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DIY Self-Fill or Operated?

April 13th, 2010

We at WestWays Vending aim to be flexible to all our lovely customers needs. We offer an operated service and also a self-fill service on our machines.

We have many different machines from you to choose from. We have (deep breath here!) Kenco coffee machines, in-cup vending machines, fresh ingrediant beverage machines, Cadbury snack machines, unbranded snack machines, small snack machines which you can have a coffee machine on top of, Coca Cola cold drink machines, Lucozade drinks machines, unbranded can machines which can vend bottles or cans (or both!) and combination machines (which are half snack and half cold drink) and probably a lot more that I have forgotten!!

Operated Service

With an operated service we take control of everything. One of our lovely operators will visit on a schedule determined on the usage of the machine. The operator will fill the machine, collect money (if it is not a ‘free vend’ machine) and clean the machine.

Mike, our operations manager will keep a close eye on products that are selling on the machine- if there are product lines that aren’t selling then he takes them out and if there are products that are selling out then he puts more in. It’s a very complicated science. But, in essence it means that we take all the stress of worrying about stock, cash handling, cleaning and all those bits and leaves you to concentrate on other parts of your business.

Self Fill

However, if you want to have close control over your vending machines – maybe you have catering staff or you are looking to add revenue to your business by charging your customers. For example, one of our sell fill customers is a children’s soft play centre- we installed a snack machine from them and they order snacks for it every week. The site have a person responsible for the snack machine to ensure that it is cleaned and filled regularly. They are used to handling food items so storing and rotating stock is no problem for them.

Another of our customers who likes to self fill is a plumbers merchant- we installed a Darenth Style 5 for them to enable the customer to give out free drinks to his customer. By using self fill he can keep an eye on how many free drinks he is giving out enabling him to keep his costs low.

Or maybe, you would like both. We have have a few customers which we operate and the customer self-fills other machines on site- for example you may want to offer your staff drinks on an operated service but you may want to have vending machines which you fill for them on an out of hours service?

As you can see, both operated vending and DIY self fill options have their good points- but really it depends on the solution that you want to offer within your business. Our sales team have a lot of experience in problem-solving and their knowledge of vending is next to none. As I said before, we are flexible: whatever your needs are we will find a way to fulfil them!

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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Vehicle Tracking

March 17th, 2010

We have a total of seven vehicles that are out on the road most days (with more looking to be added!). We like to keep an eye on the vehicles and know where they are. Not to check on the drivers or find out where their favourite burger van is but to ensure that all the journeys  that our vehicles do are worthwhile. It is also useful to find out the exact locations of operators and service engineers in case we get an emergency call from one of our customers! We are very aware of all the emissions that are pumped in the air by our vehicles and are constantly looking to reduce the amount.

How do you look to reduce the amount of journeys your vehicles do? – You may ask, well firstly we have vehicle management and tracking system- known as NavMan installed. NavMan is clever- it is a software programme that uses Google Maps to show us where in the world our vehicles are in real time. Sometimes its scary: you can see which parking space a van is in, in a car park. Our operations manager, Mike, who plans the routes for the operators is constantly looking to see if there are different journeys that they could be doing  or if there are shorter routes. Not surprisingly, he has now got a really in-depth knowledge to all the road networks in Sussex, Kent and Surrey. As I am the Service Administrator I am always looking to see where the engineers are when fault calls come in, to see if they can complete the job same day or have to plan it into the next. For jobs that are too far out to complete and would lead to a wasteful journey we have some secret weapons: some Kenco trained service engineers that we sub-contract out to.

The second way that we reduce the amount of journeys that we complete is by using VendMan. As per my previous blog, VendMan contains all the  knowledge and information of WestWays. It shows all the information that the operators collect on their travels visiting our operated machines. Mike uses this information to determine how many times we should visit machines and by finding out which products are being used. He is able to maximise the popular products in the vending machines and to ensure that all routes are worthwhile.

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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Tassimo Professional

March 16th, 2010

All of us at WestWay Towers are rather excited about the new Tassimo Professional - it has been long talked about and is an innovation in itself.

We had our Kenco account manager, Adrian, down last week to show us all about the machine, what it does and generally why its so great. These are some of the facts that I gleamed from him:

  • The machine is energy conscience- it has an inbuilt energy saving mode, called ECO MODE. You can programme the machine to go into ECO MODE at times to suit you and can wake it up by touching the main button.
  • The machine is small. Smaller than you would think. If you were to have the machine on its own and either hide the T-DISC dispenser unit or not have it, the machine could fit even into the smallest office or cafe kitchen. The size of the Tassimo Professional is: height 410mm, width 230mm and depth 535mm.
  • The Tassimo Professional is simple to use. I know that its easy for us to say that as we are around vending machines all day. But this one is really simple. There is an ‘intelligent display’ (or a display which tells you what you need to do!) and you pretty much do everything by the touch a button.
  • The drinks that the Tassimo makes are good, really good. Well, what do you expect when the T-DISCs are branded drinks such as PG Tips tea, Suchard hot chocolate and Kenco coffees- Espresso, Medium Roast, Colombian… the list goes on! 

Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending

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Posted by linda

 

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A group of us enjoyed a fantastic day at the Kenco Coffee Company yesterday to experience the new Tassimo Professional. As part of Kenco Local Business Service, WestWays is one of the first distributors to offer this exciting new concept. In Kenco’s  Centre of Excellence, we had the opportunity to make, taste and experiment with the Tassimo Brewer and the delicious range of T discs, to make consistently great cappuccinos; lattes; hot chocolate (to die for!)- and a good old cup of tea (with Earl Grey being my favourite!) All this at the touch of a button! So simple, even I can do it. It’s like having your own barista!! 

At the end of the day, we all agreed that there will be a high level of interest in the Tassimo Professional and its delicious range of well known branded drinks, including Kenco, Suchard, PG and Twinings. Tassimo Professional is stylish, compact and would look great in any situation. If you like coffee shop quality drinks, but don’t have the facility to make them, then this is the machine for you.

 We can provide demonstrations and taste trials on request. In addition, the remainder of our team has now been fully trained by the Kenco Coffee Company to provide maintenance, training and support to purchasers of the Tassimo Professional, ensuring that we continue to deliver the highest quality service to our customers.  

 To see this exciting innovation at the earliest opportunity, give us a call. We look forward to adding Tassimo Professional to our range of coffee vending machines.

See Tassimo Professional- Works for you!

 

 

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Posted by linda

 

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It’s funny how when you think of a different subject ideas come flowing into your head.

After my last blog on why we don’t send out vending machine brochures I kept coming up with more reasons that I wanted to share with you:

  • For some reason buildings have not been built around easy access for vending machines. Sometimes door ways are just not quite wide enough. By having one of our lovely sales consultants visiting you they can see what machines will fit into the space.
  • Our sales consultants know their stuff. They have close relationships with representives from manufactures and find out what is being released ahead of our competition and the vending industry. By speaking to one of and using  their insiders knowledge may mean that you have the latest vending machine before everyone else.
  • As well as supplying new vending equipment, with our team of in-house engineers we also refurbish equipment. We have a lot of machines that come into the workshop and leave quickly, by speaking to our sales team they can secure you one of these machines.
  • We like the environmentquite a lot here at WestWays. We try to do our bit by using Rainforest Alliance certified Kenco products, try to reduce our carbon footprint and recyling everything we can. By our sales consultants qualifying your needs means that you will not recieve any unwanted vending machine brochures. Being environmentally friendly is all about taking small steps.
  • And of course: our sales team are really nice people. And I am not just saying that because I work with them. They will never, ever try and rip you off, never try to over sell products that you do not need and will never perster you.  

All in all, we are a friendly, family owned business. By concentrating on Sussex, Kent and Surrey means that we are always local to our customers.

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Posted by linda

 

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Working within a business we know as much as anyone how annoying sales calls are. We know how pushy sales people can be. It’s not just on the telephone we find pushy sales people, but at our office door. No, we don’t want new mobile phones; great, you can offer cheaper electricty but we are tied into a contract and we already have someone that looks after our marketing-  are phrases that we often hear within the office.

Similary, when potential customers call us and ask for brochures and we ask if we can refer them to a sales consultant many of them think they are in for a hard sell. They ask if they can have something chucked in the post that they can browse. These are the reasons we would like our new customers to speak to our sales team:

  • A vending machine is not just a vending machine . When asking  for details on what sort of machines you are after we get replies such as ‘ a small one’, ’sweet vending machine for the factory’, ‘a drinks vending machine’ and ’an office vending machine’.  
  • Our sales team have heaps of experience. Sometimes it scares us how much they know about vending machines. We like to put their knowledge to good use, not just advising us on what coffee machine was shown in The Bill last night.
  • We supply lots of vending machines all over Kent, Surrey and Sussex. We always try to exceed our lovely customers needs. Over the years we have had lots of requests for things that we may not do at the moment, but we have a Can-Do attitude and we will always try and find a way for you!

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Posted by linda

 

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Kraft win battle for Cadbury

January 19th, 2010

The Kraft battle for Cadbury has been watched with interest here at WestWays Vending. The nation has woken up this morning to find that our very British Cadbury brand will now be part of the American giant Kraft Foods.  As Kenco Local Business Service , we are already purveyors of one of Kraft Foods’ most famous brands, and we await with interest to see how soon the acquisition of Cadbury will filter through to Kenco Local Vending. Our close relatonship with Kraft Europe will ensure that Kenco Local Business Service will be at the forefont of new developments. Watch this space!!

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Posted by linda

 

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January 12th, 2010

In the last week, we have managed to make most of our planned journeys despite the exceptional weather conditions, and we would like to thank our staff and customers for their patience.  Special praise goes to one of our drivers who has made additional journeys to fill the Kenco drinks machines which refresh a much appreciated gritting team. You can imagine how busy they have been recently! The extreme cold has created an increased demand for our range of warming Knorr Soups, and the ever popular Suchard Hot Chocolate continues to offer comfort against the arctic conditions. So keep warm and keep happy!!

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Posted by linda

 

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We are pleased to present our new WestWays Vending website to you. We have included information on the latest range of Kenco coffee, vending machines and details of our service throughout Sussex, Kent and Surrey. The latest range of Kenco Singles and Kenco in cup drinks includes Rainforest Alliance approved coffee, tea and Suchard hot chocolate. Watch our site develop with the latest product information and news of of our Company progress.

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Posted by linda