henryt504 Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Hi, I've been researching and lurking around the forums for quite some time to get a better understanding on my new snack vending venture. I've been so indecisive on whether to buy an existing route or go through a locator service. I wanted to see if I can get some pointers on which option to go with. I'm looking to only snack vending, but if beverage is the way to go, i'll definitely consider. So far, I've been considering Kickstart as a locator or investing on existing routes with Vending Concepts in Fort Worth, TX. Thanks for any help you guys can provide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Welcome to the forum. You will be happiest by starting with soda only and preferably can soda. That is the single easiest product to get and to manage in machines. Bottled soda is expensive to get and has a shorter shelf life than cans, not to mention that is can be problematic in some machines due to the nature of plastic vs the metal machine. Soda is more profitable and also the leader in vended products. You need to have a good understanding of soda vending before you get into snacks as they have about a 50% lower sales volume than soda has. Snacks also are not generally available in manageable carton sizes and also have varying shelf lives, especially with salted chip-type snacks. You won't find it easy to manage your stales until you get 5 or more snack machines out. Get your feet wet in soda machines first and then decide how bad you want to get into snacks. Vending Concepts is based in Texas and floods Craigslist with their ads that they write in broken English. I would be leery of dealing with them unless you truly trust them after checking them out fully. You can find decent machines used on Craigslist yourself and as you've read on this forum, we can help you with any machine purchases you're contemplating. You should also search through the locating forum for Kickstart as I believe their results have been hit and miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CajunCandy Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Vending Concepts is way to expensive on their machines! As AZVendor mentioned look thru craigslist, auctions for the state of Texas and such. Good luck! cajun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryt504 Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Thanks for the suggestions and help AZVendor & CajunCandy! I'm afraid of looking through craigslist for some reason, but I'll definitely scope out craigslist just to see what I can stumble on. Any suggestions on the brand of vending machines I should keep an eye on for either snack or can soda machines? I've been checking out Crane, USI and AP's for snack machines, but haven't thought about soda machines until I got a helpful suggestion from AZVendor. Also, has anyone ever dealt with Vending Concepts on existing routes? Just curious what kind of experience they had with them. Thanks again for your suggestions and help everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchligVend Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 If I could I would only do soda.... Snacks are a pain in the butt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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