New £2 Mega Sweet Pots

[Paul@HurleysFoods]

Hi there.
For the last few months one of our larger customers has been trialling a range of sweets in the pringle size pots.

The pots have been vended from pringle towers with an adaptation made for a £2 mechanism to be fitted.
This adaptation can be fitted to all Clenport Pringle machines, new or old.

The pot has the same livery as the small Hurleys pots, please see the attached photo.

The results of the trial have been very good indeed. Yes, the right kind and size of site is required with good footfall and good trade but nevertheless, the sales have been more than encouraging.

Were now happy to recommend the products for sale to all knowing that they will sell well and yield very good margins.
The products were currently packing in this range are as follows

Jelly Mix
Fizzy Cola Bottles
Assorted Pencils
Strawberry Milkshakes
Dolly Mixtures

This was the range settled on by the customer doing the trial based on feedback and margin maximisation.
The pots all look very full and the customer is getting almost 3 times the amount of product for only twice the price of the small pot.

Other products that were trailled and didnt work as well included Bon Bons and Wine Gums.

Other lines we would bring to the range should enough people take them up would be

Fizzy Strawberry Pencils
Fizzy Mix
Tutti Frutti Bottles
Maestros (White or Brown)

The weights of the products are all 150g except for Assorted Pencils (140g) and Strawberry pencils (135g)

The prices are all 60p per pt except Maestros that are 80p per pot.

ChildLine are also supporting the sale of these pots and as such commissions paid can be as low as 10%.
Even with a 20% commission, the cash margin is excellent.

The conversion kit (a mechanism and a plate) is £30.
The mechanism is 2 x £1 coins and the plate needs to be affixed to the front of the barrel after the old one has been removed.
Obviously, we can supply brand new machines ready to go and we will now be ordering these with our usual machine orders from Clenport.
Livery for the machine s also printed which go on the rim of the lid and above the coin mechanism.

Hopefully this is of interest to you and maybe gives a new lease of life to pringle machines that you are otherwise finding it difficult to place or make money from.

Please feel free to get in touch with any questions.

Best regards, Paul and Rob.

[Big Chris]

How much would new machines cost?

[Paul@HurleysFoods]

Same as normal Clenport Pringle machines, single ones are £160 plus VAT (without stand).
Discounts would apply as normal for bulk purchases.

Cheers, Paul.

[Big Chris]

How many pots in a box?

[Paul@HurleysFoods]

At the moment, 140. When we get the £2 pots more widely spread, we will design specific boxes for them and lower the amount per box. Were using an existing box at the moment as we order boxes by the 5000 at a time

[PGBrew]

Paul & Robert,

New mega pots for sweets are a great idea. But in my opinion it is a mistake to fill upto 150gm at 60p. This will make our £1 pots look distinctly poor value for money in comparison and could ruin this market for everybody. Pubs will be asking for the product because they will get more for your money. Margins in tower vending are the lowest in the industry, use this as an opportunity to increase margins a little.

150 @ 60p = 0.4p per gm
0.4 x 125gm = 50p

So using the same maths you could sell 125gm at 50p thus not making the £1 pot uncompetative and the customer is still getting better value for money. When minican vending started the £1 vend was the same, costs were lower (below 25p) sales were higher. Profits were much higher.

Everybody use this as an opportunity to increase sales & margins not just giving the customer better value for money. Don't forget to add the costs of new machines and £2mechs in your business plans. I also need to know more about the mod required to upgrade existing machines for the new mech.

Regards

Pete

[Paul@HurleysFoods]

Hi Pete. The calculation isnt as simple as that. In the cost of the pot you dont just have the product, you have labels, the pot, labour to pack, the box it all goes in.... These items are a constant, no matter the weight of the product, the constants are still there. So, you cant simply divide the full cost of 60p down to a lower weight without adding some more back on for the constants.
The weight of 135- 150g is required so that the pot looks good value for money. The sales wouldnt have to be as high as the cash margins would be so much better.
Also, I wouldnt envisage the £2 machine being in the same site as the £1 ones so there wouldnt be a comparison for the site to make between the 2 sizes and prices.
The upgrade is simply the removal of the metal plate on the front of the barrel, the fixing of a new plate there - thats it!
The 2 coin mech is so much bulkier behind necessitating the alteration
Hope that clears a couple of thing up

[PGBrew]

Paul,

I take your point re the constants but I still think you are giving too much for £2, double the amount for double the cost. put dimples in the pots Pringles only half fill them. you don't have to use the pringles pots.

I have some salysol £2 pots, they have double the contents (no more!). The pots are narrower but full and dispensed through a Clenport Pringles machine. Because the pots are narrower there are sleves that fit into the pringles machines like tubes to steady the product as it vends, Clenport supply them. The product sell out at £2. This method would make more sense. Narrower pot, lower cost? We've been selling the same pots for 5 years now the market is accustomed to the pricing. Compared to other products we should have a price increase. This is going in the wrong direction as for as price is concerned.

The margin is ok but not brilliant. What happens if your costs go up? Will you increase the cost or put less in the tub? Better to give yourself scope for future increases (futureproofing). Also sites get to hear what others are using, so you will still get the comparisons. Other vendors will be putting them into our sites as well.

Have you asked other people what they think?

Pete

[Paul@HurleysFoods]

Hi Pete. We tried the Salysol and the Sleeves and to be frank, they werent worth £2 a pop.
All I can tell you is that weve trialled it, it works, everyones a winner, repeat sales are great.
No one can guarantee what happens in the future, but the prices of the pots have dropped over the last two years not increased.
A new pot would be a new mould and thats £20k plus.
Better to work with what we have especially as we dont know if anyones going to take us up on the pot.
If other sites hear about the big pots then surely theres the chance to then put a big pot machine in and make a better cash margin?
I put this on the forum to get feedback.
Any feedback over the phone has been postive so far, but we will see.
Paul.

[Big Chris]

Just my opinion Paul, i like the idea of £2 sales, but i am worried in my area that it wouldn't catch on, the reasons being that the £1 buy per pot is that its only £1, but people would be far more cautious giving their kids £2 for a pot of sweets. Also most people always have a spare quid to hand, but not all have 2 x £ coin in their pockets.

I think there are also benefits to it, and that i hope that i am proved wrong in my negative thoughts on the matter.