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Tune in to The Vending & OCS Nation podcast, hosted by Bob Tullio, produced by Endeavor Business Media! On each episode we will dive into the people, trends, issues and products pertaining to vending, coffee service, micro markets, and pantry service – designed to make an operator’s business more profitable.
Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
Fixturelite, based in Phoenix, Arizona, has been the industry’s leading supplier of micro market retail displays, equipment and design tools for ten years. But they didn’t start out that way. Steve Orlando and Troy Geis were successful operators who discovered the micro market business early on and realized that this new solution was going to be big.
Orlando and Geis kept hearing from industry experts and micro market pioneers that micro markets should be considered unattended retail, with an emphasis on retail - not just vending on a shelf. What they did not see were display racks and fixtures reflecting that idea. So – they started building their own. Fixturelite was born.
In this episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation – presented in partnership with Fixturelite - host Bob Tullio sits down with company co-founder Steve Orlando to talk about the Fixturelite journey, their products, some impressive company milestones (most notably, 10,000 markets delivered in 10 years), key strategic partnerships, their explosive growth, and the company’s plans to continue developing innovative solutions for micro market operators.
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
An exclusive, sneak preview of the 2024 NAMA Show in Dallas
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
The 2024 NAMA Show in Dallas is just a few weeks away and from all indications, it will be one of the biggest gatherings the convenience services industry has ever seen.
On this episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation Podcast, in partnership with NAMA, it’s all about the NAMA Show in Dallas – May 7th through May 9th.
Podcast host Bob Tullio talks to Kristen Griffith, Vice President of Programs and Services for NAMA and C.J. Recher from Five Star Breaktime Solutions, co-chair of the Tradeshow Advisory Committee, to give you an exclusive sneak peek at the big event.
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Kim Miros doesn’t think much about being a successful female business owner. What she is truly proud of is where her business is now – capable of providing for herself, her employees and their families. Talking about it brings a tear to her eye.
This new episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation, Bob Tullio focuses on the journey of Ocala, Florida, based Kim Miros – Owner of DAC Total Refreshments. Kim admits that she is totally addicted to the business. She loves closing micro market, coffee service and vending deals.
Kim always wanted to own her own business. She left a successful and rewarding teaching career and bought a vending company. It seemed like a great idea, but Kim quickly realized that she was blindsided by the seller. The performance of the business wasn’t quite what she expected. For Kim – that was the start of a journey that was incredibly stressful, very inspiring, often amusing and certainly entertaining.
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Chasing the American dream – An inside look at the world of small operators
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
A recent Wall Street Journal article points to vending as a strong investment trend of the 2020’s. Reports on social media portraying the vending business as easy money are drawing entrepreneurs toward the vending business. Can they be successful competing against established operators?
This edition of Automatic Merchandiser's Vending & OCS Nation Podcast explores the world of small operators, as host Bob Tullio talks to two small operators who are doing their best to navigate the always changing business landscape, and one supplier who has found a nice niche helping small vendors with installation and service support.
One thing that everyone seems to agree on: While there is money to be made, there is nothing easy about it. Hard work and a keen business sense are required for those who hope to succeed.
Tuesday Mar 26, 2024
Tuesday Mar 26, 2024
For Linda Saldana, the co-founder of Seventh Wave Refreshments in Atlanta, there is plenty of joy to go around. That's why Vending & OCS Nation host Bob Tullio decided to tell her story in two parts.
In our first podcast episode this month, we focused on Linda's journey. That episode was entitled, “To deliver joy, Linda Saldana brings faith, passion and energy to her work.”
Then we talked about the art of business storytelling, well connected to Linda, because she has a great story to tell, and she tells that story with plenty of energy.
If you missed those episodes, be sure to check them out. In this episode – Linda Saldana is back to share her strategies, plans, insights, key partnerships, what keeps her up at night and her recipe for the secret sauce that helped her go from zero to millions in sales, in four years.
Tuesday Mar 19, 2024
Tuesday Mar 19, 2024
Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate with people - personally and in business. Knowing the fundamentals and understanding certain key strategies can make the difference when using storytelling to help clients and prospects make the right choices.
In our last episode, featuring Linda Saldana of Seventh Wave Refreshments, she made reference to storytelling, a sales technique that Vending & OCS Nation host Bob Tullio has written and spoken about on numerous occasions over the years. In fact, he just wrote about business storytelling on March 13, 2024, in the monthly OCS operator newsletter from Vending Market Watch.
It’s not surprising that Linda brought storytelling up in the podcast – since every great salesperson is a storyteller and she has certainly been a standout for quite some time. Tullio has his own theories about business storytelling and shares some of them in this episode. He also interviewed a couple of genuine story telling experts - Todd Dewitt and Erik Eklund – who both speak globally on the subject and offer unique perspectives on storytelling.
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
To deliver “joy,” Linda Saldana brings faith, passion and energy to her work
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Chances are, if you are in the convenience services business, you have heard the name, Linda Saldana. In 2023, Automatic Merchandiser named her as one of the "Most Influential Women in Convenience Services."
In this episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation, host Bob Tullio sat down with Linda Saldana to talk about her professional and her closely connected spiritual journey. Largely because of her visibility on social media and her presence at NAMA events - including the NAMA Show, the Fly-In and the CTW, Linda has in fact become a highly recognized name in the convenience services industry in a relatively short period of time. She joined the industry almost 12 years ago, rising to sales director at Southern Refreshment Service and fell in love with the business.
She co-founded Seventh Wave Refreshments in Atlanta in 2020, with a mission to “Bring Joy to the Workplace” during a most unsettling time – in the middle of a pandemic. Her faith, her passion, her perseverance, and her energy – it all makes for a good story…
Later this month - Part II of the Linda Saldana journey, including business strategies and industry insights.
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
View from the big apple – a conversation with industry veteran Jim Evans
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
A family business can change dramatically from one generation to the next. That’s exactly what happened after Jim Evans joined Evans Quality Coffee. He followed societal shifts to move the company from industrial/mobile catering to vending and coffee.
On this episode of Automatic Merchandiser’s Vending & OCS Nation, host Bob Tullio gives you a view from the big apple – a conversation with industry veteran Jim Evans of Evans Quality Coffee, Vending and Micro Markets.
His company was founded in 1960 – 64 years ago - by Jim’s folks, Ed and Mildred.
Tullio covers plenty of ground with Jim as he reflects on the journey, his strong relationship with operators in his area, all of whom have been through a lot doing business in New York. His love-hate relationship with Keurig, his attraction to online sales (which became a distraction) and some scary memories from 9-11.
Jim also identifies his key suppliers and points to one new product that he is particularly excited about. It’s a candid and inspiring operator story.