Vending Operations Making More Money Chuck Reed of MEI facilitates a panel of five outstanding vending operators to emphasize the main points:at the Nama show about Vending Operations Making More Money. Vending Operations Making More Money These large vending operators are talking about the basics of making money in the vending business and some of the new technology that keeps track of sales and inventory. There are new inventory controls from the warehouse to the route truck and into the vending machine. Vending Operations Making More Money a lot of the telemetry that are on vending machines can now tell if the machine is working or not and send a message when it is not. Recyclers were a big thing at this conference thus generating more vending profit. Installing credit card readers and telemetry that goes with it was also a big plus. To increase your vending business or keeping it at a manageable size. Good employees make mor profit. A good route man is worth his weight in gold. He sees your customer every day and can keep that account for you. Employee pay make sure some sort of commission. The better job he does the mmore money he makes and you make. Listen to some of the great ideas these guys come up with. You have been listening to Vending Operations Making More Money at The Vending Business Show only at A&M Equipment Sales. For More information Acquiring New Vending Accounts
Smart Phone Ap and the Vending Machine An interview with Neil Swindale of VendCentral
Excerpts from the interview:
Smart Phone Ap and the Vending Machine “There’s a big opportunity in mobile right now and we thought it was good timing to tweek it so it can fit the needs of vending companies around the country…”
“It allows the customer to pick up a smartphone, scan a QR code on the vending machine and it comes right to our mobile request platform and from there a customer can communicate directly with the vending machine manager.”
“It’s a two step process: 1. We design the app where they tell us what buttons go on it. The default buttons include request a refund, tell us how we’re doing, report a machine issue, request your favorite product… 2. We redesign your sticker that goes on the vending machine… include the phone number and the QR code that takes customers to the mobile request platform.”
“It involves a small upfront fee and a small ongoing monthly fee… It’s very affordable.”
“We’ve had customers tell us this is exceptionally good on a sales presentation to really help win accounts… an app for customer service.”
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Smart Phone Ap and the Vending Machine Tom: I’m Tom Shivers with the Vending Business Show here with Neil Swindale of VendCentral. He’s been in the full line vending business for 15 years, and sold it his own business. Also, he previous to that worked with Coke, Frito Lay, and Nestle Water. So, thanks for being here, Neal.
Neil: I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you very much.
Tom: Today, we’re talking about your smartphone app for vending machines. What inspired you to create that smart phone app?
Neil: Well, we’ve been working on it for about a year, but we put it on the shelf, and I recently came back from the NAMA Coffee and Tea Show in New Orleans, and I sat next to a computer engineer on the way home. And all we did was talk about mobile, and how things in the mobile community are blowing up. And I told him a little bit about the app that we started a year ago, and he was the guy that just kind of inspired me to take it off the shelf and continue with that development. Because with, I think over 75% of the people that own cellphones have got smart phones. So, there’s just big opportunity in mobile right now, and we just thought it was perfect timing to bring it off the shelf and tweak it so it can fit the needs of vending companies around the country. And sure enough, we launched it about two and a half months ago, and it’s selling like hot cakes. So, we’re pretty excited about it.
Tom: Well, what does the smart phone app do exactly?
Neil: So basically what it is, when you’re shopping out of a vending machine, certain things can happen. You could potentially lose your money. You could … A product could get stuck. Maybe your Diet Coke selection is running out on Tuesday and the route guy’s not getting there ’til Wednesday. So, the smartphone app allows the customer to pick up a smartphone, scan a QR code that is on the vending machine, and it comes to what we call our Mobile Request Platform. And from there a customer can communicate directly with the vending machine management. Instead of either picking up the phone and calling, which a lot of people don’t like to do, or going over and bugging the facility manager to tell them their problem and the facility manager’s busy doing what they do, or timing it to meet the route guy. So, this way the customer can talk directly with vending management and let them know what’s going on.
Tom: How does a vending operator get started with this smartphone app?
