16 Easy Steps to Being a Successful Operator

You want to be successful in markets, right out of the gate, at each and every site?  Follow this plan.  It isn’t rocket science but you MUST do each step on each store.  You miss one and it likely leads to breaking down of the others.

1. Have presence during opening days at all breaks/lunches for all shifts.  Also, have give-aways such as 20 oz. sodas for depositing funds, buying an item, etc.  Having presence to ensure people understand how to use the kiosk is critical in the first few days.
2. Blast emails 10 days prior to opening, banners, payroll inserts, etc., to publicize the opening.
3. Have a sample day a few days prior to opening your store and get your clients excited about what is coming.
4. Use signage in the market that looks similar to the Barnes and Noble site that you would find in a retail store.
5. Seek someone at each location who can straighten up the market once daily in exchange for a weekly $10 credit to their account. The $10 weekly is far less than what it would cost in labor time and gas to have someone at the market keep it in order daily.
6. Set initial pars accurately based upon what products are likely to sell and space available/allocated for each product.  Typical best sellers in vending will still be best sellers in a market.  You will have a good improvement in fresh food sales, bigger packages, vegetables, yogurt, etc., but again, items that have shelf life issues should not be overstocked or have inflated pars.
7. Make sure your products in the store as you open it, are what your clients will eat.  If there is a strong segment of employees who have a taste for Mexican, Asian or other types of cuisine, ensure your product list includes this and is on the shelves when you open.
8. Use the system to create your first store order for each site.
9. Take a spot inventory on each delivery of best-selling items.
10. Receive your store order EVERY time it is delivered to the store.
11. Use the Recommend Pars function after about 3 weeks of buying history has been established.  Ensure that the system is accurate as to how frequently you fill the store on a weekly basis.  Our 32M team will work with you on this.  Make sure you have been trained how to do this.  It will take a good 6 weeks to really be accurate but it will be very close for an operator after only about 3 weeks.
12. Use the freshness tracker and make sure you are trained on this; this will also be factored in to your recommended par functionality.
13. Employ the warehouse management functionality if you can separate market inventory from vending inventory.
14. ALWAYS keep your costs accurate.
15. Reconcile your cash box using the system.
16. Use the system when you make inventory adjustments and define why inventory was removed.