danielirubin Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 I have read hours and hours worth of posts on this website and have come to the conclusion that the overpriced machines that I just purchased are definitely the wrong way to start out in this business but I will stick it out and give you all some numbers soon, this post is a work in progress. My game plan is to start with the healthyvending.com company and get a few machines down then once I learn the ropes and get my hands on a few brand new high tech machines I am going to take what I have learned on these boards and buy some used machines and use the healthy vending excuse to get into some premium locations hopefully on my own and not with a locator but well see if I can do that in the future. I have purchased two media mogul machines and started their location acquisition process. They are sending me an free (i wouldnt say free but its included) ipad2 because they like to do video conferencing to train me and set up appointments with possible accounts but in the end I will have the final choice once I see a location. It could be a few months before they find the locations, so if anything this could be a review of the healthy vending industry through the eyes of a H.U.M.A.N. machine. The guy I spoke to and brokered the deal with his name was Patrick Sanders, very nice guy walked me through everything answered every question I had about the company.Though it is a bit pricey i'm sure I will learn a lot, for when I start to venture out into the unknown and have to start refurbishing and repairing older used machines and finding my own locations I'll have to match up to that leaning curve. I am currently 12,000 dollars down and the ball is moving in the right direction Ill post some numbers as they come in and talk about my experience. If anybody has any questions feel free to ask or PM me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 I have read hours and hours worth of posts on this website and have come to the conclusion that the overpriced machines that I just purchased are definitely the wrong way to start out in this business but I will stick it out and give you all some numbers soon, this post is a work in progress. My game plan is to start with the healthyvending.com company and get a few machines down then once I learn the ropes and get my hands on a few brand new high tech machines I am going to take what I have learned on these boards and buy some used machines and use the healthy vending excuse to get into some premium locations hopefully on my own and not with a locator but well see if I can do that in the future. I have purchased two media mogul machines and started their location acquisition process. They are sending me an free (i wouldnt say free but its included) ipad2 because they like to do video conferencing to train me and set up appointments with possible accounts but in the end I will have the final choice once I see a location. It could be a few months before they find the locations, so if anything this could be a review of the healthy vending industry through the eyes of a H.U.M.A.N. machine. The guy I spoke to and brokered the deal with his name was Patrick Sanders, very nice guy walked me through everything answered every question I had about the company.Though it is a bit pricey i'm sure I will learn a lot, for when I start to venture out into the unknown and have to start refurbishing and repairing older used machines and finding my own locations I'll have to match up to that leaning curve. I am currently 12,000 dollars down and the ball is moving in the right direction Ill post some numbers as they come in and talk about my experience. If anybody has any questions feel free to ask or PM me. Tough way to start, learn what you can from the experience and move on to bigger and better things. If you want some help from someone that is doing some stuff with healthy vending on conjunction with regular vending, I'd be happy to help. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 thank you for your support Mike! i am only making the smart decisions from here on out, I am sure with the help of the vendiscuss community I can make it to the big leagues and share my experiences with fellow newbies looking to come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Today I recieved my "welcome kit" to the H.U.M.A.N. healthy vending biz company. In the kit was a polo t shirt, folders with sales data and location forms and contracts, also business cards with my name and email address, and a brand new Ipad2. They give you the ipad2 "free" which is actually has to be included in the cost because its really expensive already. But they use it to train you on and during their location finding process via video conferencing. So far they have been very kind and helping and are showing no signs of slowing down trying start me up. My location finding officially begins on the 11th of july. Looking forward to get something going and start digging myself out of my hole, was bored in the meantime thinking about buying a few cheap vendstar3000's or a cool looking rack and doing a little bulk as well. (checkin out ebay now) cant wait to start the number crunching -Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Today I recieved my "welcome kit" to the H.U.M.A.N. healthy vending biz company. In the kit was a polo t shirt, folders with sales data and location forms and contracts, also business cards with my name and email address, and a brand new Ipad2. They give you the ipad2 "free" which is actually has to be included in the cost because its really expensive already. But they use it to train you on and during their location finding process via video conferencing. So far they have been very kind and helping and are showing no signs of slowing down trying start me up. My location finding officially begins on the 11th of july. Looking forward to get something going and start digging myself out of my hole, was bored in the meantime thinking about buying a few cheap vendstar3000's or a cool looking rack and doing a little bulk as well. (checkin out ebay now) cant wait to start the number crunching -Daniel A few