May 16, 2012

HUMAN Healthy Vending Asheville NC Operator of the Month

Congratulations, Josh Marr!

HUMAN Healthy Vending Operator of the Month

HUMAN Healthy Vending Asheville NC-based operator, Josh, Marr, was selected as June’s Operator of the Month due to his immediate success at his locations, commitment, and “Crush-It” attitude. Josh was also featured in the local Asheville press, and the whole community is excited about his healthy vending machines.

From all of us here at HUMAN, we say CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU!

We were able to interview Josh about life as a HUMAN Partner Operator. Check it out!

We were also able to ask Josh a little more about his experience:

1. What was the main driving factor and motivation behind your decision to launch your own HUMAN healthy vending machine business?

To be honest, I would say the main driving factor for my entry into the business was the opportunity to create wealth.  I believe in HUMAN’s fight against obesity, but I would be lying if I said that was the main reason I entered the business. I am thrilled to be a part of that fight, but even more thrilled to be making money in the process.

2.What do you like the BEST about being a HUMAN Operator?

Getting the money out of the machines of course!  However, I also enjoy hearing students say things like “I didn’t know healthy food could taste good” and “those machines are so cool!”  In addition, I enjoy doing the route and getting to be alone and unbothered for a bit.  As a school teacher, it is nice to get away sometimes.

3. What is the best piece of advice you could give to our operators, and/or future HUMAN Operators?

HUMAN Operator of the Month, Josh Marr, Stocking His Machines

The business will be whatever you make of it.  If you work hard, build relationships, and provide top-notch service you will be very pleased with your results.  The sky is the limit in this industry, but it won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen without commitment to excellence in all that you do.

The best advice I could give would be to build relationships with your locations and your customers.  If you do this your business will grow and you will be….wait for it…CRUSHING IT!

4. What are the top 3 best-selling healthy snacks & drinks at your machines? What are your personal favorites?

The best selling snacks are Back to Nature Chocolate Chip Cookies, Whole Wheat Goldfish, BBQ Popchips, and fruit snacks.

The best selling drinks are the IZZE Clementine drinks, HONESTea, and G2 Gatorade.

5. What does it mean to you to “Crush It” and how do you exemplify “Crushing It” in your every day life?

Ah, how can one put into words what to “Crush It” means?  I will try.  Crushing it means getting everything one can out of every minute of every day.  Most people take time for granted, but Crushers realize how valuable it is and make the most of it. They take nothing for granted.  A Crusher looks forward to waking up because he or she sees the day that lies ahead as an opportunity or a challenge.  Crushing it is taking advantage of those opportunities and meeting those challenges.

How do I exemplify crushing it? Well, I wake up, hit the treadmill for 20 minutes, eat a healthy breakfast (most of the time), do admin work for my rafting business, teach 7th graders, do my vending route, make calls, do the books, spend time with my wife and dogs, go to sleep and do it all over again.  Per my family, I keep a “ridiculous” schedule. However, they don’t understand that I am a crusher and that is the norm for us.

My Vending Route: HUMAN Employee Runs Profitable Vending Route

My Vending Route

After working with HUMAN for nearly a year and a half I have learned a TON about the vending industry. I have worked within the HUMAN team playing many roles including freight and machine installation logistics, marketing, sales, customer service, and administrative work.  I have also played an integral part in putting together machine instructional manuals and videos for our partner operators.   Flying around the country with the HUMAN CEO conducting location acquisition campaigns.  Running a business takes hard work, persistence, resilience, and most importantly a positive attitude!

What else could I possibly dive into at HUMAN?  Real world, in the field, vending operations!!  Taking my skills from learning about the vending machines at our warehouse in to the field.  After operating a machine at the Shalhevet School in Los Angeles for two weeks, here is what I have learned:

- You won’t know EXACTLY what the customers at your location will like best until you have a week or two under your belt (usually takes 30-90 days for total optimization). I learned quickly that some products did not move as fast as I’d like. What did I do about it? Got those specific products out of there! I then asked the students what THEY wanted to see instead, and Boom, 2 rows of the new product were both sold out the next day!

