How I started a vending business in high school and sold it in college

When I was class president in high school, I wanted to bring vending machines to my school. While I researched the proposal, I realized something: if I could run a machine for the school, I could run my own vending business.

That idea turned into Vend Orlando. It grew to 7 machines and about $22,000 in annualized revenue at a 67% gross margin, and by January 2026 I had sold it for $24,000. Here's how it went.

A setback that started everything

My first machine was a used combo machine, snacks and drinks in one, for about $1,000. I bought it while my proposal was still under review and kept it in my garage, ready to go. Then the school said no.

That could have been the end of it. Instead, I had a machine, a lot of research and a reason to keep going. That first machine never made a single sale. It sat in my garage until I sold it for $3,000, three times what I paid.

Finding locations without giving up a cut

I placed machines at two scrap metal shops in Lakeland, one with three machines and one with two, and two more at a college in Orlando.

A lot of vending operators pay their locations a commission on sales. I didn't. I pitched each machine as an amenity for the location's employees and customers: snacks and drinks on site, with no cost and no work for the owner. Every location agreed to that, so I kept all of the revenue.

Running it on weekends

I bought inventory at Sam's Club and restocked every machine myself on weekends, first while I was in high school and then while I was at UCF.

To decide what to stock, I looked at what had sold best in earlier periods and added new products based on that, tracking pricing and margins item by item instead of guessing.

The hardest parts were the two things I couldn't automate: winning new locations, and driving out every weekend to fill the machines myself.

Selling the business

By the end of 2025 I wanted to put my time into consulting at Siemens Energy and into new businesses with more upside, so I decided to sell.

I sold Vend Orlando one location at a time, to three buyers. Each scrap metal shop's machines went to a different buyer. One of them was the owner of one of the shops, whose wife wanted to get into the vending business. The two machines at the college sold for $6,000. Altogether the three sales came to $24,000, about 1.1 times annualized revenue.

I never sold the machines as used equipment. Each sale was machines plus their location, a package that was already making money, and that's what buyers paid for. The handoff was simple: I trained each new owner on how to run and restock the machines.

What I'd tell another student

1. A "no" can still be a starting point. My school turned the proposal down, but the research became a business, and the machine I'd bought sold for three times its price without ever leaving my garage.
2. Sell the value to the location, not a commission. Framing the machine as a free amenity for employees and customers meant I never had to share revenue.
3. Let the sales data choose the products. Restocking based on what actually sold beat stocking what I thought would sell.
4. Build something you can sell. Machines with working locations and a sales history are worth more than the machines alone, and selling location by location let me find the right buyer for each one.