Vending Carts

Ranging in price from $1,000 to over $5,000, vending carts can be a decent source of income. The vending business brings in billions of dollars a year, quite a bit of that coming from vending machines. Carts are a good addition to this business, because they give you the ability to offer a wider selection of products, particularly fresh products that don't always do as well in machine vending.

The Vending Cart Business

Having a vending cart is a lot like having your own store, except that you don't pay any rent, and you can take your store to your customers, instead of waiting for your customers to come to you. It can also be a lot easier to get locations for your cart, because even if a company already has vending machines, they may like the idea of fresh food on delivery. In fact, with the proper license, you may simply be able to set up right outside of busy office buildings, ready to take advantage of the lunch time rush.

Vending machines have particular challenges, and this is also true of running a vending cart. First, you now have to make certain you are maintaining the sanitary conditions required by the state for someone serving food. Second, expanding beyond machines means you need an actual person to man the cart; either you or an employee.

Someone buying a snack from a machine pretty much doesn't care who the thing belongs to, they just want a snack. There is a different psychology when you buy from a person, so to build up your business you will need some patience. Your goal will be to build "regulars," and part of that may be designing what you offer based on what they like. It does take time, but the profit potential is pretty good if you can secure the prime lunch crowd.