100 plus people (manufacturing accounts) can do $50k plus a year. Most the ones that are 100 plus will need/require servicing everyday and usually before first break. Lets just say you luck up and get one of these larger accounts with the Sams food and 6 months later another company comes in and shows them samples of fresh deserts, fresh foods, salads, etc and next thing you know you are out because you dont offer or carry them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 So what are my options then? Where can I buy the products i would need to fill the cold food machine? This account to me is a slam dunk. I have a inside track with the decision maker and he is not happy with the current vending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 So what are my options then? Where can I buy the products i would need to fill the cold food machine? This account to me is a slam dunk. I have a inside track with the decision maker and he is not happy with the current vending. Vistar offers many frozen options and depending on area may offer some fresh options as well but usually have minimum orders for it. They have a house brand called Rye Street Deli that is frozen but is more of a "homemade" look over the prepackaged stuff. In my area they also offer the Rye Street in the fresh also. Go to local C stores and see what they are selling as far as fresh options and look on the packages and see who the supplier is. Like here in my area the Circle K gets their fresh food from a supplier that also supplies for the airline industry. Look on line and see who might be in your area that supplies fresh options. Keep in mind you do NOT have to run a ton of fresh options but just enough (unless it sells well) to keep it interesting and them happy. If you have an inside track then just ask the contact what their expectation is on the cold food. Sometimes it is very important and sometimes they are ok with some basic things. Even if they are not as concerned with the cold food as some you will still need a larger variety than just Sams Club because Sams is so limited on what they offer that is packaged for resell. The issue is you have to have enough variety to pick from to keep things rotated around so people dont complain about having the same thing over and over and you will need to be able to rotate around to get a good mix of what will sell. When you say slam dunk how many employees, what type of account, how many days a week service are they currently getting, how much revenue is it generating now, how much equipment will the need, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 What are the local C store? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 What are the local C store? Convenience store. 7-Eleven, Dairy Mart, Circle K, Speedway, Race Trac, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walta Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 No food machine is a slam dunk! Do not take on a location as food only there is almost no profit in food! If you truly have influence with the decision maker ask for the soda business that is where you can turn a profit. Make an agreement that you will add food if the weekly soda sales exceed 200 in the winter or 300 in the summer. Understand a power failure or if the cleaning crew unplugs your machine you get to throw away the full load of food. $200.00? Make sure you go in planning on no less than 15% spoilage in food costs. Yes you can find very cheap used food machines. What is your plan when the compressor in the $500.00 used machine fails, repair estimate comes in at $1200.00 and you cannot locate another cheap used machine also the location wants the machine fixed today or you are out the door. Walta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 No food machine is a slam dunk! Do not take on a location as food only there is almost no profit in food! If you truly have influence with the decision maker ask for the soda business that is where you can turn a profit. Make an agreement that you will add food if the weekly soda sales exceed 200 in the winter or 300 in the summer. Understand a power failure or if the cleaning crew unplugs your machine you get to throw away the full load of food. $200.00? Make sure you go in planning on no less than 15% spoilage in food costs. Yes you can find very cheap used food machines. What is your plan when the compressor in the $500.00 used machine fails, repair estimate comes in at $1200.00 and you cannot locate another cheap used machine also the location wants the machine fixed today or you are out the door. Walta I know of no large accounts that are going to let you have only do the drinks to "give it a try". The current vendor would not allow it and the people that work their would raise a big stink if cold food was important to them. A cheap food machine is NOT the way to go. By a newer first in first out spiral machine with a CC reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdub3821 Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 The reference to slam dunk was not about profits on the cold food machine. It was for getting the account. The building is also ran on backup generators. I have bought out of the soda machines while the rest of the small town the building is in had no power. Going without the food machine is not an option. The staff there use it regularly and most of the three main outside contractors also use it. Me included. I also would not attempt to buy that type of machine in the price range of 500 dollars. I try to get the best I can so I do not run into failures right away. I think that is a very poor impression to make having equipment break right away in a new account. Also if the machines would be shut off that would be on purpose. The canteen set up is three soda machines-cold food-coffee-and snack that fit really nicely against a wall with all outlets behind them. From what I how seen. It should be filled everyday around 9am for the breaks. It could also use a fill after 1pm if it was my account. To clarify also I never said I wanted the account based off of the cold food machine. I want the account because I have ran out of solid small to medium sized places in my area. The next step for me would to try a big account. That's why I'm asking questions about a cold food machine. I have never had one. I'm trying to figure things out before I get this account. Rtj. I'm not positive on how many employees are there. My best guess would be in the ballpark of 60 to 100 m-f weekends they cut way back. That's just the staff. Outside contractors anywhere from 30 to 50 m-f. It's a 24/place. Once again to verify I would not buy the cheapest equipment I could for this type of account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 The reference to slam dunk was not about profits on the cold food machine. It was for getting the account. The building is also ran on backup generators. I have bought out of the soda machines while the rest of the small town the building is in had no power. Going without the food machine is not an option. The staff there use it regularly and most of the three main outside contractors also use it. Me included. I also would not attempt to buy that type of machine in the price range of 500 dollars. I try to get the best I can so I do not run into failures right away. I think that is a very poor impression to make having equipment break right away in a new account. Also if the machines would be shut off that would be on purpose. The canteen set up is three soda machines-cold food-coffee-and snack that fit really nicely against a wall with all outlets behind them. From what I how seen. It should be filled everyday around 9am for the breaks. It could also use a fill after 1pm if it was my account. To clarify also I never said I wanted the account based off of the cold food machine. I want the account because I have ran out of solid small to medium sized places in my area. The next step for me would to try a big account. That's why I'm asking questions about a cold food machine. I have never had one. I'm trying to figure things out before I get this account. Rtj. I'm not positive on how many employees are there. My best guess would be in the ballpark of 60 to 100 m-f weekends they cut way back. That's just the staff. Outside contractors anywhere from 30 to 50 m-f. It's a 24/place. Once again to verify I would not buy the cheapest equipment I could for this type of account. Sounds like it has some potential. What is the current vendor running in the cold food machine? What type cold food machine? Are they running many filler items such as drinks, juices, cup of soup, etc? You really need more info to make an educated guess about the account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KychrisKy Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Check to see if you have a dollar store, mighty dollar etc We have one here in ky I can buy hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs Etc for yes a dollar, then price them accordingly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 It sounds great to profit $50/month until your machine breaks down for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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