I wouldn’t call them a scam… but I haven’t heard of anyone having success with Buzz Byte or energy chew machines.

We can locate and have located Buzz Byte machines. I might be shooting myself in the foot by saying this, but I would really not recommend them to anyone, ESPECIALLY if you are just getting started in the business. From talking to people who have tried them, they are really not that great at all, and I haven’t talked to anyone who hasn’t lost money with them.

I would rather educate our customers tell our customers the truth about what we have learned than try and scam them out of their money. Being honest has always kept customers coming back in anything I have done. The fact is that lately, if you have been looking for information on getting into the vending business, you have probably come across the Buzz Byte opportunity. I agree that it sounds like a great idea for some markets, but in practice, the widespread appeal of them has been quite disappointing.

I can’t even look on craigslist for anything regarding vending without seeing thousands of these “spammers” talking about how great Buzz Byte machines are and how you need to buy them and get in on the “biggest thing in vending”. If you don’t know what I am talking about, the product is a small rectangular shaped “energy chew” which is supposed to give you all this caffeine and energy. Many people I’ve talked to agree that they taste terrible, and they aren’t worth the $.50 that they vend for. Most people look at those machines and don’t even know what the things are. I think it is better to go with bulk candy machines, everyone knows what M&Ms and gumballs are, and there is already a demand for them.

I know of one woman who got conned into buying a whole bunch of these Buzz Byte machines from the manufacturer (the machines cost around $300 by the way…) and within 2 months she had removed almost all of them from the locations. It just wasn’t worth her time, and instead she bought some bulk candy machines and put them in instead of the buzz byte machines… she is doing much better now with those.

The bottom line: Yes, we will locate these machines for you. But I strongly recommend against these machines because I have heard nothing but stories of people losing lots and lots of money with these machines.

Consider this question that a recent customer posed to us:

I am thinking about getting into the bulk candy vending business or I just got started in the business. What’s all of this that I hear about charities? Could you please explain? Should I be working with a charity? What are the positives and negatives to doing this?

One of the largest issues to overcome with bulk candy vending is how you will convince the location owner to place your machine in a particular location. Some vendors pay a commission directly to the location owner, this is usually 10%. Most people don’t realize that bulk candy machines don’t make very much money per month. The national average is about $10-$15 per month. Many other locating companies and people selling machines or routes will grossly overstate this figure, but you will find they have no way of backing it up. If you are paying a location $1 or $1.50 per month to have the machine there, they will often times get very suspicious. They will start to think the machine is making more than you are paying them, and if they get greedy you can easily lose the location.

This is where various charities saw an opportunity for donations and created “Vending Outreach Programs”. You, the vendor, pay a small amount, usually around $1 per machine per month to the charity. In exchange for this donation, the charity gives you stickers to put on your machines letting the location owner and customers know that a portion of the proceeds is donated to the charity. The charities also have marketing material available such as brochures, ID cards identifying you as working with the charity, and they allow you to use their name to help place machines.

This is really a win-win situation for everyone involved. The location owner gets to know they are making a difference by helping out a charity, the vendor now has an easy way to place machines in locations, and the charities themselves raise an enormous amount of money for their various causes. One of the most popular charities, the National Children’s Cancer Society, raises over one million dollars each year with the vending program alone.

Please keep in mind that many charities only work with vendors who are placing bulk candy machines. If you have bulk candy machines, or you are thinking of getting into the bulk candy business, working with a charity is the best way to go!