Mark it's no surprise to see you are the first person defending Hurleys! You make it quite clear in most of your posts your hatred for tubz vending and love romance with Hurleys! Hurleys have clearly shafted a lot of their customers and I wouldn't be surprised to see these customers turn their backs on Hurleys now and order from another supplier. These big companies like funhouse leisure are the cancer to small independent operators as they are just run by a load of suits who only look after the shareholders.
This industry does frustrate me! People just want to get along and run a simple business model which is to operate a small sweet vending machine in their local area providing the best service possible and building a friendly relationship with their sites! Companies like Funhouse just ruin this to the point nobody is really making any money and they ruin the industry.
The deal stinks for the following reasons
1. You have to buy a brand new machine and stand - Hurleys will provide massively here and I bet the price they are charging is full RRP
2. You have to use a new type of Hurleys branded stock! The logistics involved here will be a massive pain in the ar!! You will have to load your vehicle up with another box of each product range and require extra storage
3. 35% commission. I was shocked to see Babrabra defend Hurleys as she ran a very successful business and a contributing factor to this was that her business model was only 5% commission/charity payment so at 35% I'm really surprised to not see her advising operators on here to not take Hurleys up on the offer! I'd bet my house on it she would never take Paul and Rob up on the offer and she knows the industry better than any of us
4. You have to leave all money to the site when you go and service the machine and then invoice funhouse leisure. The extra admin involved will be annoying and I guarantee you will find yourselves on the phone chasing them to pay overdue invoices. Think about it, your machine your stock and you have to send an invoice and wait 30 days for your money????? The CHEEK!!!
Hurleys doing a deal with a company such a funhouse leisure shows a massive conflict of interest and that Paul and Rob have clearly shown there true colours and that the only people they really care about is themselves!
Good luck to anyone taking Hurleys up on this deal but anyone with any business acumen can see this will be a failed venture
hurleys have marstons contract
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Hi above poster, Barbara here. 
Just for the record, I am not sticking up for Hurleys regarding 35% commission. If we were offered these sites or if we were approached as a company by the big chains (which we were approached) we would always decline as the bottom line is too thin - regardless of who is asking. Paying as little commission is key to being successful in this business. My previous posting was to just make sure that people don't post stuff up here which is not based on fact as this in itself creates bad feeling and negativity in our industry.
I'll let you all read here how we were approached in the past by several Big brand/chains. They tell us all about the big deal and that their contract is due to end. Bottom line was, how much commission are you prepared to pay. 5% was laughed at so we said goodbye. We were never interested in these types of deals as the big companies want to maximise their profits and it's the little man who has to caugh up.
There are many out there who will choose to take up the offer, good luck to them. Some won't.
Barbara
Just for the record, I am not sticking up for Hurleys regarding 35% commission. If we were offered these sites or if we were approached as a company by the big chains (which we were approached) we would always decline as the bottom line is too thin - regardless of who is asking. Paying as little commission is key to being successful in this business. My previous posting was to just make sure that people don't post stuff up here which is not based on fact as this in itself creates bad feeling and negativity in our industry.
I'll let you all read here how we were approached in the past by several Big brand/chains. They tell us all about the big deal and that their contract is due to end. Bottom line was, how much commission are you prepared to pay. 5% was laughed at so we said goodbye. We were never interested in these types of deals as the big companies want to maximise their profits and it's the little man who has to caugh up.
There are many out there who will choose to take up the offer, good luck to them. Some won't.
Barbara
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Would this be a way of creating a band of 'Super Operators', that control a large area therefore ensuring [must not name the company] have control of this market on a grand scale?
Is this the demise of the small operator giving way to the super operator of 500+ towers/machines?
[/quote]
Business is all about scale and scope through consolidation, I don't think anyone seriously goes into business to be a 'little fish'. Our suppliers will make more money supplying the massive orders at a discounted rate, than they do on an equivalent amount of orders from individual small operators.
The problem with us is we have become the victim of our own success. We have succeeded in making the towers so mainstream they have become the new 'fruit machine', so now every pub has to have one, and the POC's want a slice of the action!
As anyone than knows about fruit machines will tell you, the big pub chains use the same 3 or 4 massive national operators, who tender every couple of years to be on their supplier list. The takings are split 3 ways between the pub co, the licencee, and the operator. The person making the most money is the pub co, as they do noting for their share, they just lay down the terms for everyone else to agree to and watch the money roll in!
I can see this being the case for all the large pub co's in the future, they will hand a national contract out to tender every 3 years, and take the biggest slice of the action. The only way you can do anything about it is to merge with other operators and bid for national contracts yourself, but there's no guarantee you will get any better terms.
