How our unique approach changed an industry

WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION

Over the past 19 years The Vending Revolution has built the finest reputation in the vending industry for its consistent ability to create powerful and original solutions for the problems that have afflicted the vending industry for decades, and continues to afflict vending operators and other vending companies to this day.

Our ability to find these unique solutions time after time is no fluke of chance, it is due to our lateral thinking approach to problem solving, and our obsessive attention to detail, that enables us to evaluate a problem and think it through in a totally original way. But that is only the start of the process, our highly disciplined development process will then refine our initial solution and hone it to perfection through extensive field trials in thousands of our own vendors in thousands of different types of sites. Only when it is considered fully developed and proven will it be offered to our existing and prospective new franchised operators around the country.

Our rise... and fall

Our first venture into vending was over 19 years ago, operating children's novelty vendors. These simple bulk vendors were placed outside corner stores near schools so that school kids would pass them on their way to and from school. The arrangement was simple, the shopkeeper would chain the vendor outside their shop every morning and take it in every night, in return we would give them 20% of the revenue as a site commission. Unfortunately, the cracks started to appear a year into the business.

The most serious problem we encountered was a situation that we had no prior warning of known as "Poaching". This is when another operator with a similar vendor, offers your site more commission than you give, typically 25% or 30%, with the result that either the site demands more commission or they evict you in favour of the new operator, who in turn will probably be poached too in due course!

This situation is caused by several factors but most notably by a lack of available sites. Without alternative sites to place their vendors in, poaching existing sites becomes the only option, albeit at the high cost of site commission that ruins their profitability.

Starting a Revolution

Having tasted initial success in vending and seen just how lucrative, simple and enjoyable vending could be, we were not inclined to give up that easy. The need to pay site commission of at least 25% or 30% was not an option though, as this ate deep into the margin, and future site insecurity would be a constant worry. We reasoned that vending was a great profession but the only problem was that we chose the wrong type of vending. The hunt was now on to find the one that solved all the problems and offered the right profits.

Several months of in-depth research, meetings, letter writing and phone calls later, we were no nearer to finding our elusive solution. At this point we should have given up and looked at another type of business, but our feelings were still so strong that vending could be an incredibly profitable and sound business, if only it was done right, that we decided to create the ‘perfect' vending business model for ourselves that would once and for all solve the many problems that no other vending company had an answer to.

The secret of our success

After twelve months of constant development and fine-tuning our new Bulk Vending business model was finally launched in 1993. Using this powerful formula we rapidly grew our own vending business to over 5,000 highly profitable Bulk Vendors that we still successfully operate today and the tens of thousands our franchisees have operated for the past fourteen years. With the launch in 2006 of our Snack-a-Can Tower Franchise and top selling Snack-a-Can product range, we continue to build on our success and reputation as the most complete and profitable vending franchise available. So how did we re-write the vending industry rulebook, and succeed where others before us could not and our competitors today still cannot.

The unique and powerful business formula that became The Vending Revolution, is no single idea but a creative collection of powerful solutions to difficult problems that no other vending company has been able to completely solve.

Qualified sites

The fundamental cornerstone of any vending business is not the vendor or even the product it is the site.  Although this may sound obvious, this is the single most common reason for vending business failures. This desperation to find sites at any cost, leads vending operators to gladly pay up to £250 per site to the few vending companies that are able and prepared to find sites for their operators.

The Vending Revolutions unique siting techniques are the most advanced and sophisticated in the entire industry enabling us to regularly acquire between 1,000 and 1,500 new sites every month for both our existing and new franchisees throughout the UK and Eire. Our team of professional site locators acquire fully qualified sites in 75 different business categories, sites that other vending companies just cannot get access to.

Our powerful siting service enables our franchisees to not just establish their business, but most importantly, to maintain and grow it, as and when replacement sites are required to keep your business performing at the highest level. It would be logical to assume that a facility of this importance and sophistication would not come cheap, yet unbelievably; it is the LOWEST cost siting service in the entire industry - Just £18.50 per site!

Low site commission

The second reason for failure is profit. Vending IS a very profitable business, the trick is retaining the profit rather than giving it away to your sites in exchange for having your vendor placed on their premises. Unfortunately, the average percentage paid by most operators today is around 25% and climbing. When we started 19 years ago, 20% was standard but now it is the exception, we know of many operators now paying up to 40% to acquire or retain a site. Needless to say at this level of site commission you scrape a living only with no profits for expansion, re-investment, or even a decent lifestyle. Eventually it becomes pointless and many operators simply give up.

Yet again, The Vending Revolution re-writes the rulebook when it comes to profit. Our franchisees pay an unbeatable 5% site commission – NO other vending company comes close! That's an astonishing extra 20% profit straight onto your bottom line making The Vending Revolution the HIGHEST gross % operating profit – Guaranteed!

A professional image

To be truly successful and maintain sales you need a professional brand image and quality packaging. The Snack-a-Can brand is the result of extensive market research to create a brand image that is modern and progressive yet familiar and memorable. The brand embodies our core elements of Quality – Value – Service and has rapidly gained an excellent reputation with both consumers and our franchisees. Finally, we provide a dedicated Snack-a-Can website as both a promotional tool and a contact point for consumers with full customer service support, please click the link to view the site www.snackacan.com



Top selling products

Ultimately, to succeed you need a great product that is profitable, has popular appeal and will repeat sell. Simple. Our 19 years of experience in confectionery and savoury vending, gained whilst servicing the needs of tens of thousands of sites throughout the UK, gives us a deep understanding of what would be required to create a successful repeat selling product range

To succeed you need a GREAT product – and GREAT packaging too!

Our professional high-end packaging solution was a developed to ensure that the product arrived at the consumer in perfect condition whilst imparting the feel of a luxury, quality product. The full story of our packaging solution can be found by clicking the following link Snack-a-Can - No. 1

The best equipment