What Franchise Restaurants Allow Bulk Vending Machines In Their Establishments?

[VetTechJess]

I was wondering what franchise restaurants allow bulk vending machines in their establishments.  Places like McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc.  I am wary of doing business with franchise restaurants because of all the red tape and corporate BS you must go thru.  Everything must be approved by corporate and its just a bunch of garbage if you ask me!

Any Advice?

[alyssamma]

The short answer is all of them do.

The longer answer is that each has their own rules and regs. Locators (the rights ones) often are better at getting you in these, but you can do it on your own too.

Kevin

[BluePlate]

Jess,

Welcome to the board!  I came from the franchise restaurant world.  Many of these franchises try to keep the image up.  They try to make it feel if you walk into one in Boise it will be the same as Boston.  Also the upside of bulk vending for some of these restaurants is very small.  I worked in a chain restaurant, during my training the training manager told me the bulk vending revenue was his monthly "bonus".  He wasn't around long.

Anyways, the restaurants I found that have bulk vending in are: Applebee's, Red Robin, Buffalo Wild Wings, KFC, Friendly's, Golden Coral, Old Country Buffet, Denny's, and I'm sure others.  With any of these I would not expect to walk in with a Vendstar 3000 and get it places.  You will need some quality sharp looking equipment.  

We had a person who posted here quite a bit who focused on restaurants and did it very will.  Has anyone seen/heard from Simon?  I think his business was modular vending or Best Vending.  I enjoyed his posts.

[reinhagw]

So, do you need a locator to get you into the better places?  Pay for the service and get the best leads?  Do they get you into the supermarkets and department stores too?  I'm asking because it seems difficult to get to the decision maker when you don't have that earpiece.  

jr

[alyssamma]

I have a lot of machines in chains - Applebees (2 different locations), Longhorn, Olive Garden, and Denny's. I was in a Hometown Buffet, but pulled it because of performance. I was also in a Red Robin, but got kicked out by the DM.

Midwest - the *old* Midwest got me into almost all of these.

Sorry Blue, but I have Vendstars in most of these *But* they are all in the back where the employees are the only ones to see/use them. In the Olive Garden I have an XYZ because the volume is too much for a Vendstar (I need bigger heads) and also have 2 XYZs in Longhorn because that is an old loc and I didn't have Vendstars then.

I have machines in 3 different Giant supermarkets, and had a Home Depot until the DM kicked me out (that was a >$100/mo loc...it hurt to lose that ). I've had others too, like Old Navy, that have now been pulled for performance reasons (that one did great until a snack machine showed up ). All Vendstars again, but all in break rooms.

My wife got 2 of the Giants after Midwest got us one. We used the "we're in one of your other stores so corp doesn't mind" line

Basically, the old Midwest had some good corp locs and got us amazing spots. None of the other locators here have gotten me locations that do a fraction of what the old Midwest does. Here is a thread that shows how Midwest did for me: http://vendiscuss.com/forum/index.php?topic=5794.msg44730#msg44730

If I could find another locator that could get me into more of these places I would hire them on the spot. Alas, it seems that time is gone

Kevin