We get a lot of questions from customers about what types of candy do well in bulk candy machines. The most important advice that I usually give people is to stay away from nuts, especially in the beginning. Why is this? When I was getting started with my first vending route (and I had no clue what I was doing), I had peanuts in almost every machine. They were inexpensive, and I thought they would be a good alternative for people who didn’t like candy. What I found is that the peanuts sold the worst in almost every location, and after a few months they went stale and I had to throw them away.

Many people won’t buy nuts from a vending machine because they seem to assume that they are stale or they have been there for awhile. I tried cashews also, and if you don’t already know this, cashews are expensive and have a very low profit margin. If your cashews end up getting stale and you have to throw them out, you are losing some serious money. I would recommend that you only put nuts in a location if they specifically ask for them, and only if they eat them consistently and regularly. Otherwise you are just throwing money away.

M&Ms are good, but they tend to get cracked if there is too much heat or sun in a location. If you have a location where they keep getting cracked, you may want to consider taking them out and putting something else in, instead.

Mike&Ikes and Peanut M&Ms seem to do the best all around in our experience and from talking to customers. Mike&Ikes are especially good because they last a long time and are relatively heat resistant… just remember to spray them with something like PAM cooking spray so they don’t stick together!