Vending Business-In-A-Box : A step-by-step guide to starting a profitable vending business without getting burned

Customer Reviews

How to Avoid Scams, Ants, Unsalable Candy and Wasting Time

The wealthiest people in our neighborhood while I was growing up had a vending route that provided jawbreakers and bubble gum. I always loved to see the bulk candy in their garage and the piles of nickels they collected. Since then, I've always wanted to know more about the business, which led me to this valuable guide.

The book assumes that you know no more about vending than how to put your money in and get some product out. That's good for beginners.

The book is organized so that you can briefly review it as well as filled with work sheets you can use to plan and implement a vending business. It is very practical in that way.

Most of the emphasis is on operating items such as picking the right kind of machines, buying or renting the machines inexpensively, obtaining financing, purchasing product cheaply, keeping the machines in working order, and maintaining records (including getting the bank to count your coins for you). My favorite tip was using Vaseline around the base of a bulk candy machine to keep ants out.

The book would have been much more helpful if it had included the author's own business record in starting up a vending business, or had measured the best practices of successful operators. We have no way of knowing if the proposed practices are better than some other ones.

In addition, I got no sense of how much I could make from such a business either hourly or in total.

My guess is that getting great locations is critical. The book is very light on that subject other than encouraging you to get business cards and to keep shifting machine locations within a site and the items in the machines. You are given a brief list of places that often work well such as near entrances, exits and rest rooms. There apparently is a second book planned on getting machines into good locations. I would have rather seen that subject covered in more detail in this book.

Some will also find the book too repetitive. For example, you are encouraged to find a bank that will coin your coins by machine in at least six places.

I suspect that you can mainly use this book to get a sense if what's involved in vending feels comfortable to you. Do you want to get a van so you can deliver soda and snacks and have a rented location for your supplies? Many will find that the investment is larger than they expected.

Whatever you do, watch out for those who are selling you something that you cannot verify. The book is good on warning about potential scams.

After you finish reading this book, I suggest that you think about what the ideal characteristics are for a small business that you could operate. Then, start looking for that business, whether or not it involves vending!

Vending Business In A Box

This book gave a realistic view of the vending business, step-by-step instructions about how to get started and how to avoid scams and pitfalls in the process. Loved the checklists which helped us to find a great Accountant who has a vending company client and a vending friendly Bank.

By using the checklist I was able to ask the right questions and weed out banks who wanted to charge for deposits plus bank fees just for putting my money in their bank!

Bryon Krug goes into detail about the advantages and disadvantages of each type of business structure, how to choose the best types of vending machines and acquisition strategies.

This book is more like a "How To Workbook" that you can use to make good decisions in starting your vending business. I look forward to reading Byron's next book on vending.

A Must Read For Beginners!

I found "Vending Business-In-A-Box" to be invaluable while researching the vending machine business! I wanted to enter this industry as "well informed" as possible. Bryon's book definitely helped out! Thank you Bryon!