From Two Refurbished Vending Machines to a 35-Machine Route

Jason started a vending machine route in 2019 with two refurbished machines and a beat-up van, funded from personal savings, and grew it to more than 35 locations.

It took about 18 months to reach $4,000-$6,500 in monthly profit after expenses like gas, restocking, maintenance, and equipment upgrades, with the higher end of that range hitting during the school year and summer. An early mistake was placing machines without enough research into foot traffic and product fit: "I would definitely focus more on location research before placing my first machines," he said, adding, "It's better to have two well-performing machines in great locations than ten machines in places where nobody buys."

He diversified machine types by location -- protein bars for gyms, age-appropriate snacks for schools, and contactless, eco-friendly options for offices and apartments -- and moved to remote monitoring once manually checking every machine became unsustainable: "Having live data helps with route planning, stock ordering, and customer responsiveness." Early profits were reinvested into more inventory and technology before income stabilized around the 18-month mark.