What makes a good vending site

Signal 1 — Headcount on site, not on the payroll

A company with 200 employees and three sites has around 60 people at each. What matters is the number physically present during trading hours, including contractors and drivers who pass through.

As a rule of thumb: under 20 on site needs another advantage (zero competition, long hours, footfall). Twenty to fifty is workable. Fifty-plus with shift work is where combo machines earn.

Signal 2 — Hours and shift patterns

Hours multiply headcount. A warehouse running 5am to 10pm generates three usage peaks: early start, lunch and the shift changeover, and the last two happen when nothing nearby is open.

Seven-day trading, weekend work and night shifts all lift performance, and they are the hours no café or takeaway covers. Always confirm them on the call.

Signal 3 — Distance to the nearest food or coffee

This is the single strongest predictor. Nothing inside 500 m means a captive audience and the cleanest pitch you will ever make. An outlet at 150 m means the machine competes on convenience and after-hours only.

Count the type as well as the number: a café takes the morning coffee spend, a takeaway takes lunch, a convenience store takes the afternoon top-up. Which one is close changes which machine you place.

• • 0 outlets inside 500 m — strongest wage-loss pitch, combo or full bank
• • 1–2 outlets, over 350 m — solid, lead with convenience and shift cover
• • 3+ outlets under 250 m — footfall or after-hours angle, or move on

Signal 4 — Venue type and workforce

Blue-collar sites (factories, warehouses, distribution centres, workshops, depots) consistently outperform equivalent-sized offices: longer hours, fewer nearby options, and breaks taken on site.

Offices, call centres and business parks work when headcount is high and the building is self-contained. Clubs, pubs, cinemas and shopping centres are footfall plays and belong to ATM, cigarette and photo booth briefs rather than staff vending.

Signal 5 — Access, space and power

The best site in the world fails if the machine cannot get in or stay stocked. Confirm a break room or corridor with roughly 80 cm of wall, a standard power point, delivery access, and who holds the keys.

Also confirm who decides. Many sites are owned by head office, and the answer you need on the first call is simply the right contact name.

How SiteFinderAI scores this

SiteFinderAI turns these signals into a 0–100 opportunity score: competitor density inside your chosen radius carries the majority of the weight, venue and category fit carries the rest, and modifiers reward confirmed headcount, long trading hours and a direct phone number.

The result is a call list sorted by the things that actually predict revenue, with the evidence for each score shown so you can argue with it.