Neil: So basically, it’s a two-step process. One is we design the app, where they tell us what buttons are going to go on it. Now, the default buttons are request a refund, tell us how we’re doing, report a machine issue, request your favorite product. And then we’ll do two or three buttons underneath it. One, if you’ve got a company video, we can link to the company video. We can refer you to friends if they think that the service is quite good. They can refer it to a friend by clicking a different button, and then another button usually clicks over to the full website. And then we’ve had other companies expand it out to include their micro markets. One customer’s put a link directly to his Yelp account. So, the platform is easily expandable to suit whatever a vending company’s doing. So, that’s part one.
Neil: Part two is we’ll redesign your sticker that goes on the vending machine. So right now, it’s probably just got your phone number on there and probably an email address or a website address. Now, we’ll redesign the sticker, include the phone number, as well as the QR code that the customers will scan to take them right to the mobile request platform. So, it’s pretty simple. It takes us probably about two to three days to get the mobile app programed and up and running. And then usually three to four days of back and forth designing to get the sticker exactly how a customer wants to see it.
Tom: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay, so what is the cost for getting going with one of these?
Neil: We’ve got a price list and it’s three tiers, just depending on the size of the company. But it’s basically a small, upfront fee and then a small monthly fee to keep it going, and it’s not a monthly fee that’s per machine, it’s just a flat monthly fee. And then at full service, we buy the domain name that hosts the platform, we support the platform. We expand the email bandwidth out if necessary, if a lot of calls come in, we can expand that out. So yeah, it’s very affordable. We’ve got about 25 customers up and running on it already, and we’re only two and a half months in, and I’ve sort of had a lot of communication with the first customers that took it, and they said, Neil, this is the slickest tool that has come through the vending channel for a while that can legitimately help us grow our business and save our business as well, for extremely affordable price.
Neil: A lot of this kind of wireless technology that is out there now that you can get some pretty good data and improve on customer service, it’s pretty expensive. You’re paying, you know, sometimes $10, $12 per machine per month to get that sort of data, and it’s sort of more machine data, whereas ours is a lot cheaper than that. I mean, basically we’re talking 100s of dollars upfront and then somewhere between $25 and $100 a month for the monthly fee. It’s extremely affordable. We’ve had a lot of customers tell us that it is exceptionally good on a sales presentation, so it can really help you win accounts. And that’s the thing about vending is that everyone’s doing pretty much the same thing, and you’ve got to differentiate yourself from the other vending companies, and one of the ways is obviously customer service. So, to have an app that is designed specifically for customer service, it’s a big point of differentiation.
Tom: Anything else operators should know?
Neil: No, I think get in quick. Like I said, it’s brand new technology and it’s just a great way to one up the other venders. If you’re walking in on a sales presentation, what some other customers have done and stuff, put the QR code on their sales presentation, and then they get the facility manager in the meeting to scan that QR code, and then the facility managers will immediately see the platform, and they’ll get it. I mean, it’s very simple. Once they see that platform, the facility manager will totally understand how it can benefit them.
Neil: I think in the past too, vending owners invest a lot of money in setting up these customers with equipment and everything, and we kind of put our faith in the hands of the route driver. And the route guys are out calling on maybe 30 or 40 customers, and this app just supports the route guy. The management are going to see requests coming in from this app, and they can actually go to the route guy, and say, hey listen, we’re getting quite a few calls from this bank and equipment, what’s going on? Why are we running out of Diet Coke so early? Do we need to put another column in there? And it saves the facility manager getting bombarded with requests.
Neil: I know a lot of venders around the country over the years if you’ve been in this business a long time, you’re going to get a phone call from a facility manager going, “Hey, thanks for the last five years of service, but come and pick up your machines, because we’ve decided to change because the service wasn’t that great.” As a business owner, they might not have even known that they had bad service. So, with this app in place, if you start getting a lot of requests coming in from the app, you’ll obviously know that there’s a problem, os you can maybe send a customer service rep out there and just keep an eye on things, and check with the facility manager that everything’s cool and you’re on top of your game basically.
