Starting Your Own Vending Business

Jeff Dovedot is leading a workshop on starting your own vending business at the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center on Friday, October 23. It's run by the Center itself, and they've billed it as a practical, no-fluff introduction to the industry, so if you've been curious about how the whole thing actually works, this is a good place to start.

Dovedot is going to walk through the basics of the business from the ground up. He'll cover startup costs, the different types of machines you can choose from, and how to pick the right locations. From there, the session moves into the day-to-day side of things: managing inventory, setting up cashless payments, and keeping track of your reporting. He's also going to talk about the common pitfalls—low sales, machine downtime, and competition—so you know what to watch out for before you put your own money on the line. There's an open Q&A at the end to clear up anything that didn't get covered.

As for who's leading it, Dovedot has a couple of his own ventures in the space. He's a co-founder of VendGogh, a vending management software company, and Tastibot, a healthier vending solution. Between those and more than 20 years of experience across telecommunications and vending, he's spent plenty of time on both the software and the operational sides of the business. He's not just talking about the theory; he's running companies that do this for a living.

The workshop is on Friday, October 23, at the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, 2101 East Palm Avenue, Tampa, FL 33605. You can find tickets at Eventbrite.