15 replies to this topic

[snackmann]

what is the best way to get a large account i live in a big city with alot of vendors and have a hard time locating these accounts

[coinvestor]

what is the best way to get a large account i live in a big city with alot of vendors and have a hard time locating these accounts

I don't think its that nobody wants to answer your question. I think we are all trying to figure out the same thing Its hard in areas where there is a lot of competition.


JD

[kennr]

I don't think its that nobody wants to answer your question. I think we are all trying to figure out the same thing Its hard in areas where there is a lot of competition.
Jeremiah

Large accounts are not easy to get and a lot of times you will have to supply all their vending needs soda, sandwich, candy, change machines, soup machines, ice cream etc. Sometimes they may have more than one break room. You may also have to supply micro wave ovens, napkins, forks, spoons etc. in the break room to heat their food even if it is not your food. Some large accounts have to go through corporate and put in a bid if they are industrial accounts you may have to provide service 24/7 if there are a lot of employees. I had to supply a cook out once a month for a large account instead of a commission. They may want a contract a lot of times, and I would not do one without it. You will more than likely have to make an appointment to speak with someone and have a good presentation ready. If you have the funds to do this and don't mind making the calls they can be had. I have gotten them by being in the right place at the right time. There is very little loyalty in the business. You have to stay on the ball all the time or you will loose and account real easy. You have to check the product and service it daily on some accounts, pull all the product that is going out of date, including the soda etc. I had to leave a bank with some of the larger accounts in case they lost money in a machine. If you are doing it alone you will need someone to service your accounts if you need a day of or want a vacation.

[jblvending]

what is the best way to get a large account i live in a big city with alot of vendors and have a hard time locating these accounts

Well first you need to define large account, I'd say anything over $100, 000 would be considererd large.We go after $20,000 a year account, those normally have a 100 people and it's a snack and drink account that you can service once a week.These seem to pay the bills, so to speak.Now to get them: persistent, opportunity,timing, and knowing what the hell your doing all plays a part in getting any account, it amazing how sometimes you can get the smallest account, and it leads to a larger account due in large part they may have grown or having been taking over by a larger firm, this why service is so important.Guys, we are in the service business, not the vending business, vending is a small part of what we do.

[BVI]

We go after $20,000 a year account, those normally have a 100 people and it's a snack and drink account that you can service once a week.

I guess that depends on the demographics of the 100 people. Are you talking about blue-collar workers or white-collar workers? I can see how you might get by with servicing once a week with a building full of office workers, but an account with 100 factory workers and mostly men will wear you out. You'd have to have at least 2 or 3 snack machines and several drink machines to tide them over to the next week.

In my area, you won't get the 100-employee blue collar locations without providing cold food machines (sandwiches, etc.). There are too many vendors around here willing to provide them, and it forces everyone else to pony up.

[kevin]

I guess that depends on the demographics of the 100 people. Are you talking about blue-collar workers or white-collar workers? I can see how you might get by with servicing once a week with a building full of office workers, but an account with 100 factory workers and mostly men will wear you out. You'd have to have at least 2 or 3 snack machines and several drink machines to tide them over to the next week.

In my area, you won't get the 100-employee blue collar locations without providing cold food machines (sandwiches, etc.). There are too many vendors around here willing to provide them, and it forces everyone else to pony up.

A frozen machine in my area is just something you have to do. I have done it before to get an account and I have set them just to make sure taht if anyone walks in the door they will get shown the way out quickly. Sometimes accounts taht run you 30,000 a year are worth machines like these.

[BVI]

A frozen machine in my area is just something you have to do. I have done it before to get an account and I have set them just to make sure taht if anyone walks in the door they will get shown the way out quickly. Sometimes accounts taht run you 30,000 a year are worth machines like these.

Why do frozen? Why not do refrigerated instead? Refrigerated is a LOT less expensive. Shelf life isn't as long, but it really doesn't matter. If you're refrigerated items aren't moving, you're not making money regardless of how long it can sit there without spoiling.

