Could this be the answer to tobacco ?

[Rossi fan]

I agree with Dave, the cost now is a problem. If they eventually get used in redundant cig machines, then the price can go up at both ends.

If you want people to get into these now, then supplying them below .38p to this group on here, could open the door, throughout the UK and Ireland.

Thanks,

Paul

[Happyvending]

i still fail to see how this could be the answer to tobacco.....

firestarter man, do you smoke? i would wager that you do not..

[Happyvending]

thinking about it to even get involved in this, they need to be sold in the shops for around 4 quid so that there is enough in it for everyone.. you are saying that you will sell it to us for 50p and that they sell in the shops for a pound,wheres the profit in this?

[firestarter]

Answering both questions

It's the answer to tobacco in vending - ie tobacco is being banned in October and this could be one of the products to fill empty machines. As it's a vending forum I took it for granted this would be seen and apologise for any confusion, clearly Firestar is not a smoking cessation product.

As for profit, if there is a wholesaler who sells to an operator paying 30%to a landlord it is hard to see how we can make it work for vendors. I'd ask though how do you make red bull work in chilled machines that also eat power. We thought most people here oprate their own machines and we can supply direct to the vendor. If you sell at over £1 it's a 100 % margin versus 40% standard for shop operators in high unit price confectionery ie over 50p per unit. As we've said for larger orders eg a pallet or more 40k achets there is room to move but not much and it may be that unless you can sell at £2 this doesn't work for vending. It's exactly why we wanted to chat to you here. Thank you.

[Happyvending]

not having a go mate just trying to see where it would work, i do think that all the redundant ciggie machines are going to be a white elephant as everyone will still see them as ciggie machines, these machines will ne to be resprayed in a very eye catching colour to make ppl notice that they vend other things imo..

[firestarter]

No offense taken, we are learning as we go. We suffer from being small and produce here so we know we are expensive.

On the flip side we know we have the best quality in the world and because of the tech needed to hide the flavour of the caffeine we know this can't be found cheaper elsewhere .... Yet ;0)

Try thinking about how an espresson would taste if you concentrated it 100 times and how much flavour you'd need to hide the bitterness.

We think all the feedback is great without it we won't know where we need to get to to make this work for the vending industry as a whole - keep it coming

[Happyvending]

maybe , if it is that good then you should double the price,sometimes cheap is no good, just a thought

welcome by the way

dave

[firestarter]

For vending a higher price may work, despite being higher tech than drinks there is resistance to paying a high price for a sachet/sweet which is one mouthful only -- which is the whole point its convenient and can be carried anywhere unlike cans.

Red Bull had exactly the same thing when they started, EVERYBODY said its too expensive, you can't charge that for a drink, that will never last....$6bn a year and a Formula 1 team later.......the result speaks for itself

Back to sachets, in shops we've found that £1 is the "engage brain" price, above this people consider if its worth it. On a sachet there isn't room to explain that its the same as 2 Red Bull shots that costs £4 and tastes crap. On a vending machine there is more room to explain the value difference and therefore the £2 will be more easy to support - plus people generally expect to pay a premium in vending.

If people want to try it send me your address and we'll send you 2 of each, if you like it order some and see how it goes.

[choice vending]

I have an option on 50 ciggy machines will cost me about 2K to buy em all off a mate. So its possible we have 2 products to sell in them so far 1 electronic fags and 2 the enegy product form firestarter.

Cant see them selling very well. Why would i want to buy a enegy product when i can buy a can of red bull? I also think the machines would need some attention to atract folks too them maybe a bright backlight?? Some of the machines look very dull.

In saying that i am still intrerested i just have reservations. I can give my ciggy seling friend an couple of samples if u want me to.

[firestarter]

It depends where the machines are, in a Bar people might prefer the drink, why get a drink AND an energy product when you can get it it one

Fortunately people prefer to drink beer, wine cider and Firestar allows them to get a kick nad enjoy a drink of their preferred beverage rather than 25g of sugar in fizzy water.

We are not suggesting popping candy will replace drinks, but if you have 1 billion cans sold in the UK every year how much of that market needs to be convinced this is better for it to work?

Machines will definitely need advertising. We'll pay for the graphics to be designed to your specs if you have then printed and stick them on. Lights etc is probably a bit much.