I built VendBuddy because finding vending locations was broken — here's what happened

Hey IH — I'm the founder of VendBuddy, and I want to share the honest story of why I built this.

I work in the vending industry every day. And the single biggest thing that kills new operators isn't the machines, the products, or even the capital — it's finding locations.

Here's what the old process looked like:

You'd pay a "location service" $350–$500 upfront. They'd take 2–3 weeks. Then hand you a name and a phone number. No email. No title. No idea if the person actually makes placement decisions. You'd call, get a receptionist, leave a voicemail, and wait.

Rinse and repeat until you run out of money or patience.

I watched this happen to operator after operator. So I built VendBuddy to fix it.

What VendBuddy does:

Search any US ZIP code and get ranked prospects — warehouses, offices, gyms, medical buildings — with vending scores, foot traffic estimates, and the direct contact for the decision-maker (GM, facilities director, owner). Not a front desk number. The actual person who signs contracts.

From there you can run an ROI calc, build a product plan for the location, generate a placement contract, and track the deal in a pipeline — all without leaving the app.

The goal: find, pitch, and close a location in 24 hours.

Where we are:

• 50+ operators across 38 states using it in beta

• - Operators landing $1,400–$4,200/month locations

• - Pricing starts at $79/mo with a 7-day free trial

What I'm trying to figure out:

I'm an industry person who learned to build, not a developer who stumbled into vending. The product works. The challenge now is distribution — reaching the operators who need this before they waste $500 on a lead service that doesn't deliver.

If you're in the vending space, know someone who is, or have thoughts on B2B2C distribution for a niche tool like this, I'd genuinely love to hear from you.

Happy to answer any questions about the build, the niche, or the business.

— Founder, VendBuddy

vendbuddy.io