My guidelines for doing refrigerated food:

1. Must have minimum of 75 workers and primarily blue-collar;

2. Slightly less than 75 if most workers are men, blue-collar, and the location is far enough away from convenience stores, restaurants, etc...
(In other words, I will bend rule #1 if the conditions are right)

3. Under no circumstances will I place a food machine in a white-collar location no matter how many employees they have.

I have learned the hard way and have had to pull a couple of food machines that were not aligned with the proper demographics.

I have also learned that while doing cold food is a royal pain, it can also be very profitable and really drive your snack and soda sales higher than they would otherwise be. I have 4 food machines... 2 do very well, the other 2 do not.

[kevin]

Why do frozen? Why not do refrigerated instead? Refrigerated is a LOT less expensive. Shelf life isn't as long, but it really doesn't matter. If you're refrigerated items aren't moving, you're not making money regardless of how long it can sit there without spoiling.

My guidelines for doing refrigerated food:

1. Must have minimum of 75 workers and primarily blue-collar;

2. Slightly less than 75 if most workers are men, blue-collar, and the location is far enough away from convenience stores, restaurants, etc...
(In other words, I will bend rule #1 if the conditions are right)

3. Under no circumstances will I place a food machine in a white-collar location no matter how many employees they have.

I have learned the hard way and have had to pull a couple of food machines that were not aligned with the proper demographics.

I have also learned that while doing cold food is a royal pain, it can also be very profitable and really drive your snack and soda sales higher than they would otherwise be. I have 4 food machines... 2 do very well, the other 2 do not.

refrig just dont work here, everyone wants icecream. It may cost me a little more and I may not make money off it, but if I dont lose money then I dont care because the account is worth it if I have done it.

[jblvending]

I guess that depends on the demographics of the 100 people. Are you talking about blue-collar workers or white-collar workers? I can see how you might get by with servicing once a week with a building full of office workers, but an account with 100 factory workers and mostly men will wear you out. You'd have to have at least 2 or 3 snack machines and several drink machines to tide them over to the next week.

In my area, you won't get the 100-employee blue collar locations without providing cold food machines (sandwiches, etc.). There are too many vendors around here willing to provide them, and it forces everyone else to pony up.

Sizing your account is critcal to just serving it once week.Candy machines can be ordered with just one candy tray and the rest of the trays can be chip, cookies, or pastry tray, also adding 15, even 18 selection spirals can add a ton of volume to your 40 sel vending machine, a 804 coke machine holds a ton of drinks, so yes, it can be done.Now of course there exceptions to this, blue collar, 24-7 accounts will need more machines, but there again, it's doing more than $20,000 a year, in that case, it's meeting the needs for more machines.

[BVI]

Sizing your account is critcal to just serving it once week.Candy machines can be ordered with just one candy tray and the rest of the trays can be chip, cookies, or pastry tray, also adding 15, even 18 selection spirals can add a ton of volume to your 40 sel vending machine, a 804 coke machine holds a ton of drinks, so yes, it can be done.Now of course there exceptions to this, blue collar, 24-7 accounts will need more machines, but there again, it's doing more than $20,000 a year, in that case, it's meeting the needs for more machines.

Okay, I get it. I can see how fine-tuning a snack machine can help reduce the amount of servicing it needs. I've been using both candy trays... the problem is for me, is that I've been using them not just for candy but also crackers, granola bars, etc... stuff that will fit in those spirals... and they sell well and have better margins than candy.

The only candy that sells well for me are M&M Peanut, Snickers, 3 Musketeers and Payday... enough to where I have to have them. I'll have to check, but I think if I keep what sells well, I will still have to use both trays. I'll have to play with this idea and see if I can get more chip selections that will allow me to double up on the popular items.

I have 2 decent accounts, one is my best account, that have food machines in and food machines don't hold very much for good reason. However, food is popular with these two accounts and those food machines keep me coming back every other day if not everyday just because of them. I've already doubled up on the Chimichanga selections and I really hate to put more in them than that.

