Making the most of food and beverage vending supplies is essential if you want to make money on the venture. Employees won't eat the vending machine food that doesn't fit into their lifestyle. Available products have changed over the years as America's focus has shifted to being more health-conscious. Vending machines used to offer candy bars and bags of chips. Now, people are more concerned about caloric intake and obesity. That challenges vending suppliers to make changes and offer healthier options. It's become common to find vending supplies such as specialty health-food items and vitamin-enriched beverages.

Statistics regarding food and beverage vending supplies show that buyers respond well to machines with drinks that promise to boost energy and stamina during the workday. Hot drink sales increase year to year, so coffee, tea and hot chocolate are essential in the workplace. Frozen food items have increased in popularity, too. When determining how to go about making the most of food and beverage vending supplies:

1. Look for vending supplies that fit in with employees' eating and dieting habits

2. Stock health juices, waters and energy drinks in addition to vending snacks

3. Focus on finding cost-effective ways to offer healthy vending machine supplies

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Offer nutrition-conscious employees healthy vending snacks

There are numerous healthy vending supplies on the market. Most vending companies have representatives who will offer you a certain range of products that offer employees low-carb, low-fat or organic options.

I recommend: American Vending & Coffee Service sells coffee vending supplies along with health foods including light popcorn, baked chips, soup, string cheese and unsalted nuts. YoNaturals offers more than 500 healthy vending snacks. They are all-natural and organic choices for your employees. YoNaturals provides the vending machines, products and service at no cost to the company. Healthy Snack Store sells all natural or organic and preservative-free snack foods for your vending machines.

Boost energy through vitamin-enriched vending machine supplies

Employees are more apt to spend their money in your machines if the beverages give them the afternoon boost they need to get through the workday. Vending suppliers are adding more and more healthy beverages to their lists of available products. This includes cold drinks and coffee vending supplies.

I recommend: Action Vending and Your Choice Refreshment Services sell wholesale vending machine food and beverages. There's an assortment of iced tea, sparkling water, juices and energy drinks to choos

Examine vending suppliers' policies to find a cost-effective contract

Healthy foods notoriously cost more than junk food, whether in the grocery store or vending machine. Put your business in the hands of vending companies that offer low-cost or even no-cost deals. This will allow you to make the most of the vending machines without spending more than you have to.

I recommend: VendingHealth.com Inc. is a full service vending company offering healthy alternatives to junk food. Even better, the service is free to any company with more than 100 employees. Buy healthy snacks and make money by choosing Friendly Vending. The company pays you $50 per square foot of space their vending machine occupies. You don't have to deal with commissions or meter readings.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Remember that most vending machine companies work directly with you to formulate a so-called menu for your vending machines, depending on what type of products your employees want.

Vending machines can be a real benefit to both employees and business owners. Companies can earn extra revenue by setting up contracts with vending machine companies for a portion of the profits generated from the machines, and employees can partake in delicious food and drink without having to leave the premises. The key here, however, is stocking machines with the right vending supplies–ones that employees actually want to purchase.

To find the best vending supply company, keep these things in mind:

1. Survey employees to find out what vending snacks and other food and beverage items they would like to see. If most don’t foresee ever purchasing a lunch item, for example, focus only on snacks, soda and coffee vending supplies. “If you supply it, they will come,” so to speak.

2. Explore your vending machine options. For example, do you want to contract one of the full service vending companies that will provide the machines, the maintenance on the machines, and the vending machine supplies? Or would you prefer to buy a vending machine outright and handle the stocking of vending machine supplies yourself?

3. Consider healthy or specialty items. Gourmet coffee vending supplies and health food alternatives can express to employees that you want to give them the best of the best.

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Explore local vending supplies

Support local office vending supply companies - you may find you receive more hands-on and quicker service plus a good selection of fresh, locally made products.

I recommend: From soda and coffee vending machine supplies to ice cream and candy vending snacks, the right vending supplies company can offer fresh products and 24-hour service. Vending Connection aims to be a complete vending machine and vending services directory.

Get healthy

Give employees a healthy alternative to the high sugar, high trans fat snacks typically found in vending machines.

I recommend: Classic Vending is a Chicago vending supply company that has a “Vending for Vitality Program,” with such products as organic snacks and drinks with no artificial sweeteners.

Warm things up

True 'java lovers' have a hard time drinking anything but their preferred brand of Joe, and even the casual coffee drinker can usually tell the difference between a good roast and a generic out-of-the can brew. Show your employees you care by offering top-of-the-line coffee vending supplies.

I recommend: DiscountCoffee.com offers a wide range of coffee vending supplies, including espresso and cappuccino, creamer, and sugar.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you can't find a local supplier that offers the vending supplies you need, check out national vending companies. Many will have local distributors to service the Chicagoland area.

