9 replies to this topic

[HooseFoose]

Dear Experienced VM Operators,

I have been looking at getting some large locations and I was wanting to know what I should expect in terms of gross income. I know every location is different, but I am trying to get at least a good idea as to what I should expect in terms of gross profits. I am looking at locations over 100 employees. All locations will be blue collar workers. Please provide your experience on the following situations:

• 100 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 200 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 300 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 400 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 500 Employees / Num & Type of Machines:
• 500+ Employees / Num & Type of Machines:

Please feel free to include other helpful information, such as whether you offer cold food (Sandwiches, ect) or only soda and snack. Thank you your insight!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[HooseFoose]

Some Colleagues of mine said to expect about $400-500 per 100 blue collar workers. Does that sound reasonable to you?

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[HooseFoose]

BVI, Coinvestor,

Any other experienced operators out there? Please share what I should be expecting for gross numbers for these size of locations. I am interested in getting them setup, but I don't want to just go off general "Sales" numbers. I really need some numbers from people in biz. Thank you!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[scottgtt]

Your desire for numbers is understandable, the problem is there is no easy answer without a lot more information and even then every location is different. For instance, one blue collar location might be isolated with few choices for food etc... while another may be near a McDonalds and your sales suffer because of that. There are lots of other factors so as much as many of us would like to give you an answer, it really is a shot in the dark. If you want to get specific then mabee we can give it a shot. For instance, you say blue collar, do they have air conditioning, are they close to any fast food or convenience store locations, do they have a lunch room or just fend for themselves, do they have bottled water provided or ice provided. You get the idea, so if you want to try and be more specific I will see if I can give you an idea.

[coinvestor]

Your desire for numbers is understandable, the problem is there is no easy answer without a lot more information and even then every location is different. For instance, one blue collar location might be isolated with few choices for food etc... while another may be near a McDonalds and your sales suffer because of that. There are lots of other factors so as much as many of us would like to give you an answer, it really is a shot in the dark. If you want to get specific then mabee we can give it a shot. For instance, you say blue collar, do they have air conditioning, are they close to any fast food or convenience store locations, do they have a lunch room or just fend for themselves, do they have bottled water provided or ice provided. You get the idea, so if you want to try and be more specific I will see if I can give you an idea.

Like Scott said there are may variables. I think that before we have kicked around that $2 a week for white collar and $4 a week per blue collar were fairly accurate numbers, but I have had locations that did not fall into this.

Using your example above you would get ~$400 a week from that location, but a location is never 100% blue collar due to office people that usually work in the front.

What you offer to different size accounts vary somewhat by region. Around here if you provide a food machine then it is kind of expected that you provide condiments and a microwave. Any location over 100 employees you will probably have to do cold food. The amount of machines will depend alot on the layout of the business. Can you have one main vending area for the site with other drink machines scattered about, or do you need two vending areas because thay have two buildings on opposite side of the road?

I don't worry too much about how much equipment they want (or need). I worry more about how much the equipment will cost me as a whole. What kind of equipment you use will be based on the location there standards and what they have now. Can you get away with used, or refubs. I would much rather buy two $750 refurbed drink machines then one new $3500 drink machine. Evauluate your total investment to aquire the location vs the expected income.

With that said, I am just now getting into these larger locations. Most of my locations are not "traditional" manufacturing type locations.

JD

[BVI]

BVI, Coinvestor,

Any other experienced operators out there? Please share what I should be expecting for gross numbers for these size of locations. I am interested in getting them setup, but I don't want to just go off general "Sales" numbers. I really need some numbers from people in biz. Thank you!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

Kudos to Scottgt and Coinvestor. Well said.

As for me, since most of my locations are NOT within walking distance (but certainly within driving distance), fast food and convenience stores pull sales away from my primarily blue-collar locations to some extent, but they usually will still hit the $5 average per blue-collar worker most weeks. Sometimes they do much better than that.

The big disappointments for me are the two locations that I have that have a majority of gray-collar/white collar workers. These locations only generate between $1 to $2 per worker per week, and they are the first ones I will pull out of if I ever need those machines for larger, more profitable blue-collar locations.

[HooseFoose]

BVI,

Thank you for your insight! That really helped me. The locations I am looking at are blue collar locations that are not within walking distance of any fast food places. They are within driving distance however. BVI, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little further:

• How many workers are at your Blue Collar locations?
• How many machines does it take to service them?
• What kind of Equipment do you have?
• What other services do you offer besides Snack and Soda (i.e. coffee, cold food, ect)?
• How much, if any, commission do you give these locations?

Thank you so much for candid replies. I know I really appreciate it an so do many of the other rookies out there. I am wanting to expand and be able to do this full time, but I need some more concrete info before I can do it.

I think I am going to go with Wittern machines, but after my previous post about them, I decided to get my own financing.

In your opinion, when financing machines, is it better to pay them off as quickly as the account will allow (I would normally shoot for payoff within a year) or have a higher cashflow and pay them off during the normal course of the loan (normally 4 years)? Thank you!

Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[nvb]

I just bought my first machine 3 weeks ago and put it in the lunch room at my place of work... So far things are going really well!

- Its a 24/7 blue collar operation with over 200 employees in total. (4 shifts @ 50 per shift)
- Centralised lunch room that has free coffee, water, and an old coke can machine owned by another employee.
- There is no cafeteria service and no convenience store in walking distance.

I am getting by with a single AP Ultraflex 6 shelf combo machine which I purchased new. I only offer snacks and beverages (gatorade, energy drinks, etc. but excluding soda). So far I would say that gross sales are around $4 per person per week.
I usually have a spiral or two empty within 48 hours so some extra capacity would be nice... thinking about adding a slim snack satellite to 'double up' some of the best sellers.

If there were more locations like this up for grabs in my area I would do it in an instant =)

[stealthvending]

I just bought my first machine 3 weeks ago and put it in the lunch room at my place of work... So far things are going really well!

- Its a 24/7 blue collar operation with over 200 employees in total. (4 shifts @ 50 per shift)
- Centralised lunch room that has free coffee, water, and an old coke can machine owned by another employee.
- There is no cafeteria service and no convenience store in walking distance.

I am getting by with a single AP Ultraflex 6 shelf combo machine which I purchased new. I only offer snacks and beverages (gatorade, energy drinks, etc. but excluding soda). So far I would say that gross sales are around $4 per person per week.
I usually have a spiral or two empty within 48 hours so some extra capacity would be nice... thinking about adding a slim snack satellite to 'double up' some of the best sellers.

If there were more locations like this up for grabs in my area I would do it in an instant =)

What do you find to be your best sellers for these workers that go so quickly?

[nvb]

What do you find to be your best sellers for these workers that go so quickly?

Bestsellers by category:

Chips - Hickory Sticks, Miss Vickie's
Chocolate - Snickers, Coffee Crisp, Reese PB cups
Drinks - Gatorade blue
Other - Homestyle 2 bite brownies

It seems like all the chips and chocolates really move... the drinks are a lot more hit and miss. I have Gatorade, Rockstar, Full Throttle, Snapple, and a few random juices but overall they move a lot more slowly than the snacks.