Vending machine manufacturer
Vendors Center manufactures the Core Model 1 (Core-1) — a premium snack vending machine with pre-installed cashless payment, cellular connectivity, per-slot inventory sensing, and plug-and-play setup. You own the hardware outright at $8,200. The dispense path runs locally on the head unit, so the machine keeps vending whether or not it can reach the cloud; when it's online, telemetry uplinks to your dashboard so you can check inventory, sales, and machine health from anywhere. Optional hands-off auto-restock service available if you want it; otherwise the Core-1 is yours to run with no ongoing fees.
The stack
Per-slot VL53L4CX time-of-flight sensors track every column in real time — 8 sensors per shelf, multiplexed via a TCA9548A I²C mux. Combined with per-motor INA180 current sensing on each DRV8871 H-bridge, the shelf controller catches low stock, motor jams, and product misalignment before any of them turns into a service call.
The cloud forecasting service builds sales patterns per location — Friday afternoon at the gym, Monday morning at the office — and surfaces them in your operator dashboard. Restock the machine yourself based on what the data shows, or have us do it for you under one of the optional service tiers (see below).
Temperature, power draw, payment status, inventory — every Core-1 uplinks to the Vendors Center backend over cellular MQTT (SIM7080G modem standard, included SIM). WiFi is supported as an alternative for premise-based deployments. OTA firmware updates run on the operator's schedule, not automatically.
Diagrams over service manuals. Commodity 24VDC coil motors, DRV8871 drivers, and standard MDB payment hardware — no proprietary modules to hold you hostage. Replacement parts ship direct from Vendors Center at modest margin, or source them from any motor / MDB supplier. Designed to keep running over the 10–15 year hardware lifecycle.
The service model
Both tiers require Core-1 hardware — the difference is restock frequency, calibrated to your machine's throughput. Operators typically start on Biweekly and upgrade to Weekly once sales grow enough that a single stockout costs more than the upgrade fee.
We visit every two weeks. Auto-restock predicts what to ship based on real-time telemetry.
Best for lower-throughput locations — smaller offices, quieter break rooms, sites with a more patient consumer base.
We visit every week. Best for high-throughput locations — gyms, busy offices, hospitals, schools, hospitality — where Biweekly cadence would risk stockouts.
Same connected machine, same dashboard, same predictive forecasting; the upgrade buys more visits and less stockout risk.
Operators who opt in typically start on Biweekly and upgrade to Weekly once a single stockout costs more than the upgrade fee. Operators who never opt in keep their Core-1 forever, with no penalty and no missing functionality — every feature on this page works the same whether or not you subscribe.
FAQ
Who's building this
Vendors Center is founder-led and bootstrap-funded through Phase 0. The first Core-1 is being built and deployed at the Chico Fab Lab — real telemetry from a real installed machine before any institutional capital. Phase 1 (Months 9–18) opens to 5–10 machines in Sacramento and Northern California. National expansion follows in Phases 2–5.
Founder: Chris Glenn. Contact: vendcore@polsia.app.
The ownership difference
| Vendors Center Core-1 | Typical vending OEM | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | ✓ Buy outright. You own it. | ✗ Buy outright or lease (varies) |
| Cashless reader | ✓ MDB-compatible, pre-installed, included in $8,200 | ✗ Add-on hardware + ongoing SaaS subscription |
| Connectivity | ✓ Cellular standard (SIM included), WiFi optional | − Wired or vendor-tied IoT, often add-on |
| Setup | ✓ Plug-and-play. Operator sets up from phone. No tools required. | ✗ Field-service install or in-house tech required |
| Auto-restock | ✓ Biweekly ($500/yr) or Weekly ($2,500/yr). Hands-off, predictive, shipped on schedule. | ✗ Not offered. Operator handles their own sourcing/routing. |
| Parts | ✓ Commodity 24VDC motors. Modest margin. Source from us or any motor supplier. | ✗ Vendor-controlled, marked up. |
| Lock-in | ✓ Standard MDB. Open ecosystem. | ✗ Proprietary firmware + connectors. |
| Distribution | ✓ Wholesale snack/drink distribution at near-cost via membership. | ✗ Not offered. |
| Repairability | ✓ Per-shelf controller hot-swappable in under 10 minutes. Diagrams over service manuals. | ✗ Black-box service contracts. |
| Shipping | ✓ Included in the $8,200 price. | ✗ Hidden fee or added at checkout. |
Why Vendors Center
#1 vending machine manufacturer in North America. Hardware-only; connectivity is bolted on, not designed in. Vendors Center is connected by design from day one.
~$7B #1 unattended retail distributor. Distribution-only; no hardware integration, so cannot offer auto-restock as a connected service.
Software-first vending platform. Hardware is someone else's problem. No in-house engineering depth on the machine itself.
Closest structural analog. Integrated hardware + auto-restock for industrial supply, $7B+ company. Validates the integrated model in a different category — Vendors Center brings it to consumables.
Vendors Center builds connected hardware first. The Core-1 ships ready to run with cellular telemetry, per-slot inventory sensing, and pre-installed cashless payment — and the optional auto-restock service is there for operators who'd rather not handle restocking themselves. One vendor, one stack, one phone number.
"Five to seven million vending machines in the US. The hardware is from the 1970s, the software is bolted on. The fix isn't better software running on the same old hardware — it's better hardware, with the distribution platform built around it from day one."
We started Vendors Center because we got tired of watching operators lose money to machines that should work better. Not better software running on top of the same old hardware — better hardware, from the inside out. Machines that flag failures before they cost you a service call. Machines with local dispense paths that keep vending even when the uplink drops. Machines that pay for themselves faster because they run better.
The vending industry runs on hardware built by companies that treat software as an afterthought — and then charge operators every month to access it. Vendors Center treats hardware as the product you're buying. You own it outright at $8,200, run it yourself if that's what you want, and add the optional auto-restock service if and when it makes sense for your locations. No subscription required, ever.
Preorder reservations are open at $500/machine toward your purchase. Sale price: $8,200/Core-1, which includes the pre-installed MDB cashless reader, cellular modem with SIM, full per-slot ToF inventory sensing, plug-and-play setup, and shipping. Choose your service at delivery: Biweekly ($500/year) or Weekly ($2,500/year). Not open to the public at this time — contact for fleet quotes.
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