June-July 2022 - 44

Schreiner credits his experience
as a mechanic electrician at Tyson
Foods for helping to ease his way into
vending with less of a learning curve
than most.
" It was the best maintenance
program hands-down, " he remarked.
" From preventive maintenance to
troubleshooting, it's been very key to
me being successful in vending. I also
paid my competitor $75 to send his
mechanic to show me how my first
machine worked and was able to hit
the ground running from there; the
best $75 I ever spent! "
It wasn't long before Schreiner was
convinced that the only way to provide
vending service to the highest standard
and compete effectively was with an
investment in the proper equipment.
FROM DAVID TO GOLIATH
Working primarily with Crane
Merchandising Systems to provide
state-of-the-art machines, equipped
with cashless payment, telemetry and
all the latest advances, Vander Vending
was able to win over accounts from
more established competitors.
A great deal of this growth developed
as Vander Vending absorbed other
small vendors that had been servicing
the Quad Cities area for decades.
" It was difficult for the smaller
vendors to operate with good service
and low prices as our economy
changed, " Schreiner recalled. " By
growing the company, we increased
our buying power, keeping prices low
for our customers while maintaining
the same personal relationship with
our customers. Contrasting our
company with corporate vendors
is heavily weighted with pros and
absent of cons. "
The long list of pros, according to
Vander Vending's founder, include
that his customers play an active role
in deciding what products go in their
machines and have a larger variety,
along with lower prices.
44 Automatic Merchandiser * June/July 2022
Cade Ridenour and John Sorensen team
up to assemble a micro market.
" As issues arise, you get a real
person when you call our number
with faster response time to remedy
issues, " he added. " The money earned
stays in the community, and our
charities that we donate to are local,
and in many cases, we have found
that they have directly impacted some
of the very same people who use the
machines on a daily basis. "
A pivotal acquisition for Vander
Vending was its purchase of Fresh Idea
Foods, its biggest competitor, in 2019.
Vander Vending kept the wellestablished,
respected Fresh Idea Foods
name for accounts in the Muscatine
region and surrounding areas served
by its original warehouse and includes
it on all the stickers on its machines.
Fresh Idea Foods started in 1955
as a Pepsi distributor and became a
full-line vending company in 2003.
As micro markets grew in popularity,
the company added the self-checkout
stores to its list of services. Challenged
to find good quality, reasonably priced
market fixtures that suited its needs,
the company decided to design its own
market fixtures and began using them
exclusively. After several requests to
Vander Vending posts a sign - ahead of
micro market and vending installations -
to generate excitement and awareness.
buy its system, Fresh Ideas launched
FrameWorks Displays to offer its
fellow operators a quality, affordable,
space-efficient and easy-to-assemble
all-metal merchandising system.
Sprouse Distribution owned
the Pepsi franchise and Fresh Idea
Foods. It sold the Pepsi franchise
in 2018 and its vending business
to Vander Vending in 2019, but
kept Frameworks, which its owners
continue to operate out of Vander
Vending's warehouse. Vander Vending
uses the fixtures in many of the markets
it operates.
MICRO MARKET GROWTH
Vander Vending opened its first micro
market about five years ago " under
duress, " in Schreiner's words.
June-July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June-July 2022
