Better to vend Soda/Snaks or Bulk candy??

[Pizz]

HI all i'm new to this. I've been considering taking the dive but wanted a few opinions. What is more profitable, bulk candy or soda/snacks? It would seem to me if you could locate soda/snack machines in a few office buildings it's a no brainer but candy would have to be very specific places were children would frequent with their moms like supermarkets, toy stores etc.

Also, how many machines would I need to run to make it worth while? Considering I invest 1 day a month servicing them?

[The Master Key]

I only operate bulk candy machines, so I have no experience with soda/snacks.

Location will be your biggest factor to success in either, though. 

The amount of machines you would need to run to make it "worth while" depends on what you consider worth while.  What kind of money are you looking to make?

I currenlty service 23 machines in 1 day.  I could probably do more, depending on where the additional locations were and how hard I wanted to hustle.

 What kind of area do you live in?  City or rural?  The closer together your locations are the more you can service in the least amount of time.

Brian

 

[pusherman]

welcome to the board pizz.

if you are only wanting to invest one day a month then neither may be right for you. soda/snack machines are going to require alot more of your time. most locations will need to be made once a week. with bulk candy machines you may only need to service them once a month, but depending on how many machines you have will determine the number of days you will spend servicing. this does not include buying your product, any service calls you may have, days spent locating the machines, etc.

take a few days and read the posts on the board to help you make your decision.

good luck.

[The Master Key]

Good advice, pusherman.

 

[Pizz]

Yeah good advice. I'm taking some time to go through the forums and read up before I take the dive. I live in a relatively urban area, many restaurants, stores etc. I am considering taking on someone's route, which I think would be the easiest way to start. In terms of profit $10-20 per machine per month would seem worth it.

[clvending]

    I started small w/ 3 bulk machines.  My goal is to average $10+/month per location.  However, I had an opportunity to jump into soda/snack world.  It costs more upfront but provides larger profits.  I would start small to see if vending is right for you.  If so, then you can grow as you see fit.

Good Luck!!

Lee

[lurker]

Here's how I see it, Take it for what it's worth.

Bulk candy and gum is a more passive venture than Soda/Snacks.

You'll make less money with bulk, but you don't have to

service them nearly as often. Also, you don't end up having

to move any great big machines around when locating or

losing a location. Soda is heavy, so when servicing you'll do

alot more heavy lifting than with Candy/Gum. That's a big

consideration for me with my bad back.

But... There is money to be made out there with

Soda/Snacks. I know of one location right now that is

unhappy with their current route operator, and would love

for me to replace both his 24 selection snack machine and

6 selection soda machine. Problem is I can't afford the initial

$3000 + investment. So for now they're on hold.

But the profit margin is good, and you can sell a ton of

snacks, and an ocean of soda.

I personally know one Snack/Soda operator in Oklahoma

City, and he just paid cash for a new GMC truck to service

his vending route. He does very good selling Sam's club

snacks and coke.

The bulk Candy/Gum biz is relatively simple, after you do

all your homework, (the hard part). Still work, but not

necessarily a job, unless you want it to be. I think it's fun,

and for me it's like a hobby. :cool:

The Soda/Snack biz is a job, and can be hard work, and at

times expensive to operate. ie... buying, maintaining, and

even moving machines, if you have to pay somebody to

move them for you, like I would.

Anyway, this is all just IMHO.

Dave

[antoniocinisi]

lurker you may want to look into third party vending.

[Pizz]

antoniocinisi wrote:

lurker you may want to look into third party vending.

Such as?..

[antoniocinisi]

pepsi and maybe coke too will loan you soda machines.all you have to do is locate and service them.you have to use only thier products though.call pepsi for more details.thats how i have my soda machine.

[dkochan]

Antonio,

Thanks for the info on 3rd party vending.  I submitted an on-line request through Pepsi's website.  I will let everyone know how my move into full-line vending goes.

--David

[lurker]

Thanks Antonio,

I too will check into that.

Dave

[clvending]

  

Antonio,

Thanks for the info on 3rd party vending.  I submitted an on-line request through Pepsi's website.  I will let everyone know how my move into full-line vending goes.

