VENDING TAKEOVER
High School Students Compete for School’s Vending Contracts and Win
From Stock Boy to Business Titan
A Spirit Box Case Study
Meet Tyler Hunter. Tyler is a high school student, but he’s far from typical. In Tyler’s junior year, he was working with his DECA team on their Spirit Box (at the time, they only had one). His job was pretty simple – refill inventory and make sure the school’s Spirit Box had plenty of change. He became an expert at putting pencils, earbuds, and snacks in his school’s machine. But Tyler, having suffered a concussion in basketball that ended his playing days, was interested in learning and doing more.
“After having suffered a concussion in basketball that ended my season, I redirected my attention to learning and doing more with Spirit Box.”
THE MAKING OF AN ENTERPRISE
As a senior, Tyler was able to take on more responsibility and provide leadership within his DECA team. “I spent about an hour a day learning new things and playing around with all of the different features the box had to offer. With a little asking around, I quickly realized snacks were a huge hit for our school. After changing things up a couple times, I found out exactly what worked for us.”
Tyler’s research and ingenuity took their Spirit Box from $40-$50 avg. daily sales, to $250-$300. That’s a better average than hitting all his shots from the three-point line.
Tyler’s success got him thinking – what else could he and his team do to maximize revenue? Soon, Tyler and his classmates saw a huge demand for snacks and beverages. Tyler, with an entrepreneurial spirit, began working with his administration to understand the school’s vending contract (at the time, a third-party vendor). Knowing this helped Tyler understand how to position his team to manage all vending for the school. After roughly a year, and a lot of persistence from Tyler, he and his team pioneered the first Spirit Box school vending takeover.
“By taking over our school’s vending, adding a beverage and snack box, our student-led Spirit Box vending program generated more than $12,000* in high margin sales.”
SNACK BOX
SPIRIT BOX
BEVERAGE BOX
DREAM BIGGER
Tyler’s success got him thinking – what else could he and his team do to maximize revenue? Soon, Tyler and his classmates saw a huge demand for snacks and beverages. Tyler, with an entrepreneurial spirit, began working with his administration to understand the school’s vending contract (at the time, a third-party vendor).
Knowing this helped Tyler understand how to position his team to manage all vending for the school. After roughly a year, and a lot of persistence from Tyler, he and his team pioneered the first Spirit Box school vending takeover.
SALES FOR THE TOP 4 SPIRIT BOX TEAMS IN SEPTEMBER, 2021
| School Name | Students | State | Spirit Box Vending Machines | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camdenton | 1,328 | Missouri | 1 snack box, 1 beverage box, 1 traditional Spirit Box | $12,058 |
| Rio Rancho | 2,597 | New Mexico | 1 snack box, 1 beverage box, 1 traditional Spirit Box | $9,214 |
| Olathe East | 2,103 | Kansas | 1 snack box, 1 beverage box, 1 traditional Spirit Box | $6,631 |
| Pickerington | 1,648 | Ohio | 1 traditional Spirit Box | $2,869 |
THE TAKEOVER ACCOMPLISHED TWO GOALS
SBE Certified
It allowed he and his classmates to achieve Certified School-Based Enterprise (SBE) status through DECA. The process of becoming SBE Certified taught Tyler things he hadn’t considered before. Financial analysis, operations, market planning, pricing, marketing, and promotions were all areas of learning Tyler and his team needed to demonstrate both success and expertise. Through hands-on learning through Spirit Box, and support from his DECA advisor, Tyler was not only able to demonstrate that expertise, he was also able to show his ability to think critically and problem-solve – both essential skills for business success.
Top 3 Spirit Box Sales
Second was he and his team’s ability to grow revenue even more. In piloting the school vending takeover, Tyler and his team went from one Spirit Box to three: one non-consumable Spirit Box (convenience items and branded merch), one snack machine, and one refrigerated drink machine. In doing so, Tyler and his team tripled revenue. Today, Camdenton High School is consistently in in the top three overall revenue earners out of all schools participating in the Spirit Box educational program.
FUELING A PASSION
Today, Tyler could not be more thankful for his Spirit Box experience. “The Spirit Box has allowed me to put a foot in the door for future occupation opportunities. By expanding my knowledge in the field of business, I will be able to stand out in a crowd and thrive at nearly any occupation and accomplish any task I am assigned. I have learned a little bit of everything in the field of business. The Spirit Box program encouraged me to look closely at every single aspect of business and and how they differ between other businesses.”
“By running Spirit Box, I’ve expanded my knowledge in the field of marketing and business. I will stand out in a crowd, thrive at nearly any occupation and accomplish any task I’m assigned.”