questions. Have they told you where to get your product from yet?, Is it UNFI or some other source? Did they give you a recommended list of things to buy or are they going to let you figure it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 With this company it is up to me where i get my products from. But they do offer ideas of who I can buy from like certain wholesalers and things like that. They told me that they make no money from the products you buy. And they do have a list of approved products for me to put in the machines but it is very very long and really covers all the things that I could ever want to put in it anyway. They approve them because they want to make sure they are up to their specific level of healthy standards. But if a new product such as a new protein drink that I want to put in my machine I just have to call and get approval if it is okay to stock it. Just got an email today saying that they are sending me out to Santa Monica California soon for a weekend training camp (optional because they just told me about it). A good chance to get some hands on experience with the machines and location discovery training. A chance to see the company from the inside out and meet other operators and the CEO. Sounds pretty awesome and I am kind of excited about it going to California and all. Think they giving me a 1000 dollar stipend (doesn't sound very bizinaboxish) if I decide to go which more than covers all travel/hotel/car expenses. Very nice group of guys A few questions. Have they told you where to get your product from yet?, Is it UNFI or some other source? Did they give you a recommended list of things to buy or are they going to let you figure it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 just got my sole proprietorship registered D.R. Management Company today! tomorrow I need to set up a business account at a bank and set my cashless payment system up to that bank account (securenet) also I need to set up my remote monitoring stuff (invision) still on track should start hunting for locations more heavily soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PnutGallery Co. Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Good Luck with your venture. I will be watching and reading as you progress. It is always fun and exciting to learn something new. I wish you the best of luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 All set up and ready to go.. Just got back from LA and after meeting some other operators involved in this company and seeing how well they are doing I now have no doubt that I made a good choice. After hanging out with the co founders Sean Kelly and Andy Mackenson all my fears that I had in the company had been alleviated after shaking the hands of the team that has been working very hard to find me locations and set me up in vending. Overall this company gives the biz in a box a great name and is worth checking out by anybody. Human has a vision for their company that looks miles beyond vending. The way they locate is the best, I had two machines to start with so my locator girl (who is very nice) and is a real person not outsourced work has gone to town finding the best spots in the city. She doesnt hammer 1000 locations in the area for a single hit she calls the best locations in town and because of the niche and the attractive machines they provide they normally get meetings for me at most of the locations she reaches out too. She has already got me 10 meetings with some of the best locations in town 1000+ daily eye traffic so far. Yesterday I met with a lady in charge of three high traffic YMCA branches and today was a prestigious athletic private school (1000+ kids 200 staff in summers they have 2000+ kids for other programs), and a massive country club. We did really well at all of the meetings and almost had them eating out of our hands, it was a great feeling. The country club wanted one machine in their 24 hour gym and another by their tennis/pool facilities (which previously had a snack shop that did 5000 gross a month, but they are kicking it out and putting in one of my HUMAN machines). I have everything set up and ready to go except for the UNFI application that I have to fill out. Through human they secure us a 10% discount among other random larger discounts on specific products. But if I can do it cheaper ill go to sams club or BJ's to fill in the gaps. Cant wait to get some machines down. Once the locations give us the final green light it will take about 8 weeks to customize my product mix and for human to build and ship the machines on to the locations. I am extremely excited about moving forward and the last two weeks have been full of excitement. Still 7 meetings to go and my lady keeps adding new meetings to my calendar every few days. Got another YMCA, another large fitness facility, a hospital, a large hockey facility, a boys and girl club (not so much looking forward to the boys and girls club but ill do the meeting with them), and more to list. I am not under any type of spell though and have been going at this HUMAN thing with the caution and collective wisdom I have learned from this site. And if there is anything I can add to the community it would be a +1 for this specific healthy vending company, not bizop's as a whole, because I have no experience with any others and I dont intend too, im sticking with human for a long while until I feel I should go elsewhere. Mainly because of their overall transparency and willingness to help me succeed. A couple more months and I will be up and running! