Snack vending
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snack vending is the business of vending packages of snacks, such as popcorn, pretzels, and candy bars, from electronic vending machines. Like soda vending, snack vending falls within full line vending.
Originally snack machines were notorious for selling junk food, but in recent years they have come to dispense healthy food.
For the snack vendor, locations are relatively easy to land because snack machines are less profitable than other types of vending and the machines themselves are costly. A new machine from a premium manufacturer can cost as much as five thousand dollars; a used latest model can cost over three thousand. Snack machines retain their value for a long time, sometimes for 20 years or more since there are few snack machines to choose from. Attention needs to be paid to expiration dates, since many snacks have a short shelf life. Because most snack machines have 30 to 40 selections with a total capacity as high as 1000, it is easy for one product to stop selling long enough to expire; moreover, people tend to be less consistent about what snacks they eat than about what sodas they drink. Snack machines generally make less than soda machines at the same location, and with inventory expiring, it is easy for a location to be actually losing money. Also because of the large number of selections in a snack machine, more storage space for excess inventory is required. Often, a small van will simply not have enough storage space to carry everything needed to service a route of snacks machines.