Tom: Well, Neil, thanks for sharing. Tell us where people can find out more about the smartphone app as well as about your business.
Neil: Yeah, so we’re … Our company name is VendCentral, and we’re online at vendcentral.com, and we’ve been in business now about seven years. And we basically provide marketing services, web design, search engine optimization, social media video production. We’ve got probably about 135 customers between Hawaii and New York and then a couple up in Canada. But yeah, the mobile app is featured predominantly on our website, and yeah, if anyone has any extra questions or want to know a little bit more about it, just check out our website or give me a call.
Tom: You’ve been listening to Smart Phone Ap and the Vending Machine the Vending Business Show, a publication of A&M Equipment Sales. More Vending Blogs Take Over A Vending Route Or Start Your Own?
Popular Vending Machine Snacks When it comes to using vending machines, we all have our fond associations. For many, vending machines bring connotations of going swimming when we were young and eagerly tucking into a packet of chips and cup of soup from the cafeteria’s vending machine after the swim! For others, vending machines may remind us of our university years, when the students would gather outside the lecture hall’s vending machine in order to stave off hunger pangs after a rather laborious two-hour lecture!
Whatever vending machines remind us of, it has to be said that what have now become an almost inherent feature of both urban and even rural landscapes around the world, never fail to cease in popularity. Given the somewhat unique longevity of what could be described in the modern era as being a slightly old-fashioned piece of equipment, it would be interesting to know what the most popular snacks are that people demand out of the time-honored vending machine.
Snickers
Popular Vending Machine Snacks According to American Merchandiser’s the top selling snack in vending machines are Snickers. Part of this chocolate bar’s popularity is likely to stem from the fact that comprising of caramel, nougat, peanuts and chocolates, Snickers are not only mouth-wateringly delicious but they fill you up as well, which is, after all, what vending machines are all about.
Peanut M&Ms
Popular Vending Machine Snacks The great thing about Peanut M&Ms is not only do they taste great and keep you going until lunchtime, but they are also more nutritious and healthier than you may think. Being a predominantly peanut snack, with a light coating of chocolate, Peanut MandMs are the perfect way to satisfy those pangs of hunger and cravings for a sweet snack without devastating the diet.
Given the fact that Peanut MandMs are tasty, nutritious and filling, it is hardly surprising that they are one of the most popular snacks to be bought from vending machines, as they really can refuel you whilst you’re on the go!
Doritos
Popular Vending Machine Snacks Unlike a ‘conventional’ bag of chips, Doritos seem to go that bit further. This ultra-crunchy snack that comes in a variety and bold and unique flavors certainly fills an empty gap in stomachs and therefore have almost inevitably proven to be a popular choice of snack from vending machines around the world.
Twix
Popular Vending Machine Snacks The one thing that is great about the world-famous Twix is they are a fantastic accompaniment with a cup of coffee or tea. More often than not people will buy a coffee or tea from one vending machine and then choose a snack to go with it from another vending machine, which, according to American Merchandiser, is a decision which often falls in favour of a Twix. More exciting videos at Vending Machine License: Is It Something You Need?
Harry Kelly has been installing vending machines across the UK for the best part of five years and therefore has a good understanding of what snacks are popular. Harry writes for numerous websites, including www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.
AMS Vending Machines Durable and Dependable An interview with John Whitwell of Buffalo Rock
John has been buying AMS equipment for 8+ years and comments on the quality, customer appreciation from the factory and factory reps and the versatility of their machines.
“The reason I use them is they are really dependable. We use very few parts on them over the past 10 years.”
“The brand new machine that’s coming out this year; we just got a few in. The appearance of the machine is just unbelievable compared to what it used to be. The numbers are lit up, everything looks great, compared to what it used to look like.”
AMS Vending Machines Durable and Dependable “Again, I couldn’t praise more about the durability and dependability of these machines compared to what we used to deal with… good product.”
