Product categories
Buying advice & facts
This guide has been developed to help you when buying vending machines or services.
- Why do we need vending?
- What do we do to improve the quality of our service?
- What is available?
- How do you decide what service you need?
- How Do I Get The Equipment I Need?
- Some point to consider if you plan to lease equipment
- How Does the Back2Business Vending Operating Service Work?
- Help with VAT (Value Added Tax)
1. Why Do We Need Vending?
With different food and beverage services often 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, traditional in-house catering and even contract catering services are costly and often do not fulfil the needs of the employees. Vending machines are a cost effective solution to being able to provide a wide range of hot and cold drinks, hot & cold food and many ancillary items traditionally sold over a counter.
The range of machines and products available to be vended are massive, however choosing a branded offering provides the consumer with the confidence that what they will be purchasing is of a quality standard that will satisfy their needs. Back2Business Vending can provide you with vending machines for all needs, allowing you to get back to your business and not worry that the drinks machine is working or empty.
Our hot drinks machines can provide a range of Branded In-Cup Products including Coffee, Tea, Chocolate and Soups. We also have a range of table top, and Bean 2 Cup machines to satisfy the more sophisticated tastes. Whatever the need or location we can tailor a service to it.
Back2Business can also supply a range of still, sparkling and water machines for your employees as well as some branded snack machines.
2. What do we do to improve the quality of our of Service?
Back2Business works hard to ensure that all employees have been fully trained and have our customer as their primary focus. We believe that without top quality customer service our customers will look elsewhere for their vending and product supplier.
Our procurement of equipment, ingredients is from well established and respected suppliers who also have similar values to customer service. Our sourcing of partners to support in delivery, technical maintenance and other areas of Back2Business Vending have all been working within the industry for many years and understand the necessity to get customer service right.
As a business we also look internally and externally for feedback on how we can improve and do things better and welcome any comments to help us with this objective.
3. What is Available?
Back2Business Vending's primary range is hot beverages, however we can also supply:
- Hot beverages – In-Cup, Singles, Soluble & Roast and Ground and an Ethical Beverage Offer
- Cold still and carbonated drinks packed in bottles, cans or cartons
- Bottle and Point of use water coolers
- Confectionery and savoury snacks.
We are also happy to investigate the supply of other vending equipment which may not be listed on this website. Please call us to request a quotation and to discuss your individual needs.
We offer two distinct services. Operated Service, where we supply a machine, install it, clean and fill it ongoing and remove and bank the cash from the cash box. DIY Supply, where we supply a machine and products for customers to fill and clean themselves. As a business we are very flexible to the customer's needs and can discuss locally the best solution to the customer. Contact us now.
4. How do you decide what service you need?
Our consultancy approach means that we will help you decide which is the best solution for your business. However, to help you start thinking about the best thing for you, we have developed some questions for you to consider:
- Are you providing a service where the consumers have the drinks free?
- Who are the consumers and where are they located?
- How many consumers will be using the machine and during what time of day?
- Do you know what product range you would like to supply and is this what the consumer wants?
- What will the consumer be prepared to pay for a drink or snack item?
- Will there be long periods when the machine is not in use (for example school holidays)?
- What other sources of supply are available locally, what do they charge and what do they offer?
- Where will the machine be located?
- Is it readily accessible to all those who want to use it?
- Will consumers want to pay by cash, token, card or are you providing products free at the point of delivery?
- What is your budget for the machine? Are you looking at purchase or leasing the machine?
- Do you have suitable staff who could clean and fill the machine or would you prefer to leave cleaning and filling to us?
- Do you have the necessary potable water and electrical points near the location of the proposed machine?
- How will the machine be commissioned and are there any health and safety implications when placing the machine?
Contact us for more information.
5. How Do I Get The Equipment I Need?
At Back2Business we are able to offer equipment in a number of flexible ways. With so many different types of vending machine, offering different levels of services, stock holding and with a variety of consumer payment options the costs can be very different by machine.
If you decide that an Operated service is not for you then you can purchase or lease the equipment from us. Taking a lease gives you the ability to reduce the initial capital outlay and use the equipment in exchange for fixed payments to the leasing company spread over the term of the lease. It allows you to use revenue capital collected from the takings in the machine rather than pay a lump sum of working capital up front should purchasing the equipment outright not be a possibility.
As part of our quotation, we will supply if required the costs associated with operated, maintenance and servicing options for the equipment. These are recommended as they protect you and the consumer from reduced down times should the machine breakdown. Our operated contract also gives the re-assurance that the machine will be working properly and what we will do in the event of a breakdown. It will also detail our procedures for cleaning, filling and cashing the machines.
6. Some points to consider if you plan to lease equipment
- Who within your organisation is allowed to sign such a leasing agreement which is a leaglly binding document?
- Ensure that the supplier of any equipment involved is reputable and an accredited supplier of the equipment involved.
- Check the supplying company is ISO9001 registered.
- Check the name of the leasing company, and where relevant its parent company, on the page of the lease agreement which you sign and whether this company is a member of the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA). FLA members are required to ensure that their contracts are clear and unambiguous.
- Always ask if the equipment you are leasing is new or refurbished and that it is suitable for purpose.
- Always ensure that the completed contract corresponds with any verbal or written quotation.
- Always read your contract carefully before signing it and ensure it is correct, especially with regards the lease amount and the length. Never sign an agreement which is not fully completed.
- Make sure you understand and agree with all terms and conditions of the contract and, if you are unsure, seek advice.
- Make sure you understand the costs involved and whether the agreement allows for any automatic increases in charges.
- What is the length of the contract and what notice and termination costs are involved on termination?
- Is the length of the contract not longer than the expected working life of the equipment?
- Make sure that you understand if the contract ties you in to a supplier for the product.
- Does the contract include maintenance and if a separate contact is taken what are the terms?
- Check amendments to a contract have the same terms as the original document and are explained fully before signing.
If you would like Back2Business to supply more information regarding leasing then please visit our Flexible finance page.
7. How Does Back2Business Vending Operating Service Work?
For suitable sites we can supply and install the equipment and then as part of our contract to fill with the necessary ingredients, clean, service and maintain the machines as well as collect and account for the takings from the machine.
As part of the contract we would agree the process for the prices to be charged as well as the service levels you would need. This type of agreement often suits companies who do not want to worry about the vending on the site in terms of making sure it is full and working properly. This contract removes the fuss and hassle associated with running vending machines and enables our customers to focus on their core business.
Back2Business can provide a wide variety of hot beverage systems, cold drinks and water systems as well as snack and confectionery services dependent on your businesses requirements - in fact we tailor our solutions to your business and not try and force fit a solution.
8. Help with VAT
Everything that is sold through a vending machine is subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) at a standard rate. This applies whether or not the product would attract VAT when sold through any other route. Make quite sure when you are discussing pricing and the cost of vended products whether you or the vending operator will be responsible for collecting the VAT and paying it over to the Revenue.