Seattle Visionary
Ushers In New
Vending Era With
Micro Markets
By Emily Refermat, Editor
❱❱ From one soda machine to a full-service operator
of over 3,000 vending machines and 600 micro markets,
Jim Brinton has seen his operation change more
in the last 5 years than in the previous 35.
hen Jim Brinton, president
of Evergreen Vending, felt
the impact of the 2008-2009
Great Recession, he was con-
cerned. His 34-year-old vend-
ing operation based in Seattle, WA,
was weathering the turbulent eco-
nomic times, but the future didn't
look as bright as the past. His concern
deepened as he visited other vend-
ing operators around the U.S. in the
capacity of NAMA Chairman. "I was
feeling the same pain as the opera-
tors I was seeing across the country,"
he said. With businesses closing or
reducing employees, vending loca-
tions were disappearing. Wage
freezes or reductions were leading
to signifcant decreases in revenue.
With no major changes to the vend-
ing industry since glass front vending
machines and the bill validator, oper-
ators found it hard to highlight their
service versus their competitor and
drive the higher prices they needed
to maintain proftability. Many saw
a bleak future. However, visionaries
see things differently. That is why,
despite this time of uncertainty,
Brinton decided to launch into a new
enterprise that would not only rein-
vigorate his operation, but the entire
industry — micro markets.
Micro markets were a much needed
solution to Brinton's concerns thanks
to their ability to attract customers
willing to pay higher prices for a
greater variety of food as well as meet
demands of an increased number of
larger locations. In addition, the recov-
ering post-recession economy made it
an even more promising time to launch
a new workplace refreshment segment.
"I often say the stars aligned,"
joked Brinton about how he got into
the micro market business. And he
also credits it for keeping him in the
industry. "I might not be here — my
company that is — without micro
markets," Brinton added seriously.
The job he always returned to
Brinton began his vending career in
1976, at age 17. He installed a vending
machine in his father's auto supply
store because employees kept enjoy-
ing his soda without paying him
for it. Once he had one machine,
he started looking for other places
he could install the venders. When
Brinton left for college he turned the
business over to his younger brother
to run for him. "It wasn't his pas-
sion," explained Brinton, who had
to return to run the company. He
grew his business by 250 percent in
the next year, organically and by buy-
ing a few routes from other operators.
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12 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com December 2015
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