Background

Sean joined Snack in the Box in July 2016 and now services the East Anglia area. He has a large customer base of Vending Boxes and a few Vending Machines.

Snack in the Box asked him why he looked at us in the first place, what was his personal objectives, what it was like running the business in the ‘early days’, what are his future plans and most importantly – is he hitting the Sales Targets provided by Snack in the Box…….

SITB – “What made you first look at SITB and choose their Franchise?”

I Had gone as far as I could in previous employment and was comfortable but effectively in a 'dead mans shoes' position. In addition, the Head Office team had changed and I was uneasy at their strategy, so I started casually looking for self-employment opportunities.

I came across SITB and agreed to meet with them. I loved the simplicity of the concept, but still had a lot of doubts and questions. SITB Head Office became increasingly involved and I realised I warmed to the idea, due to the honesty of those I spoke to - Straight answers, good and bad.

SITB – “What were your 3 key personal objectives when buying the franchise?”

My 3 incentives were:

·       A steady income stream that would reward me better than previous employment

·       Costs of the business to be paid off within 2 ½ years

·       More control over my own time and future

SITB – “In terms of the Launch Programme, did SITB deliver what was promised?”

The Launch programme was comprehensive. My initial thoughts were ''do I really need that much time and support for such a long period?''.

The answer was that the time flew by, and the advice and support given assisted me to getting to the 'happy place' I am now.

Happy to say that after two months of ''getting to know my round' and having long days (which I had anticipated and had been warned about), I'm now on target to achieve all of my initial goals.

SITB - “What have the support levels for us been like?”

The support teams are excellent, and that 'honest' factor I came across during the initial contact period continues. There is no 'blame culture' like in many businesses…  Just support - Very refreshing.

SITB - “What are the best things about running the business?”

As someone who has a predominantly box orientated round, I see more customers than someone with a majority of machines. This brings two distinct advantages.

Firstly EVERYONE seems delighted to see you. The Red Vending Box makes you an instant ‘knight in shining armour’ in numerous workplaces.

Secondly, I see a huge variation of businesses - anything from telesales offices to car mechanics, miniature golf course designers to power stations, hairdressers to bus companies, bird of prey centres to supercar garages, and many more. The variety of customer is incredible, but then- practically everyone loves chocolate. 

SITB – “Are you hitting your sales targets and what are your plans for the business now?”

My sales targets are being hit, in fact, I budgeted a bit on the pessimistic side

I now plan a 10% growth in customer numbers by Christmas which should help me achieve my business pay off plans 6-12 months earlier than I'd forecast only 3 months ago. In addition I've invested in additional machines for customers I felt would benefit from them, and in addition this will assist me on fuel economies and time.

Despite my plans for growth, I will be earning more this year for doing fewer hours- that is free time I look forward to using.

More longer term, I aim for steady growth in customer numbers- there are so many potential customers out there it's frightening, but in a good way.