Hey there, Vendpreneur!
Welcome to Becoming a Vendpreneur—where every week I help you navigate the challenges of running a vending machine business, whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand your operation.
This week's issue is a special one. I'll be bringing you behind the scenes on how I quadrupled my revenue in my Oxford locations.
Here's what's inside:
📊 The hiring decision that changed everything
🧪 Why I started selling what no one else would
🔁 My playbook for replicating Oxford's success
I was going through numbers this week and had to double-check what I was seeing.
Revenue in Oxford this September was 4x higher than the same month last year. Not a typo. Not some one-off spike.
And no, I didn't run some fancy marketing campaign.
The difference was execution.
It started with hiring someone who actually understood the market.
I brought on a local operator—a recent Ole Miss grad who had something I couldn't buy: deep product knowledge and local connections.
He knew which bars stayed packed, which doormen made decisions, and what the late-night crowd actually wanted.
But hiring was just half the equation...
I also got surgical about location selection. The biggest win was landing The Library, the busiest bar in the city.
One operator who knew the market + one A+ location = 4x revenue.
Simple math.
That's when I started testing something most vending operators would never touch.
Oxford was the only market where people kept asking bartenders the same question: "Where can I buy cigarettes?"
So we tested it:
Stocked cigarettes and lighters
Sourced from local suppliers
Dropped prices by $1 (yes, I went cheaper)
The results were almost comical.
Lighters became our #1 seller (yes, beating everything else). Cigarettes took #2.
Sometimes the best opportunities are hiding in plain sight, you just have to listen.
But the real magic happened when we optimized everything else.
I found local suppliers, tweaked our product mix based on actual sales data, and tested pricing strategies.
🔁 Now I'm turning Oxford into a repeatable blueprint.
This wasn't luck. It was four deliberate moves:
Local expertise wins - Hire operators who live the market
Premium placement only - One A+ venue beats ten B- locations
Stock what they're asking for - Not what YOU think they need
Test pricing relentlessly - That $1 drop unlocked everything
This isn't about reinventing vending. It's about listening, testing, and scaling what works.
Everyone wants passive income. Nobody wants to hear that real money comes from:
Hiring people who know more than you
Selling products others are too nervous to touch
Saying no to easy money for the right opportunity
🚀 Ready to build your own vending empire?
I'm looking for serious people who want to replicate this model in their market.
This opportunity is perfect if you have:
💵 $15K in available capital
🔥 Drive to build something real
💪 Commitment to make it work
💼 Sales experience (or willingness to learn)
Sound like you? Let's talk.
And That’s a Wrap!
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter.
Hit reply and let me know what you found most helpful this week—I read every single reply and I’d love to hear from you!
See you next Saturday!
-Ethan
What did you think of this week's issue?
