Profile: Bob Miller
Ice cream isn't easy A frozen treat is something everybody enjoys - Lonestar Ice Cream of Texas makes it convenient and accessible to thousands of Texans a day. Most vending operators deal with snacks and drinks, but shy away from ice cream due to its temperature sensitive nature. Bob Miller of Lonestar Ice Cream explains, "the most difficult part is keeping the temperature. You have to have good refrigerated trucks, and quick deliveries - you can't just stand around. It's very temperature sensitive."
Bob transfers an ice cream shipment to the walk-in freezer
Big Bad Bob "My name is Bob MIller, but you can call me Big Bad Bob." He explains how he got the name: "I was with Haagen Daas Ice Cream for many years and, for fun, would answer the phone with different voices. People would call just to hear what my voice mail was. I would change it every three weeks. One week it's John Wayne and the next it would be an Australian guy. I ran distribution for the state of Texas - Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. I ordered all the product, ran maintenance, took care of the warehouse, and trucks. I did this for about 14 years."
Inside the walk in freezer
Under-promise and over-deliver Lonestar is successful because of a simple philosophy, as Bob explains. "Our job is a service business. It's really not that difficult - take care of your customers. My motto is to under-promise and over-deliver - I tell them I'll be there Tuesday and show up Monday with their machine. Right away they're impressed with you."
Lots of responsibilities Bob is the Branch Manager of the San Antonio and Austin branches of Lonestar. Working with a svelte crew of four, he has a wide range of responsibilities. "I have to make sure when we get new accounts, they have to be routed properly. There's always paperwork - I count the money, do maintenance, get machines ready for new accounts, set up planograms, help on delivery, clean the restrooms..." He continues, "It's mail, purchasing, office supplies - It's running day to day business."
Outside of Lonestar's San Antonio branch
Blind without Cantaloupe The rest of the employees have a lot of work to do as well. "Everybody wears multiple hats. Our route salesmen are also technicians. [The location] Round Rock is about 100 miles north of San Antonio. You don't want to send a tech there back and forth because of a coin jam. It'll cost you four hours and $60 in fuel. So, most of our guys (I only run with three guys) wear multiple hats. We cover 300 machines. The good thing about Cantaloupe is we know when they're working and not working, and we know where the money is - so we go to where the money is. We service Austin from here, thanks to Cantaloupe. Otherwise we'd be hitting them blind."
Before Cantaloupe, Bob would services the Austin area based upon previous sales. "Cantaloupe enabled us to make servicing Austin worthwhile. Without it, you look at a previous history and find out what sales are and decide how often you have to be there. There's a lot more to worry about - you have to know your machines, your seasons, and your locations... Spring Break, the Zoo, the Alamo... Cantaloupe has helped in places that take some time to get there. With Austin, it takes an hour to get there. You want to make it profitable for the day, because you're paying for gas, and the route guy. Now I look at seed® and say 'we don't need to be there' or, 'wow, 400 bucks over the weekend, and we need to go there.'"
Keeping a correct temperature is essential in ice cream
Meltdowns are letdowns A major annoyance for anybody who chooses to do ice cream vending are meltdowns. Whether it is a power outage, faulty compressor, or vandalism, meltdowns are a messy and time-consuming affair. "We get meltdowns - people unplug machines, vandalism, people who cut the cords, drill thru locks. That's part of vending. After a meltdown occurs, most is cleaned on site. [The FastCorp 400] is a self-contained freezer. It's a messy deal - all the plastic bins all have to be cleaned, to try to reuse. It could take 45 minutes, so it's a difficult and expensive waste of time. You lose product, then there's the downtime, and then he has to get it cold again, and then refill it. It could be out for a day or two - then you have lost sales."
seed® alerts save the day
Thanks to Cantaloupe Systems seed® alerts, Bob and his technicians are immediately notified when there's a power outage via email or text message. "Cantaloupe has saved us from meltdowns quite a bit - you'll get an email saying it's out of power, or that it hasn't sold something in so many hours. We can call the customer and say 'Hey, what's the deal?' seed® saves us so much time and money - because one meltdown of the machine could cost us a couple hundred dollars. Two meltdowns and the device pays for itself. To anyone who has a sense to run a business - it's a no-brainer. In terms of ROI, I think you're gonna find results right away, within just a couple of months. When it saves you from a meltdown or makes you more money because you're servicing the machines better, it pays for itself very quickly."