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 As I am sure you are aware. Non of these so called healthy vending companies makes a machine. What they do is add graphics and peripherals you may or may not need. I understand that it is an attractive way to start as they do all the thinking for you but I would recommend looking at a machines that you will be able to source later as well as CC companies and remote monitoring companies. If you are like most vendors you will get your first batch from them and the outsource on your own and save some money. Some of my best customers are ex healthy vending purchasers.I wish you luck and please keep us updated. The others need to see how successful healthy can be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserri Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 This is a great thread Daniel. Keep it up and don't forget to keep us updated as you progress. I for one am enjoying your journey! Couple of questions ... Did they accompany you to the meetings they set up with potential locations? You mentioned "we" and "our". Also, I may have missed it but how many machines/Locations do you get for that 12k? Sent using the Tapatalk Forum Viewer for Android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 If you remember I said they sent us an IPAD2 in a previous post. We use that to get somebody on the skype or facetime if they have internet. I have a guy named Austin helping me through it all and he is incredibly knowledgeable and very personable. He facilitates the meetings informing the account of all the benefits of going with our machines and it has been working well. I have also heard a lot of times that if other operators have purchased a decent amount of machines that that the founder has flew himself over to help with the meetings before. (awesome guy) The locations have been excellent, I think I pay like 1000 dollars per machine for location, but in total I paid 2k. It doesnt seem like its per location because they get me tons of meetings and essentially I have secured around 6-8 machines located so far from 3 meetings, (yet I only really have two). So the locations are put on a sort of "waiting list" for our machine. The company said that it is training me so eventually I can go out and find my own locations, that was a whole day at the training (location discovery training) and was very informative. Most locators for a full line machine will charge 300 bucks some with no right to refuse i heard. I would gladly pay 1000 though for a top of the line location. One good person with a niche machine to place can be much more effective than a foreign call center hammering out 1000's of calls and mass emails. Also regarding techni. They actually order their machine from I believe they said sweden or spain one of the S countries. (they tell us exactly where because they are transparent and have no secrets) Then they gut out the delivery system and completely redo the machine almost like building a new machine. They do the graphics and reprogram the machine and get it set up to my certain custom product mix or planogram before they send it out to me. I like that instead of coil delivery system, they use a motor on to push a band. Products can be spaced back to back to increase machine capacity like 20%. and it uses an elevator with infrared sensors to make sure a product is vended every time. You have get the voltage and the settings right for a product before you start and run a few test vends but once you configure it right initially the thing virtually doesn't misvend at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 this is all very interesting let me ask you some questions 1- what is your commission % to the 2 locations you have got? 2- your equipment and sales commission expense is 12 grand so what is your expected ROI time? 3- how can you get these machines repaired if they are niche customized foreign equipment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technivend Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 The "S" country would be Spain as the machines are made by Jofemar (office in Miami). They also are showing a Wittern based machine (based in Iowa). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 this is all very interesting let me ask you some questions 1- what is your commission % to the 2 locations you have got? 2- your equipment and sales commission expense is 12 grand so what is your expected ROI time? 3- how can you get these machines repaired if they are niche customized foreign equipment? answers 1. Commission is a tiered commission based on net 0 - 19 vends/day: 5% 20 - 30 vends/day: 10% 31 - 40 vends/day: 15% 41 – 59 vends/day: 20% 60+ vends/day: 25% all the locations have gone for this 2. Expected ROI time is 1-2 years most people I talk to hit this mark. 3. They have all of the parts at the HUMAN warehouses and if a part breaks down they overnight them to me as I need em, the machine self diagnoses so thattl help a bit but they have a really nice manual and good training so im pretty comfortable with their machines now. They also keep the prices on new parts very low for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 answers 1. Commission is a tiered commission based on net 0 - 19 vends/day: 5% 20 - 30 vends/day: 10% 31 - 40 vends/day: 15% 41 – 59 vends/day: 20% 60+ vends/day: 25% all the locations have gone for this 2. Expected ROI time is 1-2 years most people I talk to hit this mark. 3. They have all of the parts at the HUMAN warehouses and if a part breaks down they overnight them to me as I need em, the machine self diagnoses so thattl help a bit but they have a really nice manual and good training so im pretty comfortable with their machines now. They also keep the prices on new parts very low for us I will certainly be interested in your final product mix and actual sales results once you get the machines on location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 ill keep everybody updated as I go... Im looking at different product mix's for the different locations.. If you have any products that are like hotcakes in your machines id love to hear what works best for you... per say more recovery protein drinks and bars in gyms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 answers 1. Commission is a tiered commission based on net 0 - 19 vends/day: 5% 20 - 30 vends/day: 10% 31 - 40 vends/day: 15% 41 – 59 vends/day: 20% 60+ vends/day: 25% all the locations have gone for this 2. Expected ROI time is 1-2 years most people I talk to hit this mark. 3. They have all of the parts at the HUMAN warehouses and if a part breaks down they overnight them to me as I need em, the machine self diagnoses so thattl help a bit but they have a really nice manual and good training so im pretty comfortable with their machines now. They also keep the prices on new parts very low for us seems confusing to calculate on "net" whatever that means....i guess 25% of net sounds better than 12% of gross. 