You'd never expect to find a more picturesque place for a company to set its roots, yet there it is, nestled into the foothills of the Tennessee Valley, new upstart company, VendPart, looks to take on the challenge of providing parts and technical know-how to vending operators throughout the country. Their company's journey began from a place of necessity and with a heart for serving some of the most incredible people on the planet, business owners.
Vending machines are a great way to earn a living and maintain a healthy lifestyle, but it does come with some headaches. Those headaches are usually centered around machines malfunctioning, technical error, or untrained operators. That's why it's important to provide fast access to vending machine parts and vending machine knowledge.
These systems are a plug-and-play solution for upstart entrepreneurs with a limited budget or an interest in a side-hustle. The marketing behind vending often presents it as a passive source of income. It is not a source of passive income.
Shaun Thomas, founder of VendPart has been a successful vending operator in Chattanooga, Tennessee for half a decade, he's helped dozens of new vending operators with everything from initial setup to changing cooling decks. His advice to anyone wondering how to start a vending machine business is that "Successful vending businesses are successful for the same reason any other business is successful: someone did the work. "
"Successful vending businesses are successful for the same reason any other business is successful: someone did the work. "
Part of the work to be done is preparedness. Shaun suggests checklists, "Be prepared for what might go wrong. That means you'll need the right tools and you'll need to have some parts on hand to easily and quickly fix minor issues."
He says that's why he started VendPart. "Getting replacement parts quickly can mean the difference between an operator being profitable and not being profitable, and that's a big deal when you're in an industry where dollars and cents are the entire premise of the business model."
"Getting replacement parts quickly can mean the difference between an operator being profitable and not being profitable..."
Replacement parts have been historically difficult to come by for reasons like supply chain issues, inadequate manufacturer support, and painstaking warranty processes.
Shaun understood that his vending and logistics expertise could really improve the speed and efficiency that manufacturers weren't providing to their customers. "We'd be giving people access to purchase items instantly through our parts catalog, but we'd also be teaching them how to make money with vending machines."
He says VendPart will also save customers money by reducing machines downtown. " Broken vending machines do not make money. The obvious solution is to have a better supply chain for parts." They also offer 2-day shipping at an added cost. They sell new and used replacement parts for Naturals2Go and Seaga vending machines, payment systems, how-to guides, used vending machines, and a vending machine brokerage services.
VendPart LLC is based in beautiful Soddy Daisy, TN.
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