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All Star, located in the Twin Cities, Minn., is now home to fve employees: two route drivers, one technician and two offce workers. Liedman's primary goal was to re- create a brand to ft modern times; he wished to make improvements to the already-successful family business while continuing the basic principles on which the company was built. He began by taking an active role in cur- rent consumer trends and popular processes that drive traffc towards the machines. He concerned himself with things like technology, social media and eco-friendly practices in vending in order to appeal to a global- minded audience who constantly use smartphones and he enhanced cus- tomer loyalty through the use of cou- pons and user incentives. Liedman's strategy to reinvent the business into the twenty-frst century has paid off to the tune of a 29.6 per- cent customer base increase between May 2011 and December 2013. Selling the business Ray Visser, Liedman's grandfather, began his vending career in 1964 when he took a job working for NSI/ Griswold in Golden Valley, Minn. "We always had the latest in tech advances in the equipment. We were the frst in the area to computerize in the early 1980s when disk drives were the size of small bicycle wheels," said Visser. In 1987, with the help of a partner, Visser created what is now All Star Vending & Coffee Service. In 2011, after twenty-four years at the company, Visser sold the major- ity of All Star to now-owner, Lied- man. Although Visser had the latest tech innovations at NSI/Griswold in the 1980s, Liedman found All Star's technology outdated in 2011 and so he sought to make a drastic transition. Technology overhaul Liedman's frst order of business was to revamp the technological components of All Star to make the company more marketable, starting with improving customer service at the point-of-sale. "Our frst initiative was to replace the outdated machines and install credit card readers. This set us back a bit fnancially, but we are now seeing a return on these investments," said Liedman. "My grandfather had run this business with great success the frst twenty- four years, but when he turned the company over to me it was in need of some re-invention." '' As a small business our success depends largely on customer loyalty. That loyalty begins with providing quality customer service. '' had Liedman wants his company to grow and be competitive with the big guys. That's what he decided when he bought All Star Vending & Coffee Service from his grandfather in 2011. Liedman updated many things, such as the company's logo, its tagline and its Website, keeping in mind his ambition for growth while maintaining the same level of service his grandfather's customers came to expect. C All Star's Website was redesigned to attract and engage customers. Route driver Dusty Lindom, front left; Travis Henderson, technician, front right; Gail Reini, office manager, back left; and Rachel Danielson bookkeeper, all help owner and route driver Chad Liedman, center, keep the operation a success. Photos courtesy of Cassie Korin, Making Memories, Elk River, Minn. O P E R A T I O N P R O F I L E February 2014 VendingMarketWatch.com Automatic Merchandiser 21 autm_20-25_0214AllStar.indd 21 2/4/14 11:22 AM