“One other plus about the AMS refrigerated machines, the 35 and 39 inch machines, is they use the same parts. Besides the shelf being wider, I don’t have to carry duel parts.”
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
AMS Vending Machines Durable and Dependable Tom: This is Tom Shivers with the Vending Business Show, and I’m here with John Whitwell, who is the market equipment manager for Buffalo Rock. Today we’re going to talk about AMS equipment. So thanks for being here, John.
John: Thank you.
Tom: Now with buying AMS equipment, what do you think about the quality, the warranty, and customer appreciation from the factory and factory reps of their five wide snack machines?
John: I really enjoy using the AMS. I think we started back about eight or nine years ago, and I pretty much exclusively use AMS. I toured their facility. I’ve watched from the metal coming in to the end product. I’ve met Roy Steeley, the owner of that company, all the people that work there.
John: But the biggest factor, the reason I use them, is they’re really dependable. We use very few parts on ’em over all the last ten years. And then the sales rep that I have, Tim Paul, is really knowledgeable on the equipment, and if I need him here today, he’ll come today, if he’s in the country. There are times he’ll be in Puerto Rico.
John: But generally we have a great relationship, they do a great job, and that’s one thing that I never got out of some of the other manufacturers.
Tom: Now you buy both the snack machines and the refrigerated machines, is that right?
John: That’s right.
Tom: AMS is the only manufacturer that makes a 35″ four wide, refrigerated vendor. Do you use a lot of those?
John: Well when we first started purchasing them, we bought only the refrigerated, and that’s because the refrigeration unit was, actually, the expense was only a few hundred dollars more, and we lease them back to ourselves, so that’s a big savings. And they also make a food … I don’t know if you knew that, but they make a food machine, a 35 and a 39, and that’s all I use on food as well. I use their AMS 39 and 35s.
Tom: What types of food do you dispense from the refrigerated food machines?
John: We do everything from the big sandwiches, to some of the platters, like wing platters. You can just about configure it any way you want. And, of course, that’s pretty much set through our corporate office, how they want the machines set. But we can pretty much sell anything through ’em. And we sell a lot of different things.
Tom: AMS is the only company that makes an ETL approved, high security, outdoor vendor. Do you use a lot of those?
John: We use them in the schools.
Tom: Okay. What configuration of snack machine do you buy from AMS? Single helix or dual helix? Regular fluorescent light or LED light? Gum-
John: Well, everything that’s coming to us now is the dual helix, and LED, and, of course, they’re all ADA approved. Actually the brand new machine that’s coming out this year, we just got a few in, and the appearance of the machine is just unbelievable compared to what it used to be. The numbers are lit up, everything looks great compared to what it used to look like.
John: To me, again, I couldn’t praise more about the durability and the dependability of these machines compared to what we used to deal with. Just a good product.
Tom: What do you think about the new epoch look on the machines now?
John: That’s what I was saying, the new look, to me, is just unbeliev … you know where it extrudes out and it just looks way better than the other ones. It’s a little bit more. Again, to me, as long as they work, that’s bet … you can have the best looking machine out there with all the bells and whistles, but if it doesn’t work, it’s not dependable and you’re going back to it, and you’re putting money in it as far as parts trying to make it work, then it’s no good unless it’s dependable. I think these things work great.
Tom: Do you use any of the healthy vend machines?
John: I don’t think we’ve gotten into that, I think there might be a few selections in there that they’ll code healthy vend, as far as whether it be a … I ain’t gonna say a chip because I can’t, I don’t think they are, but I know that the full line vending team does recognize, they’ll put something on there, I’ve seen it before, it says, “Healthy vend,” or something that’s on there. Is that what you’re talking about?
Tom: Yeah. Overall, which company, in your viewpoint, makes the best refrigerated vendor?
