June-July 2022 - 42

At the helm of the Rock Island,
Illinois-based operation are founder
Jerry Schreiner and his wife, Claudia,
who credit their middle son, Cade, for
his instrumental role in catapulting
Vander Vending beyond its competitors.
" He has allowed us to become
very tech savvy in a world where old
dinosaurs like me would ordinarily get
left in the dust, " Schreiner said. " It's the
As Vander Vending's
general manager, Cade
Ridenour brings a new level
of digital know-how and
builds upon the customerfirst
legacy that Claudia
and Jerry have established
over 13 years.
Don Muse, who came
over from Property
Management, has learned
a lot in his short tenure as
general manager of Fresh
Ideas Foods and has quickly
grown to be a valuable
asset to the business.
epitome of David and Goliath when
taking on national companies. He has
been the edge we needed when figuring
out where we have to be and how to
get there. "
As is the case with most vending
operators, Schreiner stumbled into
the business by happenstance. He
had renovated his basement with all
the bells and whistles for the ultimate
entertainment space, including several
classic arcade games. But upon
completing the project, he found
that two of the games did not fit.
So, Schreiner installed one of the
coin-op machines in his brother's
bar and the other in a local pizzeria
and became a coin-op amusement
operator overnight. His day job was at
Tyson Foods, where he worked as an
electrical mechanic, which gave him
a head start understanding the basic
workings of the equipment.
But as he secured more locations,
it wasn't all he had hoped it would be.
" I learned that with amusements,
we could get six bars all signed on for
us to run dart or pool leagues and tie
them all together, but then one bar
wouldn't be on board for one reason
or another, and we couldn't get that
seventh location, " the operator recalled.
" Equipment can be costly, and all that
time to invest in securing five or six
bars, and then, if the seventh won't
flip, it is a lot of wasted time. "
This frustration and less-thanstellar
collections inspired him to
instead try his hand at vending.
Claudia Ridenour makes sure
everything is in its place in the
warehouse and continually rolls up
her sleeves to lead by example in
upholding the highest standards
across Vander Vending's operations.
42 Automatic Merchandiser * June/July 2022
IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...
Schreiner purchased a fixer-upper
snack machine and got it up and running
at his first location. He purchased $500
worth of snacks at Sam's Club, stocked
it full and stored the extra product in
the bottom of the machine.
And with this first machine,
Vander Vending was born. It is named
after the couple's miniature schnauzer,
which Schreiner picked because the
By growing the
company, we increased
our buying power,
keeping prices low for
our customers while
maintaining the same
personal relationship
with our customers. "
- Jerry Schreiner
dog's mother had bitten off half of
its ear. So, they named the pup after
Evander Holyfield of boxing fame,
who suffered the same fate, and
shortened his name to Vander.
When the fledgling operator
returned to restock the vender and
collect his money a week later, he
found a mouse had snacked on every
single package in the machine, and
the lid on the stored product was not
sealed tight, so the rodent helped itself
to all of those goodies as well.
" Mice don't eat; they snack. It was
like a cartoon skit. And then I opened
the coinbox, and there was only $1,
and right then, a guy came up and told
me he lost a dollar in the machine, so
I gave it to him, " the operator recalled.
" It was a horrible first experience. But
I'd drag my wife, Claudia, kicking and
screaming, with a trailer to buy archaic
equipment. I found machines for $300
to $400 on Craig's List. There's a lot of
that while building a business, and it
never works the way it's supposed to!
But I kept plugging away and putting
them out. In reality, I probably paid
$3,000 to $5,000 to move junk equipment
around and, before long, took it
to the scrapyard. "
Claudia worked part-time in the
new venture while maintaining her
job with former Congressman Bobby
Schilling, until she joined her husband
full-time in 2013.
June-July 2022

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