115 a week is certainly a respectable number for one machine. never done those type of accts so no idea if that is a reasonable expectation. sounds like it might be but its also a diff product mix. best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 seems confusing to calculate on "net" whatever that means....i guess 25% of net sounds better than 12% of gross. 115 a week is certainly a respectable number for one machine. never done those type of accts so no idea if that is a reasonable expectation. sounds like it might be but its also a diff product mix. best of luck thank you! thats why they do "net" because we use a system that allows the account to log on and see how much sales the machine is doing in real time. This eliminates any bad dealings or confusion. I dont know if a lot of you skim a little on the commissions that you are giving your people but I dont intend on doing anything like that. Net can also be less money at the end of the month than if you are doing gross persay... The ymca i just met with said that their previous vendor says that he gives them 40% of gross as commission and that they get a 100 dollar check at the end of the month, which has to totally be a lie because that location is a cash cow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 thank you! thats why they do "net" because we use a system that allows the account to log on and see how much sales the machine is doing in real time. This eliminates any bad dealings or confusion. I dont know if a lot of you skim a little on the commissions that you are giving your people but I dont intend on doing anything like that. Net can also be less money at the end of the month than if you are doing gross persay... The ymca i just met with said that their previous vendor says that he gives them 40% of gross as commission and that they get a 100 dollar check at the end of the month, which has to totally be a lie because that location is a cash cow. well why i say its confusing is because its rather slippery how you define net. Net after product, net after taxes, net after expenses? etc.. so im sure you see my point. however, no net is not less money than gross, as i said its the same amount just expressed as a different percentage. if you are paying 25% net (after product costs) and your COGS is around 50% then your paying around 12.5% of gross which is not far off what any vendor would pay. I like the idea of the sliding scale though as for the ymca that vendor is probably lying. 40% of gross is way too high unless the prices are outrageous like 2 bucks for a candy bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielirubin Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 the ymca wasnt lying it was the vendor that was lying. He said 40% but gives them a much smaller check... he used that high number to get a contract with them and sell candy. also I always assumed net to be my profit after COG, insurance, and tax are taken out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 the ymca wasnt lying it was the vendor that was lying. He said 40% but gives them a much smaller check... he used that high number to get a contract with them and sell candy. also I always assumed net to be my profit after COG, insurance, and tax are taken out I try not to use the term "net" when negotiating an agreement with a location. When I have do so, the definition I have used and explained that "net" is after COGS and Sales Taxes are taken out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 the ymca wasnt lying it was the vendor that was lying. He said 40% but gives them a much smaller check... he used that high number to get a contract with them and sell candy. also I always assumed net to be my profit after COG, insurance, and tax are taken out yes i meant the vendor was lying, not the location. though just out of curiosity, what are their prices like currently? also I always assumed net to be my profit after COG, insurance, and tax are taken out thats why i say its confusing, i assume you mean sales tax but who knows. if you negotiate better insurance rates, do you start paying them bigger commission? I dont want to have to open my books to every location, paying on gross is just easier and with that fancy equipment i dont imagine you will have much chance of losing the location over a few points on the commission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Cash cow??? I have had these YMCA's and they are decent accounts but far from "cash cows". I was not doing all healthy either with plenty of stuff kids like, that tend to buy out of these much more so than adults. The other issue you are probably is either Coke or Pepsi (cant rember which right off) has the national contract on drinks. It is very hard if not impossible to get the drinks at most YMCA's. It can be done but is not typical. Without the drinks that hurts your revenue chances at these accounts. One of the largest independent vending companies in my area just pulled out of a large YMCA because they were mandating them to do all healthy vending. The vending company saw it as a loosing proposition and pulled out. I know you are excited about your adventure but DO NOT invest a ton of money in this until you see how it is going to go...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 ill keep everybody updated as I go... Im looking at different product mix's for the different locations.. If you have any products that are like hotcakes in your machines id love to hear what works best for you... per say more recovery protein drinks and bars in gyms Hot products will vary by location. I am doing mostly snacks in this product category and am doing fairly well with some of the Cliff's products, Barbara's, Back to Nature and Late July. Also have one location with lots of kids and the Horizon Milk products are a great selling item there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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