KrisKLM Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Hi to all, After almost two months of reading the food and beverage forum I finally decided to go on with my vending business venture, Like most of the new people wanting to start a vending machine business, I would like to hear your advice/wisdom on me. This is my situation, I already got my federal and state licenses and just waiting for the city license to start. My first probable location is my workplace, I work in a hospital with approximately 100 employee, it operates 24/7 and have a lot of people going in and out during daytime, I live 1mile away from my work, I live in a small city and the nearest vending machine service/supplier is 40mins away and there is no vending services routes going to my city (base in google map and google websites) What I read/learned in this forum are: -No to Seaga vending machines. -Combo is alright if space is a problem, but better to start with one beverage machine. -New machine if you have the capital, recondition/refurbish if you just want to try it out first. -buy your first machine in vending machine supplier/distributor to get tech support incase things goes wrong. There are still more but let me end it here. I am eyeing on a DN bevmax3 or 4 and national 168 for my workplace, I can get a new machine but rather not to so when I find a new location I have the funds to get another recondition/refurbish machines. I am looking at ASI (automated services International) to buy vending machine since they have both the vending machine that I am looking for, what can you say about ASI? is their tech support great? Is it a good idea to ship the vending machine at my house first before moving it to my workplace? I know it will cost me to get a mover to get the machine at my workplace but I want to study the manuals and machine first to know what and where are the different parts and do simple troubleshooting. Thank you! need to go shift ended 30mins ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Vending Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Both are great machines if they are going in a lobby where the public can access them. If they are going in a break room then don’t get a bevmax and just get a stack vending machine or 2. If you’re shipping to your home—— now I don’t know where you live but I want you to picture a tractor and 53’ trailer driving down your street…. But yes it would be very wise to get machines and go through them first before you put them on location. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) Make your first machines as simple as possible. Stay away from Crane/National and any Bevmax. Get a rock solid AP7600 and a DN 501E. They will sell everything you want and be much easier to use, not to mention, much cheaper to buy and easier to find. I've never hear of ASI but don't buy machines online, PLEASE. Find someone local that sells used machines as they can probably fix them for you and even deliver them. If you aren't in a large city then don't get into vending because this isn't an easy business and it's harder with no local support of any kind. Edited August 29 by AZVendor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisKLM Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 Thanks for the advices Gizmo and AZ. @Gizmo Vending they are planning to place it near the main entrance inside the hospital and there are trucks with trailers in our area. @AZVendor I will try to check for local distributor again but the nearest I saw was 40mins away. I am alright with the AP7600 that you suggested. Do you have other recommendation for the soda machine preferably with a glass front? I find it more attractive to buy something when I see many choices and see the actual product. This is more like a side hustle for now than a business that I would like to expand inmediately. Thanks again for your advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) You really don't want to mess with glass front drink machines until you have a good foothold in the business and have a good understanding of how machines work. It doesn't matter what you or the location like/want but what you can manage with no experience. You could always upgrade them later if you get more experience and the sales warrant a better machine. 40 minutes is nothing if it saves you money. Heck, it takes me 40 minutes to get to work each day. Edited August 29 by AZVendor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendo Mike Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 If a view of product is preferred over a picture on a product label, you could consider "live display" style stack machines. They have a window in the signface where you place a sample of each product. This might be a good compromise. Glass front drink machines require more maintenance and service since there are so many more moving parts. A stack vendor generally requires one motor to turn to vend a product where a glass front requires no less than 3. If your goal is to sell product and not have to work on the machine often, you should keep things as simple as possible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fermo Vending Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 21 hours ago, AZVendor said: Make your first machines as simple as possible. Stay away from Crane/National and any Bevmax. Get a rock solid AP7600 and a DN 501E. They will sell everything you want and be much easier to use, not to mention, much cheaper to buy and easier to find. I've never hear of ASI but don't buy machines online, PLEASE. Find someone local that sells used machines as they can probably fix them for you and even deliver them. If you aren't in a large city then don't get into vending because this isn't an easy business and it's harder with no local support of any kind. Are crane national snack machines complicated to work on? I have a couple 157's and for the most part they seem relatively intuitive. To be fair, I haven't had many major issues yet, but the machine configuration settings & the sort seem easy enough to figure out if you spend a little time playing around with them. What are the downsides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 I never cared for them but for someone that is already familiar with them by having operated several machines then they would be a good choice. The problem is the tall learning curve with odd programming that IS NOT intuitive, multiple boards in each machine, etc. I was a Rowe, AP and even Polyvend guy mostly as an operator and so I would never touch a National as they were so foreign to how simply other machines were operated. Used Nationals weren't too common because there were no distributors for National equipment back in the day so anyone who bought them new had to buy them from factory reps that roamed the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 I think the National 167/168 is a rock solid design. It can do mostly everything that every new machine can do except for touch screens... but if you need that, just buy new. I have worked with nearly every model of AP from the AP 400 to the AP 120 series. I have seen Nationals from the 145 (even stock without a bill acceptor opening) up to the 167. I had a few Rowes, several AMS, Polyvend, Lektrovend, etc.. I'm like a Jenna Jameson of vending. Having said that, for refurbished equipment, I currently favor THESE models if I were buying right now. Snack machines: AP 112/113 with dual helix and InOne kit. AP 122/123 National 167 Soda machines: DN 501E Vendo 721 I am happy with those and for specific reasons 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 I’d add to that list late National 157s with the tray board and harness kit (basically 167s at that point), AP LCMs and Studios, and the Royal 650 and 660. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 49 minutes ago, orsd said: I’d add to that list late National 157s with the tray board and harness kit (basically 167s at that point), AP LCMs and Studios, and the Royal 650 and 660. I would say that I prefer LCMs over every other snack machine I mentioned but I never saw them much whenever I looked for refurbished equipment. They are fantastic though. My only issue with Royals is that their parts have gotten insanely expensive and you never know if Royal is just going to disappear. Otherwise, they are also worthy of being on the list. I just don't want to buy more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisKLM Posted September 5 Author Share Posted September 5 Hi, I found a local distributor in my area and trying to get this snack and bev machine and just want to check with you guys if the prices are not OP. Snack USI 4 wide priced in $3104 including taxes Drinks bevmax4 $9116.25 including taxes DN 5591 $4284 including taxes I talked to 3 distributor and their bevmax are having like 200-300$ price difference im assuming theire other machines have little differences too. Checked other online vending machines distributor and their bevmax is like around 4500(refurb)-8000(brand new). Why the huge difference on online vs local distributors? I know I need a local distributor for their support and knowledge and leaning to get the USI and 5591 for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fermo Vending Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 https://www.dsvendinginc.com/p-11899-dn-bevmax-5800-4-vending-cold-beverage-machine.aspx might not be local to you but the prices for the machines you listed sound very expensive to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tblake05 Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 A usi 4 wide for 3k? what model? I should sell all mine..... didn’t know I was sitting on a small fortune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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