Branching Out to Serve People on the Run

Most of your customers need to snatch their refreshment while on the run. Be it snacks or hot drinks or simply water, people depend on the vending machine to service their varied needs. The need to provide hot drink solutions to people at all odd hours too has resulted in the proliferation of coffee vending machines. With the vending business getting increasingly competitive, but lucrative, the time has come to start differentiating.

The most vexing question that most people who run coffee vending machines or any kind of vending machine have to resolve is related to location. Which would be the most lucrative place for the vending machine? Now instead of waiting for the customers to come to you, why don't you go out to your customers? There are many mobile restaurants which operate out of vans and trailers. You can also put your vending machine on a van and chalk out an itinerary for a select area/s where people keep coming and going.

If you want to concentrate on offering only hot drink solutions initially, then you can use a coffee vending machine to dispense coffee, tea, chocolate and maybe some health drinks. What you really need to check out is that the model of coffee vending machine you opt for brews the coffee swiftly, even if it is a beans to cup model. You risk losing customers if they have to wait forever and a day for that caffeine laden cup they have been thirsting for.

The two other things that you need to keep track of when chalking out the itinerary are what is the likely consumption to be in a best case scenario and what is the minimum sale that you need to keep the business viable? The first will dictate your refilling options – where and how much – particularly for the basics like milk (which can spoil) and water (without which you won't be able to brew anything let alone fine tasting coffee.) Remember that your mobile coffee vending machine business will have the added overhead in terms of fuel. Most of the outlay required to make this business viable would remain the same for other things.

Save on Costs with a Self-service Vending Machine

Personnel costs to run a canteen can be pretty steep. Apart from salaries, there are various kinds of benefits and employer's tax etc to add to your costs. And the end result may not quite be what people really want. A self-service vending machine puts an end to many kinds of hassles like ensuring regular milk, sugar, tea, coffee etc supplies; cleaning of utensils like kettles, cups and other dishes; costs of detergent, dishwasher etc; getting hold of crockery that does not need to be replaced every other day…. The list is endless.

Modern day coffee vending machines do more than giving you the kind of coffee you were yearning for. Quite often they are hot drink solutions in themselves. Soups to satisfy hunger pangs, tea and coffee to refresh, hot chocolate or maybe even Bovril or Bournvita to nourish can all be dispensed by coffee vending machines. If you use disposable cups, then time, money and products spent on cleaning crockery are conserved. The spinoff is considerable. A well-fed and watered staff is naturally more productive.

With a self-service vending machine to assuage their hunger pangs and beverage needs people don't have a valid reason to spend time outside the office for extended periods. This time which is saved can ensure that people can complete their work more swiftly and go home or to honor social commitments. Also, if someone does need to stay long periods in office, food and beverages are right there at hand. It all means more satisfied personnel and a more cheerful office.

If the official policy is that the staff pay for products they take from the vending machine or coffee vending machine, still the staff don't usually mind as the products are reasonably priced. Quite often the vending machine will accept coins, notes and cards. It will even tender back the exact change if you don't have it. Best of all it can be used round the clock as it does not have to follow the closing norms of shops.

Factors Contributing to the Popularity of Vending Machines

One thing is certain. Vending machines are here to stay. Just think – what would you do if there were no coffee vending machines? Getting to drink coffee at all odd hours of the day or night would have been a distant dream. In fact, many of the personnel in the offices that run 24x7 would have been leading a zombie existence. One of the leading reasons for the popularity, and even universality, of vending machines has been the growing need for supplying food and drink to people at reasonable rates at all hours of the day.

Lifestyle changes are as responsible as the change in work schedules and patterns. Floor space constraints are among the many reasons why some companies need to work round the clock. Services and utilities which require constant interface with customers and customer support/service are top of the list of companies which need to be functional all hours of the day every day. Therefore catering to the physical comfort of the personnel who work in such work environs is critical. Coffee vending machines usually cater to the hot drink needs of personnel and are required by many offices even if they do not work round the clock.

Apart from servicing the food and drink needs of offices, vending machines are a godsend for people who have to commute far to work or study. A generation which often needs to be on the go has found a solution to answer nutritional needs in the products supplied by vending machines. This is the reason why some vending machines dispense fresh fruit and vegetable based snacks and juices too.

The traditional vending machines dispensed various kinds of fast food and packaged crisps, chocolate bars, cookies and fizzy drinks. Now you can hope to appease your hunger without letting health take a back seat. Even the coffee vending machines dispense more than just coffee and you can get hot chocolate, tea and various kinds of health drinks like Bovril and Bournvita from them.