The days of one man band operations getting anything other than small local sites (hairdresser, cafe, chipshop), or the odd few privately owned pubs, is probably going to end soon. So if you still want to do pubs you need to become a subcontractor for one of the national firms, or get yourself into a position where you can bid for large contracts.
As for me having any sort of love affair with Hurley's, that's just childishness!
I will admit that in the vending industry they are the lesser of our two evils, but are at the end of the day a comapny trying to make as much money as they can. Obviously there are people on here who given the same choice, would tell their biggest customer (who is about to get a lot bigger) they are not willing to help them find subcontractors, as it is a c**p deal and unfair to the little guys who are losing sites because of it
These people are idiots, and will never make it in business!!
We can sit here moaning about how unfair it all is, or you can do something about it to make sure your in a position to call the shots next time a big deal is going down. It's how the business is going so deal with it!
I really like the secret forum, but it's just a shame people are so eager to tell me I'm completely wrong without the decency to give their name
Is this the demise of the small operator giving way to the super operator of 500+ towers/machines?
[/quote]
Business is all about scale and scope through consolidation, I don't think anyone seriously goes into business to be a 'little fish'. Our suppliers will make more money supplying the massive orders at a discounted rate, than they do on an equivalent amount of orders from individual small operators.
The problem with us is we have become the victim of our own success. We have succeeded in making the towers so mainstream they have become the new 'fruit machine', so now every pub has to have one, and the POC's want a slice of the action!
As anyone than knows about fruit machines will tell you, the big pub chains use the same 3 or 4 massive national operators, who tender every couple of years to be on their supplier list. The takings are split 3 ways between the pub co, the licencee, and the operator. The person making the most money is the pub co, as they do noting for their share, they just lay down the terms for everyone else to agree to and watch the money roll in!
I can see this being the case for all the large pub co's in the future, they will hand a national contract out to tender every 3 years, and take the biggest slice of the action. The only way you can do anything about it is to merge with other operators and bid for national contracts yourself, but there's no guarantee you will get any better terms.
The days of one man band operations getting anything other than small local sites (hairdresser, cafe, chipshop), or the odd few privately owned pubs, is probably going to end soon. So if you still want to do pubs you need to become a subcontractor for one of the national firms, or get yourself into a position where you can bid for large contracts.
As for me having any sort of love affair with Hurley's, that's just childishness!
I will admit that in the vending industry they are the lesser of our two evils, but are at the end of the day a comapny trying to make as much money as they can. Obviously there are people on here who given the same choice, would tell their biggest customer (who is about to get a lot bigger) they are not willing to help them find subcontractors, as it is a c**p deal and unfair to the little guys who are losing sites because of it
These people are idiots, and will never make it in business!!
We can sit here moaning about how unfair it all is, or you can do something about it to make sure your in a position to call the shots next time a big deal is going down. It's how the business is going so deal with it!
I really like the secret forum, but it's just a shame people are so eager to tell me I'm completely wrong without the decency to give their name
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Mark
A very sensible post, not personal or rude just to the point.
I don't think anyone would choose this route but there are times that you have to speculate.
The amount of times that someone has been n here and said they may have a contact for a national deal and then lots of operators have jumped on board and said (including me) that they would be willing to cover their area! This is no different. Steve
A very sensible post, not personal or rude just to the point.
I don't think anyone would choose this route but there are times that you have to speculate.
The amount of times that someone has been n here and said they may have a contact for a national deal and then lots of operators have jumped on board and said (including me) that they would be willing to cover their area! This is no different. Steve
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Thanks SteveGuest wrote:Mark
A very sensible post, not personal or rude just to the point.
I don't think anyone would choose this route but there are times that you have to speculate.
The amount of times that someone has been n here and said they may have a contact for a national deal and then lots of operators have jumped on board and said (including me) that they would be willing to cover their area! This is no different. Steve
I've just been discussing this with another operator, and I think the general consensus was that getting involved in this deal will certainly not be a licence to print money. It probably won't make any financial sense to most small operators, but for some of the lucky ones that cover very large areas, and have economies of scale with regards to stock purchasing/machine purchasing, it may be worth a punt!
Also people may consider it as a stepping stone to expansion, whereas it wont make money on it's own, it might give you a foothold into a new area. We all want different things from this industry, and only the individual operator will know if this is going to be of any use to them, and will have to weigh up the pro's and con's involved.
It would be great if we hear back from someone in a couple of years that has done very well out of this, and has ended up being a mega operator like Funhouse because of it
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Guest wrote:Thanks SteveGuest wrote:Mark
A very sensible post, not personal or rude just to the point.
