William K. ***** III

For fourteen years beginning in 1990 I owned and operated M & M Vending. I began the company with one vending machine and $5, 00. 00. When I began my company there was several small start up vending companies already in existence. To distinguish my company from others I had to find my niche. I accomplished this by establishing first rate customer service with quality products at reasonable prices. I developed strong relationships with my customers from the bottom up. Working closely with the customers I was able to learn what was working, what their needs were, and what I could do to meet them. All this helped M & M Vending to become the fastest growing small business in the New England Vending Association for three consecutive years.

As a result, that one machine became four hundred machines with business value of $3. 2 million, covering New England and New York. Within this time I developed and implemented and aggressive route sales program that is now used as a model in the New England Vend Community. Maintaining an average of less that 1% employee turnover during this period, I worked with manufactures to successfully execute sales incentives on new products for the route drivers and pay scales to retain my sales team, maximizing employee retention. I created plan-o-grams to help new employees learn the proper merchandising for the machine, allowing for a fast start to their position.

I have had the opportunity to work closely with key manufacturing representatives from Frito-Lay to develop products for vending. Periodically we would meet to test vending products and evaluate consumer demand.

Working with my local legislature I was able to work with a team of vend operators to introduce the dollar coin to the vending community. The advantage of the coin helped vend operators to maximize the highest return on investment in the vending machine. This limited the use of the dollar bill validators in the machine minimizing repairs.

I was one of the initial vend operators to recognize the change in consumer eating habits. I introduced the larger size vend bag to the machine as well as a healthy alternative for snacking. These two features enabled me an advantage over my competitor. No other company was vending sensible snack choices to the machine. In doing this I was able to increase product sales, and because these items had a higher cost I increased my overall profit margin as well. As a result of my aggressiveness and innovative ideas my company became more recognized within the industry. I was able to develop a partnership with a third party vend management company. This allowed me to increase revenue by 30% within my retail segment. I built key relationships with management at all retail locations; this included the merchandiser, the buyer, and the store manager.

On a personal note I graduated from the world renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. I was exposed to some of the top musicians of my time. I have had the opportunity to play with 38 special, Jay Giles, Peter Wolf, and Gary Burton. As well as being an accomplished drummer with my local bands, I am a self taught gourmet cook and enjoy motorcycle riding on my Harley Davidson Classic Heritage Soft Tail. My other interests include golf, skiing, fishing and a Sunday night hockey pick-up league.