--David

David,

Can you provide the link for on-line request for 3rd party vending. 

Thanks,

Lee

[antoniocinisi]

your welcome guys.just remember not to tell people you are getting free machines,or you`ll have machines everywhere.

[Pizz]

ya keep it in the forum;)

[gum_father]

I Think most people already know that Coke or Pepsi will give you a machine as long as you buy their product from them to fill it.

 

John

[caserri]

When I first started to make my move into beverage I was going to give the 3rd party program a try. It seems that I am geographically located in an overlap area shared by 3 different Pepsi bottlers, One from Boston, one from Brattleboro VT, and one from Hartford, CT. Neither of the bottlers wanted to intrude on the territory of the other and provide me a machine or sell me product.

As for Coke, I was able to get them to agree to lend me a free machine however I would be bound to buying product directly from them at a cost higher than I could buy from Sam's. Not only that, but they required a minimum yearly case purchase. It varies from bottler to bottler so check with yours. If I did not meet the minimum annual case purchase they would pull my machine.

With all of the negatives that the 3rd party program presented, I decided to just buy my own machine. That way I decide the products and am able to get them at a much lower cost from Sam's or elsewhere. I buy my refurb machines with full Coke or Pepsi graphics locally for $550 a pop. The yearly cost to operate my own machine is far less than the annual cost to operate a 3rd party after you buy all that expensive product.

Another point to consider, If/when a 3rd party machine is in need of repair service, you better know how to fix it yourself. The bottlers say they provide repair service however I have heard reports from other vendors that they can take up to 6 weeks before someone comes out to fix it. You don't want to be down for 6 weeks if you have a minimum annual case count to achieve.

Just my thoughts.

Steve

[dkochan]

clvending wrote:

David,

Can you provide the link for on-line request for 3rd party vending. 

Thanks,

Lee

 

https://www.iwanttoservepepsi.com/aaws/

[AmuseStar Vending Co]

The soda machine operator I deal with (he does 3rd party) says when his Pepsi machines go out of service, he calls Pepsi, and the fix the machine within 24 hours.

He told me Pepsi is not as strict as Coke, that is why he went with them.

I as well am moving into full line. Snack machines are all I have now, full line wise.

Kyle

[antoniocinisi]

With all of the negatives that the 3rd party program presented, I decided to just buy my own machine. That way I decide the products and am able to get them at a much lower cost from Sam's or elsewhere. I buy my refurb machines with full Coke or Pepsi graphics locally for $550 a pop. The yearly cost to operate my own machine is far less than the annual cost to operate a 3rd party after you buy all that expensive product.

Another point to consider, If/when a 3rd party machine is in need of repair service, you better know how to fix it yourself. The bottlers say they provide repair service however I have heard reports from other vendors that they can take up to 6 weeks before someone comes out to fix it. You don't want to be down for 6 weeks if you have a minimum annual case count to achieve.

Just my thoughts.

Steve

it depends on the volume you have I guess caserri,how much soda do you pump out to save at least 550$ at sams??

my pepsi repair guy and I have been out drinking together along with my pepsi delivery guy too:P:D;) so getting him out to service my machine is pretty fast and easy.

if you have the volume it`s in their best intrest to have your equipment always working so they can sell more product to you.if it were to ever take six weeks it`s probably for a minor issue that wouldn`t need imediate attention,or their busy time like when little league starts.all those machines at the parks need serviced!

I am willing to bet that if a machine wasn`t dispensing pepsi they will be out there sooner rather then later.

Not trying to brag or anything(tee hee)I also have a one door cooler in my pizza shop and a two door at home of thiers that I get to use free of charge.

next time you guys see your pepsi guy out and about send him over a drink.

[grumpy]

The full line vendor that I was talking to about buying his business was paying coke $8.50 a case and pepsi $9.10 a case (his own machines). Meanwhile I pay $7.40 a case (and use less then he did) for my other business which is a franchise with a national contract with coke. Sometimes its cheaper at a grocerie store but to go and get it is a pain in the a$$, my time is worth more than those savings.

