machine owner spotlight
Paul Moore
Fairhope, Alabama
Paul Moore, a seasoned business owner from Fairhope, Alabama, shares his positive experience with Kooler Ice vending machines. Starting with the IM1000 model and later upgrading to the IM2500 with dual ice makers, he found success in offering ice to customers. Paul emphasizes the importance of location, praises the appealing design and energy efficiency of Kooler Ice machines, and recommends the IM2500 for long-term profitability.
PRODUCTS OWNED
“My name is Paul Moore. Live in Fairhope, Alabama. I’ve been in business since 1983 and 33 years coming up. Most of my business is a gas station and car wash business. Also rental property.
The ice business bending and you know, bug visits in my gas stations we, we’ve been selling ice. And I’ve always been interested in even bagging or buying equipment even for my stores, but I’ve just never done it. When these machines were developed, there was two or three different competitors other than Kooler Ice and I’ve looked at all of them. Kooler Ice or a little bit more, less expensive to get into to see if you want to be in this business. And basically with a contact out of Mobile with PepsiCo, I’ve known Steve Statkewicz for a long time and talk to him many times about what size machine to get. Basically we started there.
The first machine was, IM1000. I talked to Steve a few months before and he had a used machine that the fellow actually was upgrading to the IM2500, I believe. So I got a pretty good deal and that was a good reason to test the market because your overhead was a little less and that’s always a good place to start and try it. Now, this year around July the IM1000 was not sufficient of my location.
I bought a brand new. IM2500 about a month ago. I only had one ice maker which is an 1,848 pound ice maker. It’s still, it’s not enough. We just installed actually yesterday another 1,848 pounder machine. And that’s exactly, of any location that I know of, a twin ice maker only IM2500 is what you need.
My marketing of Kooler Ice, or the cheaper bag of ice is basically location. In the convenience store business, I do not advertise any radio or anything. To me it’s always location. Just put some nice signs on the property, keep the lot clean and neat and picked up, and your location will sell the ice. They will come in. And I’ve had more people thank me for putting this machine in at this location. It’s just been amazing that people actually say nice things about people in business these days.
This site that I’ve located this machine on is a new site for a new location of mine in the future. This one gave me a little extra income of a piece of property that had no income. The good thing about ice business, that machine can be moved. And all the other businesses you cannot move. And also another plus thing about the ice business, it’s basically immediate income. If it’s a good corner and you don’t have competition across the street, you will basically have a return pretty well automatically and that’s the good thing about it.
The look of it. It’s a real, clean looking visual box from the street. The mechanics of it are pretty simple. The size of it, put it together was more reasonable for the slab and all the components that go together to put it in. The Kooler Ice uses a lot less electricity to operate than the competitors. And that’s always the net part that you have to look at of what you’re choosing. And it definitely, the Kooler Ice would be the one to start with. There’s no question about it.
The best advice of looking and thinking about your second income. The IM2500 with dual ice makers to me is what you need to do. I know it’s a little expensive, but if you really want to be in it and satisfy your customer, I would not hesitate to put that machine in. You may want to start smaller, but I did. But it cost you money when you upgrade. It’s better to go ahead and get the IM2500 and start making some money.”
WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY
