August 2023 - 29

When one of his customers called
about a faulty coin mech, Patrick
stopped running his route and
jumped into action. " I took the coin
mech out, drove two-and-a-half hours
to the repair place in Dallas, and put
it on their desk, " Patrick said. " Once
they fixed it, I drove two-and-a-half
hours back to the location, put it in
the machine, and then went back to
the truck and finished my route. "
After 27 years of being the
primary mechanic for Moran
Refreshments, Patrick is finally able
to step back from repairs, with three
knowledgeable techs taking the reins,
but the vending veteran is also always
available when his employees need to
turn to him for his expertise.
" Just the other day, I was with one
of my techs to advise him on repairing
an old drink machine, " he said. " It
was one that I had worked on years
ago and knew all about, so I met him
down there and showed him the ins
and outs. I'm still the number-one call
for tech advice when they get stuck. "
LOW FUNDS, HIGH SPEED
On a shoestring budget, Moran
Refreshments needed to differentiate
itself. The two-man company
compensated for its lack of resources
with relentlessly fast service. " My
father and I ran the route every day
because we were the only employees of
the company, " Patrick said. " We had a
stipulation between us that we would
respond to a service call within two
hours. When a service call came in, we
stopped whatever we were doing, went
to the service call, and then we came
back and resumed the route. "
Patrick and Dale's uncompromising
work ethic and dedication to their
customers began paying off. The
company began to grow, despite never
hiring a salesperson. " We have never
had somebody on the street selling our
business, " Patrick said. " Our business
has grown organically by word of
mouth. Any time our customers had a
year-old second-generation operator.
" I was more impatient as a young
OPERATION PROFILE
Moran
Refreshments
Website:
moranrefreshments.com
Founded: January 1989
Headquarters: Tyler, Texas
Number of routes: 11
Number of acquisitions: 3
Number of vending machines:
700
Number of micro markets: 37
Tech/equipment providers:
365 Retail Markets, Crane,
Dixie Narco, Royal, Vendo,
Wittern
Distributors: Vistar, Southwest
Coca Cola, Tyler Beverages
(Dr Pepper), Pepsi
need, we met the need. We did all of
our business dealings ethically and
properly. That's how we established
ourselves. "
BIG BREAK
While the growth of Moran
Refreshments was steady, it felt a
bit slow for the then 20-somethingman, "
Patrick laughed. " I wanted to
see bigger and better. My dad would
tell me, 'You need to be grateful for
the little guy. Don't take the small
accounts for granted. Right now, every
little penny matters.' "
The company's big break came
in 1996 when the operators won a
10-year contract with the largest
school district in Tyler. While the
enormous influx of business was
exciting, it also posed a daunting
task for the ultra-lean team. Moran
Refreshments had just hired its third
employee but took on servicing 47
more machines.
" During that period of time, we
worked around the clock, through the
night, " Patrick recalled. " We had to
run the routes and we had to prepare
the machines. We just kept working
until somewhere around two or three
in the morning, went to Ihop, had
breakfast, went home, took a shower,
and worked all day the next day. "
Years of accruing sweat equity
eventually paid off. Today, Moran
Refreshments is housed in a
17,000-square-foot facility with 24
employees. The company operates 11
routes servicing 200 accounts across
10 counties.
The Moran Refreshments markets and vending team.
August 2023 * VendingMarketWatch.com 29
http://www.moranrefreshments.com http://www.VendingMarketWatch.com
August 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2023
