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reduce costs by cutting down on the number of routes and witness better sales from cashless installation. Jeff Smith, president and owner of All Star Services, and Duncan Smith, vice president of operations, believe that the company's investment in technol- ogy has allowed them to become more effcient and focus on the consumer experience at the point-of-sale. Sales and acquisitions Jeff never dreamed as a kid that he would end up as the president of a vending operation. From 1977 to 1987 he worked for the Coca-Cola Co., hold- ing a variety of positions and relo- cating with his wife, Suzanne, seven times over a ten-year period. During that time, Jeff's father-in-law owned Coca-Cola Bottling which operated a vending division called All Star Vend- ing Services in Port Huron, Mich. In 1985, Suzanne's father sold the Coca-Cola franchise to focus solely on vending. Jeff and Suzanne moved back to the Midwest in 1987 to work at the family vending business. Over time, the Smiths bought out family and gained 100 percent of All Star Services' vending, offce coffee and foodservice business. Over the next 27 years, the com- pany made six acquisitions in order to gain territory and additional busi- ness. Because of the growth in 2001, All Star Services added a third loca- tion in the Metro Detroit market. And later, after several other acquisitions, in 2006 added a fourth location in Saginaw. To date, All Star Services operates throughout Southeast and Mid-Michigan in 23 counties with four service locations. Sales and acquisitions are a large part of the company's business strat- egy, and Jeff noted that if there were to be an opportunity for additional acquisitions, the company would be interested in discussions. However, Jeff's largest concern with acquisi- tions nowadays is the other compa- ny's technology. When considering a sale, Jeff gauges the investment needed to bring the other company's machines onto All Star Services' sys- tem. Although technology is now a large part of what makes All Star Services so successful, that wasn't always the case. From family level to DEX From 1987 to 2006, All Star Services was running on product family level with data entry from route cards. The company knew it was selling a certain amount of chips and candy, but it did not know specifcally how much of each brand it was selling. Route drivers were overstocking machines, each truck was a rolling warehouse and it would take days for inventory information to reach the offce. Business was maintaining, but the company hadn't realized the amount of ineffciencies until 2006, when Jeff's son, Duncan began work- ing for All Star Services. Third generation, new perspective When Duncan, vice president of operations, began offcially working for the company, he recalls little to no technological integration in the offce or on the routes. "We knew what we were buying, but we didn't know where we were selling it," he said. When Duncan — and his other siblings, Devin and Caroline, shortly after — began working for the company, Jeff admits that the addition jumpstarted the business's technology investment. "With my children coming in to the company it was time for us to look towards the future and how we were going to integrate technology," recalled Jeff. "The younger people today bring the energy and technology into the business that was so greatly needed. Before my kids became active in the company, we weren't moving as rap- idly into the technological side. They forced us to look beyond today and towards tomorrow." In 2008, a year and a half after Duncan's arrival, the company invested in its frst vending manage- ment software (VMS) with Crane Streamware. They put the route driv- ers on handhelds with full DEX on machines. The company was now able to track item level sales by machine. Think global, act local Giving back to the commu- nity is an integral part of All Star Services. Over the last several years the company has been involved in making annual contributions and doing fundraising for the Girl Scouts of America, the Boy Scouts of America, the United Way and most recently, the March of Dimes. The company encour- ages employee participation in local and regional commu- nity service. Additionally, the company sponsors local youth hockey teams and contributes food donations to the Mid- City Nutrition Food Bank in Port Huron, Mich. To lead by example, Jeff Smith serves on the City of Port Huron Planning Commission and the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Board where he holds the position of chairman. '' Before my kids became active in the company, we weren't moving as rapidly into the technological side. They forced us to look beyond today and towards tomorrow. '' May 2014 VendingMarketWatch.com Automatic Merchandiser 19 S U C C E S S S T O R Y autm_18-23_0514OpProfile.indd 19 5/5/14 4:36 PM