John: Again, to me, because I use AMS and I wouldn’t have stayed with them if I didn’t like it, but it’s not hard to change out the refrigeration unit if it’s bad. After a couple times, if you ever had to do it, pretty simple. So we stay with them, we really enjoy that machine. My guys’ll like it. Simple to use, that’s the biggest thing. Simple to work on.
John: One other plus about this machine, and again, I hadn’t … I’m not in touch with what the other ones do because I hadn’t given over the last ten years probably haven’t given them a whole lot of opportunity to come in here, because I get such good service out of the people from AMS, but the parts I use in an AMS 35 are the same parts that go in a AMS 39. Besides that shelf being wider, everything else is the same, so I don’t have to carry dual parts, and that’s a plus in itself.
Tom: That’s great. Now is there anything you’d like to tell us about Buffalo Rock?
John: We’ve been in business for a pretty good while, over a hundred years. I don’t know what, it was a hundred years a few years ago so I don’t know the dead on number. But I think it’s a great place to work for. I think we all is … because we have divisions all over Alabama and Georgia, and Mike Bunt is the CME, corporate marketing equipment, guy in Birmingham. We all work well together. And if we need things from each other, it’s just a phone call or an email away. We meet quarterly, and just a great place to work.
Tom: Alright, well, you’ve been listening toAMS Vending Machines Durable and Dependable at the Vending Business Show, a publication of A&M Equipment Sales. More Vending Business Blogs USA TECHNOLOGIES ePORT G9
Future Vending Technology ROI An interview with Mike Bunt, General Manager of Corporate Marketing Equipment of the Buffalo Rock Company
Future Vending Technology ROI The future of vending as it relates to sales and service is a topic that lots of vending operators are interested in but may not be able to evaluate from an operations point of view. Some of the hot topics today are healthy vending, interactive displays, campus id cards, mobile commerce, and micro markets. Have you evaluated any of these or similar opportunities in vending for Buffalo Rock?
“You must be careful on the new technology, we are, there’s a lot of it out there we call ‘foo foo’ technology that really is a marketing ploy today to those who like all the gadgets… but if it increases service calls, we have to be careful not to get overly involved with it.”
“We look at up front costs, then increased sales or decreased service calls and a lot of times it’s easier to come up with a decrease in cost of lifecycle than pin pointing an increase in service calls.”
Mike gives several examples of what he calls a win on technology, listen to the podcast:
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Future Vending Technology ROI Tom Shivers: This is Tom Shivers with the Vending Business Show, here with Mike Bunt of Buffalo Rock, general manager of corporate marketing equipment of the Buffalo Rock Company. Thanks for being here, Mike.
Mike Bunt: You’re quite welcome.
Tom Shivers: Today we’re going to talk about the Future Vending Technology ROI and especially as it relates to sales and service because it’s kind of a popular topic today among vending operators, and sometimes it’s hard to evaluate from an operations point of view. Some of the hot topics today are healthy vending, interactive displays, campus ID cards, mobile commerce, and micromarkets. Have you evaluated any of those or similar opportunities in vending for Buffalo Rock?
Mike Bunt: Yes. Buffalo Rock is always looking at new technology. As a matter of fact, I attended the NACS trade show in Vegas and brought back six new pieces of equipment for testing. When we analyze equipment, we look at it from two points of views. One is the sales side and the other obviously is the service side of it. There’s all kind of new technology in the trade that is exciting. However, does it bring a value to the customer or to the company, and that’s what we have to look through.
Mike Bunt: For instance, LED lights. They claim to increase sales, which is a hard claim to back, but it does present the product in a much better light. However, we know LED lights last longer than the standard lighting and we know it’s going to reduce service calls, so the upfront cost of the LED is a no-brainer to us because we know we’re going to save service calls down the road.
Mike Bunt: And everybody must be careful on the new technology. We are, and there’s a lot of it out there what we call foo-foo technology that really is a marketing ploy to the youth today that likes all the gadgets and the gizmos, but if it increases service calls, we have to be careful not to get overly involved with it.