Ensure Your Coffee from the Industrial Coffee Machine Tastes Right

Someone running a cafeteria or restaurant needs to serve several gallons of coffee over the course of a month. A simple way to make one's life easier would be to install coffee vending machines. If the daily offtake is huge then an industrial coffee machine would be an even better proposition. The issue then arises is that does your coffee always taste great to ensure your customers keep coming back for more?

Stand back and take a look at what your coffee vending machines do for you? Are they one of those models where you simply insert T Discs and the machines do the rest for you? Or is your industrial coffee machine offering you beans to cup options? The latter model means that you need to be very careful about the quality, freshness, degree of roasting of the coffee beans being supplied to you. Check to see how the beans were stored before being supplied to you. Are you certain that you are storing the beans in airtight containers? Coffee beans oxidize quickly when exposed to air and oxidized coffee tastes flat with little aroma and no subtle flavors. In addition, coffee beans also pick up flavors in the air e.g. onions, garlic, fuel oil etc.

An equally important aspect is the regular cleaning of the industrial coffee machine. Remember that coffee beans are filled with oil. When they are ground and brewed the oils adhere to the machine. If the brewer, grinder and coffee equipment are not cleaned regularly the oils will turn rancid and create a sour or fishy taste – the last kind of taste you want in your coffee! And, it is not only the industrial coffee machine or coffee vending machine which requires careful cleaning. If you use disposable cups, check the smell of the material used to make it – whether it masks the fragrance of the fresh coffee. Otherwise, if you use ceramic cups, run them twice in the dishwasher – once with detergent and once with clear water – to ensure that the cups are not smelly.

Proper Maintenance of Vending Machines and Coffee Machines

These days' vending machines and vending coffee machines are to be seen almost everywhere – offices, educational institutions, railway stations, and shopping malls and possibly in some places where you don't expect to see them. While those running the vending machines earn quite a pretty penny, they tend to ignore a critical aspect. Proper maintenance of any and every machine ensures that there are fewer breakdowns and other glitches.

In case of vending coffee machines in particular and other vending machines which dispense frozen/cold items like chocolate bars, sodas and other fizzy drinks, it is advisable to periodically clean refrigeration condensers. Especially full line vending machines require a refrigerator compartment. Vending coffee machines often store milk in a refrigerated bin to dispense those delicious ristrettos, espressos or café crèmes. Remember to lubricate mechanical parts and adjust the machines to avoid any problems.

In case the machine breaks down, vending machine repairers fix the obvious problems, like loose electrical wires, malfunctions of the coin mechanism and leaks. However if it's a major problem, then testing devices such as electrical circuit testers are to be used to find defective parts, and the defective part is either fixed or replaced. While servicing, a circuit board or other component is only replaced. These repairers employed by small companies, fill and fix machines on a regular basis. They collect money; fill coin and currency changers, and repair machines when necessary.

When you buy a vending machine or a vending coffee machine check out whether the manufacturer or dealer is offering any kind of annual maintenance contract (AMC). People are usually savvy enough to look at warranties and guarantees. What they usually overlook is that regular maintenance may not necessarily entail the replacement of worn out or damaged parts. Some vending machines even have a vend detector system to ensure trouble free dispensing. Reliable manufacturers of coffee vending machines will usually provide you with such high quality machines that you will find that all you need to do by way of maintenance is to clean them regularly!

Full Line Vending Machines or Coffee Vending Machines?

Many people who are new to the vending business are unsure what they should start with — full line vending machines or coffee vending machines. The issue that many companies which opted for full line vending machines faced was that their specific choices/preferences were not necessarily fulfilled. This created resistance among the personnel and even managers who could not get what they really wanted but had to take products they did not really want.

Most full line vendors are small, independent operators. Often, they can have the existing vendor's machines removed and get permission to install their own machines by promising to lower prices, stock the machine with the staff's favorite candies, or provide better service (e.g. servicing the machine the same day if a bill validator becomes jammed). So it all depends on what you want to or need to serve your personnel. If all you really need to do is serve hot drinks on a regular measure, then don't waste money on a full line vending machine.

Your best bet in such a scenario is the coffee vending machine. Most coffee vending machines will serve much more than a steaming hot cup of fragrant coffee which seems to have been brewed from fresh roasted coffee beans. Depending on the kind of coffee vending machine which you invest in, it should be able to dispense tea, chocolate and branded health drinks like Bourvita and Bovril too. So these coffee vending machines prove to be the perfect hot drinks solution for commercial environments and busy offices. As for the varieties in coffee – they extend from freshly ground coffee, instant, espresso to cappuccino and decaffeinated.

The full line vending machines are really needed only if you need to service staff 24x7 and offer snacks and mini-meals, not just liquid refreshment. The best thing about such vending machines is that they will also offer a range of cold drinks – oh! so necessary on days when the mercury is shooting upwards.