KarmaBox Vending is a boutique vending-machine company focused on healthy snacks, drinks and personal-care products headquartered in San Diego, California. San Diego-based vending-machine entrepreneur A.J. MacQuarrie is the founder and CEO of KarmaBox. At the start of 2017, KarmaBox was a multi-million-dollar business.
Video KarmaBox Vending
Features
KarmaBox relies on the "business opportunity" model, a variant of the franchise approach that does not meet some specific legal requirements to be a franchise. KarmaBox operators can be found in more than 50 cities across the United States. In 2017, it began expanding into the greater Vancouver area of Canada.
KarmaBox vending machines differentiate themselves from typical competitors by offering nutritious snacks such as sports bars and turkey jerky, health beverages such as coconut water and tea, and personal-care products such as sunscreen and beeswax lip balm.
The products follow local guidelines for appropriate school nutrition. KarmaBox machines also provide "ZenCards" that detail nutritional information for each product being sold. Each machine also comes with optional Wifi and an interactive screen.
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History
MacQuarrie is originally from Stoughton, Massachusetts and attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia where he studied Political Science. He first developed the idea of a healthy vending machine while at St. Francis Xavier University when he wanted snacks after working out and couldn't find healthy options.
Along with fellow student Christina Wilson, he pitched his company, then called Urban Vendor, for the sixth season of Canadian Broadcasting Company business-oriented reality show "Dragons' Den." At the time, his machines were found in a national hotel chain, design school and the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. He asked the Dragons - the group of entrepreneur investors who were the show's stars - for $120,000 for 15 percent of Urban Vendor, but all the Dragons declined to invest.
After being turned down on "Dragons' Den," MacQuarrie moved back to Boston and began working at a Starbucks outlet there. One of his regular customers had seen MacQuarrie's "Dragons' Den" episode on Youtube and the two discussed turning the healthy vending company, now KarmaBox Vending, into a company based on the business-opportunity model. The one-time customer became an investor, putting $20,000 into KarmaBox. Within a year, the company had booked more than $1 million in sales.
In May 2015, MacQuarrie returned to "Dragons' Den" with his renamed KarmaBox. company. At the time, KarmaBox had booked $250,000 in revenue and begun its business-opportunity model. MacQuarrie asked the Dragons for $100,000 for 10 percent of the company, but ultimately decided not to take their counteroffers. While MacQuarrie's appearance ultimately didn't air on the show, he said the experience of returning to the show and defending his approach helped him in later attracting competitors' employees and growing the business.
In 2017, MacQuarrie said he would introduce LaunchPad Nation to give aspiring entrepreneurs tools, resources, and coaching. MacQuarrie is also a board member of the Greater San Diego Business Association. He plans to publish his first book, tentatively titled "Pivot To Your First Million: How To Launch A Business From Scratch," in 2017.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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