Vending supplies offer your employees and customers a variety of their favorite cold and hot beverages and snacks. It can be as simple as buying a machine, setting it up and keeping it stocked. However, there are vending companies that specialize in vending supplies. It's often easier to let them do it. They offer machine rentals, set-up, contracts and maintenance.

When looking into the pricing and costs of food and beverage (coffee) vending supplies, take into account the cost to set-up and maintain the equipment. Vending machine companies structure their plans differently, so it's up to you to determine which is a better deal for your company.

1. Consider going through one company for machines and delivery of vending supplies

2. Know that vending suppliers offer deals to sign businesses up

3. Cover the cost of vending machine supplies to reward employees

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Choose between renting machines from vending suppliers and buying your own

Most vending suppliers rent out their equipment as part of the service contract. Companies can split the cost of the food and drinks, which is an employee-friendly model or even make commission off the supplies your employees buy from vending companies.

I recommend: American Vending & Coffee Service offers several types of vending machines, including glass front bottle-drop machines, cold drink machines and hot drink machines. Vending Machines Unlimited sells a huge selection of machines. Glass-front snack machines run about $2,500 and refrigerated bottle machines will cost you $5,000.

Opt for covering the cost of all vending machine supplies

In many instances, employees pay for vending snacks themselves, but the company can get subsidized vending services, in which you cover the cost of the vending snacks, leaving them free to workers. It's an innovative way to offer rewards. Meters track what products employees purchased and the bills the company.

I recommend: Action Vending has numerous vending machine options for your company. The company will work with you to determine whether you want subsidized or free vending services or a vending rental program. Friendly Vending is a full service vending company with machines and supplies. Unlike other companies, Friendly Vending pays $50 per square foot for the space their machines occupy.

Get a deal with an office vending supply company that offers free services

It's not uncommon for a wholesale vending machine food company to offer some sort of free consultation or service to attract your business. It ranges from free set-up to free consultations.

I recommend: When determining if you want coffee vending supplies, know that Your Choice Refreshment Service will come to your office for a free demonstration of their machines and service. Simply fill out the form. Vending Solutions is one of a few vending suppliers that offer free set-up of their machines. It's free for beverage machines if your company has 40 or more employees and free for snack machines for businesses with more than 75 employees.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When looking for companies offering vending snacks and machines, consider those without a vending machine service contract. This will save you money when handling the pricing and costs of food and beverage vending supplies.

Food and beverage vending machines are a large part of our culture. Whether they are located in malls, parking garages, airports or wherever, consumers can't stop helping themselves to a quick snack or refreshing beverage. If you're think of operating a food or beverage vending machine you should become familiar with some of the terms associated with operating and supplying the machine. Following is a quick glance at some key terms.

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Freeze-dried coffee

Freeze-dried coffee is 'instant coffee,' and is prepared by the extraction of all liquid from ground roasted coffee beans. Hot water, a crucial supply to have in the machine, is added and the result is a hot cup of coffee.

I recommend: Visit OnCoffeeMakers, where it says it's possible to get a good cup of coffee from a vending machine.

Generic refill schedule

Many vending machine suppliers use what they term as generic refill schedules. The seasons of the year will affect what food and beverages will be consumed, so this needs to be carefully monitored.

I recommend: See Vending Solutions, a company that caters to each business to schedule the refills.

Office coffee service

Office coffee service, or OCS as it's sometimes called for short, refers to a vending machine and the related supplies for an automatic coffee maker. These machines are usually rented out, and some have pay mechanisms installed while others do not.

I recommend: Visit Coffee Tico Services. There is an explanation of several of the "OCS" machines that are available for lease and the related supplies that go along with them. The Heritage Coffee Company is another great resource with similar information.

Bulk vending

Bulk vending refers to vending machine supplies that are unwrapped and unsorted. Examples would be gum balls, confections or novelty toys.

I recommend: Visit National Bulk Vending Association for a description of bulk vending, as well as industry news, events and the latest technology.

Snack foods for vending

Snack foods in vending machines do not have to be junk food. Everything from energy bars to dried fruit is now available for supply to customers.

I recommend: The Vending Connection has information about the various healthy snacks available for vending machines. Also see healthysnackstore.com for more information.

Plan-o-gram

Plan-o-grams refer to a plan given by the vending company to the business owner who will put the machine in their store or location. The plan-o-gram outlines the best possible places to put each item being sold based on target focused sales date. For instance, gummy worms may be placed lower at a child's eye-line, while a healthier trail mix is in the eye-line of the adult.

I recommend: Visit All Business.com for an in-depth discussion on how plan-o-grams are being used in conjunction with the vending industry.