New Machine For A New City Park Welcome Center?

[SmithBay]

There is a brand new 300 acre city park opening up in my town this fall.  The city has spent a lot of money into this park and everyone is talking about it.  The city called me asking about putting in a combo machine in the Welcome Center there that would also accept credit cards.  The park will offer dog park, kayaking, paved walking/running/biking trail, an 18-hole disc golf course and a 9-hole disc golf course, community gardens, and I think they plan to add more stuff later.  So I'm thinking since this is a brand new place it might deserve a machine a little nicer.  I requested a quote for a brand new CRANE 4 wide glass front that has touch screen, cashless pay, LED lights, all the bells and whistles....$6,400.  This is a brand new place so I don't know what to expect as far as how much foot traffic the welcome center will get.  I would have to borrow 100% of the money and I just got into this business this summer.  I figured a new machine would give me less trouble and plus it comes with warranty.  Is a new machine for $6,400 a good idea?  Or should I just go with a used refurbished machine that has credit card.  This would be my first account with the city.  So I need to make sure I don't screw up if I want more opportunities with them in the future.

[QuikVend]

$6,400 is a very steep price, especially considering your financing it. I think a refurbished machine would be the route to go. Much shorter time frame to turn a profit and less of a risk if they decide to change vendors for whatever reason in a year. 

[Bvending]

I agree with QuickVend. If you have to use a combo, I would go with a refurbished AMS personally. You can get refurbished combo for around 3500 from reputable companies, or im finding new ones around 4600. These are the 5 wide

[Southeast Treats]

I love the new crane machines but you will be sending them all your profits for 3 years to pay for it.  And don't use crane's cashless system...

[AngryChris]

This is just a thought here but, unless you have experience with such a facility, don't let the description of the location make you feel as though the place will generate a lot of money.  Will it? Maybe, I don't know.. but it might not.  A 300-acre park sounds pretty big but how much traffic will it actually see in a day? How many of those visitors will actually purchase something?  Every time I go to a park, me and my SO bring lunch OR we pick something up on the way but we don't eat out of a vending machine (part of that is because I am a vendor so I have access to snacks all the time... but I don't want snacks lol).  When I think of a golf course, I think of a few guys bringing their own alcohol but I don't know.  I just imagine this large park that has several visitors each day but they aren't going back and forth to the visitor's center to buy something.  My mentality is like this: I truly doubt that any large company would actually want to fool around with this unless it's a bottler.  Having said that, it shouldn't be difficult to put a refurbished combo machine such as the ones mentioned here and go from there.  If they were to absolutely kill the machine, then good!  If they don't (which is what I expect) then you aren't too deep in the hole as far as your purchase goes, and you can use that machine somewhere else later.  The truth is, though, that I have no experience with parks.  I wouldn't even offer anything but that's because I don't know any better.

[moondog]

8 hours ago, SmithBay said:

There is a brand new 300 acre city park opening up in my town this fall.  The city has spent a lot of money into this park and everyone is talking about it.  The city called me asking about putting in a combo machine in the Welcome Center there that would also accept credit cards.  The park will offer dog park, kayaking, paved walking/running/biking trail, an 18-hole disc golf course and a 9-hole disc golf course, community gardens, and I think they plan to add more stuff later.  So I'm thinking since this is a brand new place it might deserve a machine a little nicer.  I requested a quote for a brand new CRANE 4 wide glass front that has touch screen, cashless pay, LED lights, all the bells and whistles....$6,400.  This is a brand new place so I don't know what to expect as far as how much foot traffic the welcome center will get.  I would have to borrow 100% of the money and I just got into this business this summer.  I figured a new machine would give me less trouble and plus it comes with warranty.  Is a new machine for $6,400 a good idea?  Or should I just go with a used refurbished machine that has credit card.  This would be my first account with the city.  So I need to make sure I don't screw up if I want more opportunities with them in the future.

Start with a nice refurbished Bevmax 4 and if sales are good add an AMS 39 with senor 3.  I hate the idea of anybody spending big bucks on a Combo as they're not good for much if this account goes south on you.  If this is your only account then snacks are going to be a big big hurdle unless this turns out to be a smoking hot location.

[Southeast Treats]

Another thought, are the machines going to be inside the building?  An outdoor machine in a park will have a lot of issues with vandalism and weather.  If it's indoors, the security will be better, but like AC said how many people will be going indoors?   I like the idea of starting with a drink machine and adding snacks later if the business warrants it....