Automatic Merchandiser

APR 2014

Automatic Merchandiser serves the business management, marketing, technology and product information needs of its readers including vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors in print.

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for healthier options. He also makes it a common practice to stock more than 30 percent of Food Express's snack machines with healthy selec- tions. "Healthy products do sell," added Whitacre who uses dynamic merchandising software to determine the best mix of healthy items. Technology is paramount All of Food Express' 4,000 vending machines utilize wireless telemetry, prekitting, cashless and loyalty programs. Cashless in particular has been a valuable investment for Whitacre. He reports that more than 20 percent of his vending sales come from cashless payments and more than 70 percent of the foodservice sales. "The cashless percentage of sales increases every month and operators must embrace this to sur- vive," said Whitacre. For Whitacre, technology can be utilized to combat some of the most common vending industry struggles: declining same store sales, govern- mental scrutiny and even consumer irrelevance. "My goal is to trans- form the way we do business, the way our consumer interacts with us and signifcantly improve our indus- try image," explained Whitacre. He strives to become not just a successful vending operator, but instead a food and beverage retailer. Micro markets have a place Another rapidly expanding arena for Food Express is the micro mar- ket segment. Currently, the company operates 40 micro markets. "The consumer loves the concept, but my biggest concern centers around margin predictability," said Whita- cre. Food Express runs monthly, individual micro market proft and loss statements. "There's no doubt in my mind the P&L; is tight and we've got room for improvement," Whitacre said. Whitacre sees operators jumping into micro markets because their competitors are offering them or Food Express owns all of its own assets including drink machines in order to put in the selections that customers want to buy. April 2014 VendingMarketWatch.com Automatic Merchandiser 21 S U C C E S S S T O R Y autm_18-23_0414OpProfile_F.indd 21 3/21/14 12:12 PM

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