I don't think anyone would choose this route but there are times that you have to speculate.
The amount of times that someone has been n here and said they may have a contact for a national deal and then lots of operators have jumped on board and said (including me) that they would be willing to cover their area! This is no different. Steve
I've just been discussing this with another operator, and I think the general consensus was that getting involved in this deal will certainly not be a licence to print money. It probably won't make any financial sense to most small operators, but for some of the lucky ones that cover very large areas, and have economies of scale with regards to stock purchasing/machine purchasing, it may be worth a punt!
Also people may consider it as a stepping stone to expansion, whereas it wont make money on it's own, it might give you a foothold into a new area. We all want different things from this industry, and only the individual operator will know if this is going to be of any use to them, and will have to weigh up the pro's and con's involved.
It would be great if we hear back from someone in a couple of years that has done very well out of this, and has ended up being a mega operator like Funhouse because of it
find it hilarious your an operator and believe anyone taking this offer will still be in buisness in a couple years-
Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Anyone who goes for this seriously needs their head looking at. If you could put your own towers and toy machines or even grabber machines into these sites then that is not to bad but to buy brand new machinery from hurleys and then only earn 17-20% on top of that and not get paid for 30 days!!! must be mad. 
There are big national companies like Snacktime, and Selecta who pay the same commission to self employed operators and you do not have to pay for machines or pay for parts on machinery or even do breakdown calls. Hurleys will get a lot of orders for the marston contract buy boy they are going to lose so many loyal customers. tubz vending are rubbing their hands
There are big national companies like Snacktime, and Selecta who pay the same commission to self employed operators and you do not have to pay for machines or pay for parts on machinery or even do breakdown calls. Hurleys will get a lot of orders for the marston contract buy boy they are going to lose so many loyal customers. tubz vending are rubbing their hands
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Let's see shall we. I agree it would be better to put your own machines in at the normal rates but that's not an option. As I have said you either give it a punt or shut up and get on with your life and running your business your own way.
I do agree it could have been handled better, I don't like the fact that we will all potentially lose sites obtained potentially through Hurleys site finding also the letter and the use of the wording specifically 'rogue' machines.
I do understand that Marstons want to have control of their business and who wouldn't? The full details are Commercially sensitive but are inclusive of vat. Remember the large operators are not paying commission on the whole pound their percentage is worked out without vat so 30% is 25p
I do agree it could have been handled better, I don't like the fact that we will all potentially lose sites obtained potentially through Hurleys site finding also the letter and the use of the wording specifically 'rogue' machines.
I do understand that Marstons want to have control of their business and who wouldn't? The full details are Commercially sensitive but are inclusive of vat. Remember the large operators are not paying commission on the whole pound their percentage is worked out without vat so 30% is 25p
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Does anyone know if this contract is just for sweet towers? Or is it for servicing the site where you can put any machine in there.
Funhouse leisure will just cherry pick the best performing sites and because they need to honour every managed Marston pub in UK as part of the contract then they will just use this process where both Hurleys, Marstons and funhouse will benefit and the poor operator will earn paltry commissions after costs like fuel, VAT etc....not to mention loans against buying brand new machinery (unless your mega loaded) so you would need to think very carefully before committing to this.
I lost many marston sites a few years ago when perform marketing had this contract, there were some brilliant and also some average sites. The average ones use to do around 40-50 quid so realistically these are the sites you will be offered so based on around 20% profit after 35% commissions that is only around 8-10 quid profit. That is equivalent to you doing a normal site of £25 at 40% profit which you would normally earn paying 20% commission. I would rather pay Barbara to re site than get amongst this process where you earning very little.
Funhouse leisure will just cherry pick the best performing sites and because they need to honour every managed Marston pub in UK as part of the contract then they will just use this process where both Hurleys, Marstons and funhouse will benefit and the poor operator will earn paltry commissions after costs like fuel, VAT etc....not to mention loans against buying brand new machinery (unless your mega loaded) so you would need to think very carefully before committing to this.
I lost many marston sites a few years ago when perform marketing had this contract, there were some brilliant and also some average sites. The average ones use to do around 40-50 quid so realistically these are the sites you will be offered so based on around 20% profit after 35% commissions that is only around 8-10 quid profit. That is equivalent to you doing a normal site of £25 at 40% profit which you would normally earn paying 20% commission. I would rather pay Barbara to re site than get amongst this process where you earning very little.
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Guest
Re: hurleys have marstons contract
Does anyone know what's happened to Perform Marketing? if they used to have the contract, did they leave their equipment on site or did the contract just lapse and nothing happened after the agreed term?