Tom Shivers: Yeah, for new vending technology, how do you go about weighing the cost versus benefits or say return on investment?
Mike Bunt: Well, we look at it from the standard ROI procedure. We look at the upfront cost and then we’ll look at increased sales or decreased service calls, and a lot of times like I say, it’s easier to come up with a decrease in cost of life cycle than pinpointing an increased service call. For instance, a few years ago everybody migrated to the electronic boards on equipment, and one of the things we noticed is that we were going to a lot of vending machines just to reboot the boards in the machines. Well, talking with the manufacturers, we convinced one, Vendo, to build a reboot chip if you will that basically just checks itself on all its boards, and if it senses a loss of connectivity, it reboots itself automatically. The boards that we were in test with, it drove service calls practically out of it for won’t take money calls, so that would be what we’d consider a win on technology. Now the consumer never sees it, but they enjoy the benefit of it because every time they go to the machine, they can buy a drink.
Mike Bunt: The interactive display boards, to me that’s more of a marketing ploy to the youth. It does draw excitement to your machines, but then you look at the cost of the doors versus the increased sales, and the placement potentials on those are very limited because you can’t just take an interactive vending machine and place it anywhere you have a vendor, so down the road, if we invest capital in equipment like that, we have to be very smart because you’re only going to be able to put in specific locations.
Tom Shivers: Are there any other examples that you have for evaluating vending technology?
Mike Bunt: We tested the [dex 00:04:52] project, where [dexing 00:04:56] was a huge technological win for Buffalo Rock is that you’re able to minimize routes on the streets, you increase sales, you reduce spoilage or outages of the machines, and that’s a huge cost to the company to get into [dexing 00:05:15] on 20,000 machines, but we know the payoff’s gonna be there through the efficiencies that the program’s gonna bring.
Mike Bunt: The MEI recycler, for instance. The big question is credit cards versus recyclers, and every machine that goes out into trade gets a changer and validator on it, so the upcost of the recycler, we have done tests on equipment where we put recyclers, and we’ve seen 30, 40, 50%. On a military base, we’ve seen 200% increases on machines for adding a component onto a machine that was already there operating, so that was a huge impact for us on sales, the return on investment was minimal, and it’s not like every machine doesn’t get a validator anyway.
Tom Shivers: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, it sounds like you’ve tested a number of products, perhaps several of the MEI products, and it sounds like the LED lights tend to pass the ROI test as well. Are there other features or ideas that are being touted today that make you wonder what the ROI might be for some of these?
Mike Bunt: Yeah. Right now, telemetry is a hot spot along with the interactive equipment, and the one challenge you have with telemetry is sales signal, and I don’t believe there’s anybody in this country that’s ever been on a cell phone that didn’t drop a call or it lock up. Well, that’s the same type of opportunities that you have when you put telemetry on your vendors. However, there’s a value to telemetry because it does allow you to preload your trucks, it can alert you for service calls, and I think once the technology is perfected and the calls droppage reduced, I think that you’ll see a lot more telemetry in the trade. You just have to weigh out the cost, the monthly fees versus the value of what you’re getting out of the system.
Tom Shivers: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, do the telemetry manufacturers allow for a testing period before making a decision?
Mike Bunt: Yeah, I would imagine they would. Again, that would be up to each company that’s selling the system, but like with most equipment, they’ll let you evaluate it and analyze it.
Tom Shivers: Well, thanks, Mike. Tell us about Buffalo Rock.
Mike Bunt: Well, we’re one of the largest privately owned Pepsi bottlers in the country. We have over 2000 employees and around 90,000 assets in the trade in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
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have our fond associations. For many, vending machines bring connotations of going swimming when we were young and eagerly tucking into a packet of chips and cup of soup from the cafeteria’s vending machine after the swim! For others, vending machines may remind us of our university years, when the students would gather outside the lecture hall’s vending machine in order to stave off hunger pangs after a rather laborious two-hour lecture!