[BVI]

refrig just dont work here, everyone wants icecream. It may cost me a little more and I may not make money off it, but if I dont lose money then I dont care because the account is worth it if I have done it.

That's a real bummer about the refrigerated. Right now, I won't do ice cream. It's a good thing people here really don't care if they have it... even if they have an ice cream machine already. They always say no one ever uses it. It's never been a requirement. If I run into an account that requires is, I really don't have a choice but to walk away. I'm not set up to handle ice cream and don't want the expense of outfitting my truck with a freezer unit just yet (though I will have to at some point if I keep adding refrigerated machines).

[kevin]

That's a real bummer about the refrigerated. Right now, I won't do ice cream. It's a good thing people here really don't care if they have it... even if they have an ice cream machine already. They always say no one ever uses it. It's never been a requirement. If I run into an account that requires is, I really don't have a choice but to walk away. I'm not set up to handle ice cream and don't want the expense of outfitting my truck with a freezer unit just yet (though I will have to at some point if I keep adding refrigerated machines).

Our trucks dont have freezer either. One of my main icecream accounts is remote monitored and the other is 2 blocks away. The others have excess trays in them if we pull to much product. Icecream is all that sells in these amchines and it hurts my pastry sales alot during the summer but I make more off the icecream. We usually get about 35-50 cents per piece on ciecream and on certain things I get as much as 60 cents profit. I make more on food items because they are hard to push and my one refrig machine dosnt run enough to charge a small margin.

[BVI]

refrig just dont work here, everyone wants icecream. It may cost me a little more and I may not make money off it, but if I dont lose money then I dont care because the account is worth it if I have done it.

I get hit up for sandwiches and burritos by practically every blue-collar location I've gotten. Because a lot of them only have 30 minutes for lunch and tend to stay on-site, they want the convenience of having the food machine available.

[BVI]

Our trucks dont have freezer either. One of my main icecream accounts is remote monitored and the other is 2 blocks away. The others have excess trays in them if we pull to much product. Icecream is all that sells in these amchines and it hurts my pastry sales alot during the summer but I make more off the icecream. We usually get about 35-50 cents per piece on ciecream and on certain things I get as much as 60 cents profit. I make more on food items because they are hard to push and my one refrig machine dosnt run enough to charge a small margin.

I'd have to have a freezer unit on my truck. I know that if I didn't, doing ice cream would be a disaster before it started. But I just don't see us ever offering ice cream. It's a part of this business that I want no part of, really.

I will probably check into seeing what's involved with putting a freezer unit on my truck, though. I'm going to have to have more storage for my cold food items, I think, by sometime next year.

[kennr]

Well first you need to define large account, I'd say anything over $100, 000 would be considererd large.We go after $20,000 a year account, those normally have a 100 people and it's a snack and drink account that you can service once a week.These seem to pay the bills, so to speak.Now to get them: persistent, opportunity,timing, and knowing what the hell your doing all plays a part in getting any account, it amazing how sometimes you can get the smallest account, and it leads to a larger account due in large part they may have grown or having been taking over by a larger firm, this why service is so important.Guys, we are in the service business, not the vending business, vending is a small part of what we do.

Way to go.

[tedk]

Sizing your account is critcal to just serving it once week.Candy machines can be ordered with just one candy tray and the rest of the trays can be chip, cookies, or pastry tray, also adding 15, even 18 selection spirals can add a ton of volume to your 40 sel vending machine, a 804 coke machine holds a ton of drinks, so yes, it can be done.Now of course there exceptions to this, blue collar, 24-7 accounts will need more machines, but there again, it's doing more than $20,000 a year, in that case, it's meeting the needs for more machines.

Thanks for posting this. I was told about sizing the machines when I first ordered them but I never really thought about it after that. Now that I have had machines on location for a while it would be good to take a hard look at my set-ups.