A charity worker concerned with the cost-of-living crisis bought a vending machine as a side hustle - and says he is boosting his income by £43,000 a year. Shabaz Khan began looking into ways to boost his income in 2023 after realising everyday prices were going up.
The 31-year-old began researching the costs and planning involved with owning your own vending machine, taking the next eight months to explore the venture. In April last year, Shabaz purchased his first refurbished vending machine for £2,400, forking out a further £400 on stock to launch his very own business, SnackZone Vending.
Within the first month, Shabaz made £854 in sales and used the revenue to purchase five more appliances. In the first year, Shabaz calculated he'd made more than £10,000 in revenue on just one machine - and expects to take around £43,000, resulting in £20,000 profit, across all six machines after a year.
Despite high-profit margins, Shabaz has no plans to leave his full-time job within a charity and plans to reinvest all profits back into his business. Shabaz, who lives in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, said: "It's like most people nowadays - the cost of living and it's quite hard to live off just one salary.
"The price of everything is just going up. I wanted to build something that not only would bring in an additional income but also the challenge of building something different. I absolutely love what I do and wanted to do something on the side, which potentially brought in a bit of additional income.
"I looked at what I could do that was semi-passive like laundry mats and car parks. I had a friend of mine that had a vending machine so asked how that all worked."
Shabaz began researching vending machines for the next eight months, before making his first purchase and securing a location within a care home. Shabaz said: "I thought this doesn't seem like a difficult job to do.
"I started in April last year with one machine then within the first month, I secured a second location and that went to six locations. And a year on we're looking to get another couple of locations in the next couple of months.
"It was a very steep learning curve, I made mistakes - managing stock and understanding what sells best and what doesn't. On average, I probably spend maybe four or five hours a week on this. I fill the machines before work, during lunch and after work. Filling a vending machine takes less than 10 minutes. My full-time job is still my main focus. I love what I do."
After forking out around £3,500 on his first machine, Shabaz claims he managed to make back his investment within 10 months, earning £10,152 in revenue sales within the first year. Now boasting a collection of six machines, Shabaz expects his business to make £43,000 in revenue within a year and around £20,000 in profit.
Shabaz said: "On my first machine, I managed to get my return on my investment within 10 months which for any business is brilliant. I'd expect to make about £20,000 of profit (across all the machines) but that would just be reinvested back into the business.
"I'm yet to take any money out of the business. I just want to grow it as much as I can. I've not necessarily got into business to make a lot of money, I've never been driven by money. We'll wait and see what the future brings."