Ice vending machines are considered part of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning or HVAC technologies.
Uses & Benefits of ice vending machine businesses
- consistently high sales throughout the year for warmer climates
- generally much less labor intensive and easier to maintain than regular drinks and snack machines because the inventory and manufacture of the product are inbuilt.
- While machines are costly, they usually have a life span of roughly 10 years. Additionally, if you have a profitable location, you can break even quickly as the profit margins can be very high. For instance, the cost of water and electricity to generate a 10-pound bag of ice might be USD 0.25. However, you might charge as much as USD 2.50 for that bag of ice.
Downsides
- fixed rental costs always apply for water and electricity. This is risky if the location can not generate sufficiently high sales volumes.
- You need to stay on top of the routine maintenance and filter changes. Ice making machines are notorious for collecting slime and dirt, even though they continue to produce clean looking ice. If left without maintenance for too long, they could eventually need such costly and time consuming maintenance.
Side Hustle Culture's YouTube video 'Ice Vending Machines'
Options for entering into the business
The options are similar to those available in vending machines.
- Buy existing routes (ie buy machines and the rights to locations where they are operating)
- Start an ATM business from scratch
- Buy ATM franchises
The easiest option is buying existing routes if the contracts have a lot of remaining time. The market usually involves a wide range of circumstances; from hundreds of machines to just one.
Machines
Everest Ice & Water YouTube video 'Don't Make These 10 MISTAKES Before Getting Into the Ice Vending Industry!' Look at this video on YouTube for discussions in the comments section regarding matters like filtration service intervals, hard water, etc.
Filtration service intervals depend on water quality in your area and water usage. As a rule of thumb, the cycle can range from 6 to 12 months.
Everest Ice & Water YouTube video 'How Sustainable is an ice vending machine?!'
Ice machines need to be specially sanitized. Budge for routine cleaning to maintain the machine without any major problems later on.
Locations
Ideal locations should have very high traffic (10,000 to 20,000 cars daily), be visible and easily accessible to the extent that customers can drive very close to the machine to get many pounds of ice. Here are some examples.
- apartment complexes
- beaches
- blue collar work sites. (Blue collar workers are known to consume a lot of ice daily.)
- camping sites. This includes RV sites. (Campers are known to use a lot of ice)
- convenient stores
- fishing piers
- gas stations
- hiking areas like national parks that offer hiking trails
- laundromats
- marinas for boaters. (Boaters are known to use a lot of ice)
- parking lots
- road ways
- sports complexes
- strip malls
- supermarkets
Most landlords expect rent. However, the space required is usually half the size of a parking space at most. Consequently, the fee is usually a small flat amount or profit sharing (ie a percentage of your sales). If you use the latter, the accounting can be handled by sharing the revenue statement that is automatically generated from your computer system. Profit sharing arrangements usually work out to roughly 20% to 25% of NET profits.
Some negotiating points.
- If the landlord already has a business, explain that the presence of your machine is likely to attract many potential customers to your landlord's business, especially if you are willing to do some advertising.
- If your machine is more energy efficient than most, highlight this fact. For instance, Everest boasts that their machines typically require 30 amps monthly, which is roughly half to 1/10th of the average.
CONTENT RELATED TO THE ICE VENDING MACHINE BUSINESS IDEA
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