New vendor here! Curious about pseudo-combo machines

[TGSVend]

I started my vending journey about 6 months ago and it's been a ride honestly. Funny short story: I have two AMS Combo machines that gave me hell constantly, and an Office Deli that has never had a mechanical issue once. I know how hated they are, but I had to laugh at the irony.

Anyhow, one of my accounts is drink heavy so I removed a combo machine and installed a glass-front drink machine to replace. Now that location is saying they want to have the option of purchasing snacks occasionally, however, when I had a full service combo machine there, snacks hardly moved at all. I switched out selections all the time trying to see what would stick and did the obvious thing, ask them what they wanted, still nothing seemed to work. My question is would it be ridiculous to use the top two rows in my beverage machine as a snack row? Vend a small selection of chips and pastries just to appease them. Has anyone tried this before?

 

Any advice is welcome. Thanks, y'all!

[AngryChris]

I'm going to go with yes, it's a ridiculous idea.  Just be upfront and tell them you had to replace the combo because you were losing money from outdated snacks.  If their snack sales are so low that a combo wouldn't justify snacks, nothing will.  You've been generous to put a glass front soda in.  

[TGSVend]

36 minutes ago, AngryChris said:

I'm going to go with yes, it's a ridiculous idea.  Just be upfront and tell them you had to replace the combo because you were losing money from outdated snacks.  If their snack sales are so low that a combo wouldn't justify snacks, nothing will.  You've been generous to put a glass front soda in.  

Thank you for responding, Chris. I hate to disappoint a location, but this is business. Appreciate your advice!

[AZVendor]

You will have great difficulty selling snacks from a beverage machine.  Even if it's all spirals they will be incorrectly sized for snacks of any kind.  I would pass on snacks as they have already proven they won't buy them.  You could just offer to sell them snacks at a decent markup for them to sell themselves.  I would do nothing else for them.

[TGSVend]

2 hours ago, AZVendor said:

You will have great difficulty selling snacks from a beverage machine.  Even if it's all spirals they will be incorrectly sized for snacks of any kind.  I would pass on snacks as they have already proven they won't buy them.  You could just offer to sell them snacks at a decent markup for them to sell themselves.  I would do nothing else for them.

Okay, thank you so much for your insight and these details. I just learned a lot and gained a new idea. Truly grateful!