- Be 100% clear on what you are allowed to offer! At this specific location (a Jewish School), we are offering an all Kosher product mix. We did our due diligence, found some great kosher products, only to find out that some of the drinks and snacks did not meet their standards. Because of this, the administration actually unplugged the machine TWICE on separate days so the kids would not buy anything!  I headed over to the school immediately and sat down with the administration to see how we could get on the same page…sure enough, they printed out all of the acceptable Kosher signs and the product mix is now totally dialed in.  However, I probably missed out on 30-50 vends from this mistake…that’s cash out of my pocket!!

- Give out samples!!! Don’t be cheap here…I probably gave out 50 snacks and drinks and now have a group of kids who support the program and are happy to buy product.  You should see the smile on these kids face when I am filling the machine and they ask “Can I get a bag of chips?” and “I say sure, what free drink do you want with that?” Simple things like this ‘buy 1 get one 1 free’ tactic when you’re there for 30 minutes filling the machine can pay off HUGE.

- Pre-kit your products the night before. I usually spend an hour each night putting the right products into my containers to get ready for the next day. Doing it this way allows me to head over to the school and not have to worry about scrambling to get product together during my busy work days…business hours are for high-value tasks…do this kind of stuff when you’re hanging out, watching football, or in between sets of your at-home workout!

STATS December 6th – December 16th:

InOne Technologies (a HUMAN partner) Sales Report Summary

This is a screen shot of sales from December 6th – December 16th. Keep in mind that the school was not open on the weekend, there was a half day of school on Friday Dec. 10th, and they unplugged the machine twice in the middle of the day (losing at least 4 hours of prime time vending). We are looking at 9 days worth of sales!  These 414 vends equates to and avg. of 46 vends per day!

STACKS:

Yes, I took a picture of my money. I like money!

This is what 10 days of vending looks like at 46 vends per day! This does not include the huge bank bag of change I have.  No, they are not all twenties, but there are a lot plus some ones ; )

Operators

A Day in the Life of a HUMANIST

Operator Testimonials

Joseph C. shows you what an average day is like for a HUMAN operator.  He shows you how he stores his snacks, his route, and the inside of his HUMAN machines AND interviews the Director of Finance at one of his school locations. This is what it is all about.  Thanks Joseph for your great video!

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“Sean and Andy…SSPP had 75 vends at lunch…I’m still spinning! Stayed through lunches to help those little ones figure out new machine…will go back tomorrow as well! SOOOO PSYCHED!!

Great install and fabulous location!

I had the opportunity to spend three days of lunch shifts with these kiddos and learned so much!

1) Kids are not afraid to be healthier!!

2) School size can be very deceiving!

3) There is no problem that can’t be remedied if you think fast!

Overall, not many issues and parents of children are thankful and appreciative thus far. One Mom called in because her son is diabetic and thankful that there are healthier option for her child…

…that’s what it’s all about!

3 day total for vends…293

Thanks guys.” ~ Shelly G.

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HUMAN Operator Vending Profits Case Study

This video details the ACTUAL profits from a vending operator’s route from Dec 6, 2010 to Jan 11th,  2011 for a full 36 day sales period.   It also gives a glimpse of the powerful back-end remote monitoring system.


More testimonials coming soon!

Our Valued Customers

Feedback From Our Customers

Watch this video of some excited future humanists!

