Del Monte Produce’s the “Fresh Vending Line”

If you have vending machines in school settings – there is a growing trend to limit the amount of “junk” food available to kids.  Del Monte offers vendors a product lined of organically grown, individually packaged foods that fit into vending machines, products include Del Monte® fresh cut fruits and vegetables.

Del Monte Fresh Produce Company Vice President Dennis Christou is quoted as stating that the company’s vision is “to meet the demand for better snacking options to address growing health concerns and a desire for healthier living amongst the general public.”

The fresh-cut Del Monte products, portioned between four to six ounces, offer a varied mix of pineapple chunks, grapes, apple slices, baby carrots, celery, and tomato; some paired with healthy dips. Some locations will also feature specially wrapped Del Monte single serve bananas. These ready-to-eat items are all natural and are less than 120 calories per package.  Retail prices for the Del Monte products range from $1.00-$2.25 per item.

Del Monte Fresh Produce Company N.A., Inc. is a subsidiary of Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. is one of the world’s leading vertically integrated producers, marketers and distributors of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, as well as a leading producer and distributor of prepared food in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Fresh Del Monte markets its products worldwide under the Del Monte® brand, a symbol of product innovation, quality, freshness and reliability for more than 100 years. For more information, visit www.freshdelmonte.com or www.fruits.com.

News about the Colorado Sales Tax on Vending

The State of Colorado passed a bill eliminating the sales tax exemption on soft drinks and candy, effective  May 1st , 2010.

Food for home consumption is exempt from state sales tax, but candy and soft drinks will no longer be considered “food” for tax purposes. The definitions of the varous categories in the bill are confusing.   Let me explain:

Items purchased  through a vending machine means the vendor/operator is responsible for remitting taxes to the corresponding state and city tax agencies.  The state sales tax on candy and soft drinks will now cost vending operators almost 3 cents per dollar.  (Or will it!  Keep reading.)   Some operators may decide to raise their prices, while others may choose to absorb the cost rather than risk a decline in sales.

The problem is…not everything offered in a typical vending machine is taxed. 

According to the bill, soft drinks are sweetened non-alcoholic beverages, therefore:  soda pop, iced teas, sports drinks, and energy drinks,  will be taxed – but not juice, nor drinks that contain at least 50% juice, milk, or milk substitutes (like soy), nor unsweetened drinks such as seltzers.

The bill defines Candy as “a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruit, nuts, or other ingredients or flavoring in the form of bars, drops or pieces. Candy does not include any preparation containing flour and shall require no refrigeration.”  (I added the bold format.)
That means it excludes cookies, muffins, or pastries, because they contain flour, and also ice-cream with candy, because it needs to be refrigerated.  Candy Bars such as  Kit Kats or Twix and licorice-type candy like Twizzlers should also be excluded because they also contain  flour…

Needless to say….what has just been described is a business nightmare.  My recommendation is to keep track of your supply  purchases.  Pay tax on your purchases not on your sales to ease the accounting burden.

For additional clarification the information is posted on the Colorado Department of Revenue website.

Some other good vending articles

Beth Adams writes several good articles on her vending experience.  They are Ezine@rticles.  The web address is: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Beth_Adams

More – Vending as a Green Business

Bulk/Mechanical vending is as green as you can get.   You buy and sell merchandise in bulk – the confections go from machine to mouth without a lot of packing involved.  The machines require no electricity and last for years. 

I read an article on another blog this morning that the industry is look ing at ways to make electrical vending machines more energy efficient.  Here’s a quote:  “A VendingMiser is a simple little device that lowers the energy use of a beverage vending machine without affecting its performance,” says Lissa Pawlisch, CERTs Statewide Coordinator. “This is your chance to take action and save big.” 

Here’s the website for this technology:  VendingMiserStore.com  They also sell other electric control devices for electronic candy machines that lower the electrical consumption.

Strange Vending news

This news article is reposted from Yahoo News dated May 13th, 2010.

… Thu May 13, 8:00 am ET
ABU DHABI (AFP) – There’s no mistaking what’s in this vending machine. The well-heeled in the Gulf can now grab “gold to go” from a hotel lobby in the United Arab Emirates, when the need for a quick ingot strikes.

On Thursday, a day after its inauguration, the shiny machine attracted spectators of many different nationalities who gathered to watch whenever an enthusiast was struck with the urge to splurge on a bar of the precious metal.

Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel became the first place outside Germany to install “gold to go, the world’s first gold vending machine,” said a statement from Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the vending machine.

“In addition to one-gram, five-gram and 10-gram bars of gold, the machine also dispenses gold coins,” it added.

Gold rates are constantly updated inside the shiny machine — itself gold-plated — in the hotel’s lobby, courtesy of a built-in computer connected to a dealer which sells gold online.

“This eliminates the risk premiums usually associated with precious metal trading,” the German company said.

Hotel general manager Hans Olbertz said they wanted the hotel to be the first in the world to offer guests what he called “this golden service.”

Variety means more $$

So last week I replaced one of my 2-head Seaga Gumball machines that dispensed (Mike & Ikes, and PN M&Ms) and replaced it with a Four-n-1 Carousel vendor.  I added Reeses Pieces and Hot Tamales to the previous candy selections.  I’ve checked it twice this week – and sales have doubled over the previous weekly average.  I need to do some analysis of the data on this…but obviously there is a correlation that the more selection you have…the more sales you’ll make.

Tip #12

No. 12:  Generally – try not to remove/count the money in front of customers! It’s best to simply remove all of the money in one fell swope into a coin bag that you can get from the bank. Count it out at home to avoid awkward situations at the vend location.

April Status report!

I have been busy for the past 5 weeks – taking some training courses for one of my past times. But…I’ve been servicing the machines and just this morning I prepared my monthly report for April. Sales are still outstanding ~ with a monthly average of 160% compared to last year. My training is tapering off – so I’ll get back to my regular updates online!  Thanks for checking this site out.

Snack machine repaired

Well, took about a week – but the parts came in to fix the selection knob on the snack machine that I wrote about last week. Didn’t cost much (less than $20) and now it’s back to full capacity. It is making me explore the cost of a new machine though. Hhmmmmm?

Vandalism

Got a call from one of my locations today…it seems a customer put his money in one of the slots of my mechanical vendor; and then turned the knob backwards. AND KEPT TURNING! It broke the coin mechanism and 5 Reeses Cups were all smashed up against the glass. No product was dispensed, but now I’ve got to order new parts from Seaga. This has happend twice before – on bulk vending machines. It is an apparent vandalism method that works. It’s nothing to lose sleep over – it’s one of the costs of doing business; but you wish it wouldn’t happen.