When it comes to how to start a vending business the first thing you should ask yourself is "Why"
. The reason you need to ask yourself "Why" is because a vending business can be very tough if you aren't fully committed to it and the reason for that is because vending businesses are small residual income. I don't want to seem like I am talking down on vending businesses because I am not, I have one of my own and I love it, but the reason I love it is because I have built my vending business from 5 stands to over 50 stands all which bring in around $8 per week. So if you do the math, it is great.
The first thing you do once you know why you are starting the business is find the vending machines. The hard part about finding vending machines is you need to buy what you can afford while still getting something that looks decent enough to place in a store. I would highly recommend searching on Ebay for vending machines and my suggestion would be to start with the Vendstar 3000 because that is a very simple yet elegant looking machine, and it cost around $50 per machine.
The next thing you need to do is find some locations to place your machines at, this is what everybody hates to do because they know most people will say "No", and they are right. Most businesses will say no because they don't get anything out of it, but why not make a deal where they get a certain percentage of the profits just for allowing you to have your machine there. It is a win win for both of you and this is normally what has to happen just so you can get your stands placed. And finally once you have your stands placed it is all up to you to come back every so many days and refill the candy because there is nothing worse than a vending machine with nothing in it.