Dude, that’s the coolest thing ever! – Michael from the Magellan Charter School

Real Customer Testimonials:

“HUMAN has been a wonderful addition to our school. We were looking for a change from pop machines, which we didn’t feel comfortable promoting.  The healthy vending machine provides for complementary food choices to what we already serve.  For instance, the HUMAN machine offers soy milk, which we do not sell out of our cafeteria.  And as an added benefit, the vending machine sales are higher now that we made the change to HUMAN.   The pricing of the product in the vending machines is also very competitive with the prices you would find anywhere for the same product.” ~ CFIS Director of Business Operations

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Boys and Girls Club “Our mission is helping kids make better choices, but if we allow poor nutrition to be a choice then we decrease our credibility, that’s why we partnered with H.U.M.A.N. We look at promoting health as a leadership issue. If you say you care about your kids, or even employees, but then promote the same old poor choices then you’re killing your own message. If you want healthier kids or employees, then you have to make that message part of your culture. That means not only talking about it, but bringing it in into action.” ~ Jason Sears, Director of the Ada County Boys and Girls Club

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“I wanted to send you some photos of the vending units at Sarasota. They look phenomenal and we have been getting great customer feedback. I have even noticed certain products have become our shopper’s favorites and are the first to run low and require re-stocking. We have had no complaints as to machine glitches or transactional issues, which is very appreciated by our staff. Thanks so much for all of the strong communication and for such a great addition to Sarasota.” ~ Sara Shipherd, Specialty Leasing Manager, Westfield Mall Sarasota Square

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“I have seen a H.U.M.A.N vending machine at Master’s Academy in Calgary and it has many excellent and healthy options for kids, teachers, and parents alike. The program offers state-of-the-art vending machines that don’t “eat” the change and fail to dispense product (as the current ones have a habit of doing), uses far less energy, increases profits and is easy to use.” ~ Halley Prestage, Parent of 2, Calgary, Alberta

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“Hi Sean! Vending machine is BEAUTIFUL!! I actually gave your information to someone today because they liked the machine and maybe they will install one at their gym.” ~ Tricia Pokorney, Membership Director, Sarasota Family YMCA

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Mount Sinai“The Healthy Vending Program has added the perfect solution to our Vending Program. We now can provide healthy alternatives to our customers 24 hours-a-day. The feedback we have received has confirmed the Healthy Vending Program was the right decision improving our customer satisfaction.” ~ Tom Dooley, Director of Food and Nutrition Services at Mt. Sinai Hospital

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“I really like having the HUMAN healthy vending machine in my club. Before I bought it, I had retail on shelves with a sign that said “available for purchase during staffed hours”. I received several comments from members saying, “what if I’m never here during staffed hours?” The challenge of an Anytime Fitness is making sure all members feel tended to – regardless of whether or not we are there when they are. The HUMAN healthy vending machine helps me offer all of my members the same services Because I could only sell products if I was there, I was Anytime Fitnessmissing out on selling lotion to all of my late night tanners, or selling earphones to the members who do their cardio to the big Sunday ball games. Now we even point it out as a 24-hour convenience feature to perspective members. They all love the option to scan their key and charge a product! Nobody wants to (or remembers to) bring money into a gym. And I always felt a little uneasy, even with the cameras, about leaving products out in the open while I was gone. Now my products are safely displayed in the lighted, cool vending machine, and I’m not worried about people “sampling” from my retail shelves.” ~Jenny, Anytime Fitness Gym owner

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“HUMAN is a very professional company with excellent service and everyone I’ve met is personable. The company has good communication with client and the technology is superior. The machine is very easy to use and to figure out how to set up when loading the drinks and bars. It’s all very convenient, the members all love the fact they don’t need to break out their wallet, they just swipe their key fob for payment.” ~ Steve, GM of Anytime Fitness in Beaumont, CA

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“My members love the convenience of the machine and how easy it is to use. Also they think the technology is pretty amazing with the key fob. The key fob is the main selling point for us. It’s a ‘no-brainer’. Most members would not spend the time to get their wallet but with the fob it increases sales because of the simplicity. I imagine credit card technology is equally as helpful.” ~ Ben McCarty, Owner of Anytime Fitness in Riverside, CA