As for repairs, 3rd party would work great in a community that has a local bottler in a not so saturated market, they probably run with limited repair staff if they are busy you will wait. I have experienced both fast and slow service on thier coolers.

Grumpy

[caserri]

With all of the negatives that the 3rd party program presented, I decided to just buy my own machine. That way I decide the products and am able to get them at a much lower cost from Sam's or elsewhere. I buy my refurb machines with full Coke or Pepsi graphics locally for $550 a pop. The yearly cost to operate my own machine is far less than the annual cost to operate a 3rd party after you buy all that expensive product.

Another point to consider, If/when a 3rd party machine is in need of repair service, you better know how to fix it yourself. The bottlers say they provide repair service however I have heard reports from other vendors that they can take up to 6 weeks before someone comes out to fix it. You don't want to be down for 6 weeks if you have a minimum annual case count to achieve.

Just my thoughts.

Steve

it depends on the volume you have I guess caserri,how much soda do you pump out to save at least 550$ at sams??

my pepsi repair guy and I have been out drinking together along with my pepsi delivery guy too:P:D;) so getting him out to service my machine is pretty fast and easy.

if you have the volume it`s in their best intrest to have your equipment always working so they can sell more product to you.if it were to ever take six weeks it`s probably for a minor issue that wouldn`t need imediate attention,or their busy time like when little league starts.all those machines at the parks need serviced!

I am willing to bet that if a machine wasn`t dispensing pepsi they will be out there sooner rather then later.

Not trying to brag or anything(tee hee)I also have a one door cooler in my pizza shop and a two door at home of thiers that I get to use free of charge.

next time you guys see your pepsi guy out and about send him over a drink.

I obviously have no 3rd party machines but the operators that I come in contact with who have had experience with the program all say they dropped out of the program because of the prohibitive costs and long wait times for repair.

Antonio, You have yourself a great relationship with your soda guy and that probably helps you a lot. Not all of us are "connected"

As far as saving $550 from Sam's, well my bottler wanted me to sign a contract that bound me to purchase "X" number of cases over the course of the year. Honestly, I forget what the cost was but at the time, I figured out the required annual cost of the soda purchases from the bottler up front, then compared that to what I anticipated selling in a year, the cost of product from Sam's PLUS the machine was much cheaper. Like I said, I don't remember the actual numbers but it was more than a few hundred dollars less. That combined with the horror stories I've heard from other vendors in regards to repairs and sub-standard equipment made it a very easy decision.

Also, I forgot to mention, one other thing that was a big turn off for me was the bottler told me they would not deliver the product unless it was to a dock. Storage facility or a warehouse with no dock was not normally done by them and would incur a separate delivery charge.

I'm sure bottlers vary from one to another on how they conduct business. After all, they are all independently owned around here and are not associated in any way with each other except for the brand label.

Steve  

[grumpy]

Here in Ontario there is not many independent bottlers left. Coke and Pepsi have centralized there bottling with warehouse spread throughout Ontario. They only offer once a week delivery. In my community there is no chance of 3rd party vending as they also do thier own machines.

Grumpy

PS

Thier focus is not on vending but posistioning in busy locations as billboards.

[grumpy]

I think this thread has gotten away from the orginal post.

Pizz wrote:

HI all i'm new to this. I've been considering taking the dive but wanted a few opinions. What is more profitable, bulk candy or soda/snacks? It would seem to me if you could locate soda/snack machines in a few office buildings it's a no brainer but candy would have to be very specific places were children would frequent with their moms like supermarkets, toy stores etc.

Also, how many machines would I need to run to make it worth while? Considering I invest 1 day a month servicing them?

The short and correct answer is BULK! There is nothing in full line that I can think of that has a product cost of 3% leaving 97% profit.

The one that you could potentialy go home with more money is full line.

I think the real problem is in definition of profit, I always look at both percentage and money. Money does not always tell the whole story. What is more profitable service or retailing a product. I sell products with 5 to 20 % markup that can give me alot of money profit but my service is 100% proft with less money.

Grumpy