Today we’d like to introduce you to Andre Bramwell.
Andre, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I run Houston’s Candyman Vending Services, Exotic Pop Shop our soda shop and the Bigfella bar our trademarked candy bar brand, I started doing custom vending machines for rap artists back in 2014 working with high-profile hip hop artists Riff Raff and Krayzie Bone, among others. I Was the first to start that type of promotion which I used to separate my business from the competition as a different way of marketing.
“My vending network allows the artists to get their own customized vending machine and ATM to be placed in businesses — where they get a commission and promote their brand — or in their own home, to use on tour, or whatever they may like,” Bramwell told VT. I began this business in 2010 with a few gumball machines and quickly moved into full-line vending.
“The main reason I came up with this idea is because the market in Houston is very saturated and everyone is always fighting over locations, so I wanted to maximize my business potential and think outside the box to make vending profitable in a different way,” the operator told VT.- From Vending Times
Recently we opened up our drink shop Exotic Pop Shop in 2015 which is a unique soda shop which includes hard to find sodas from around the world from areas such as Thailand, Japan and the Caribbean. The wave caught on quickly and now everyone is paying high prices for imported “Exotic” Sodas. Our new project includes a variety of soda flavored candy bars under the Bigfella Bar brand. We already release our strawberries and cream soda flavor and have a cotton candy soda flavored bar in the works. No one has done a flavor quit like this so we are always innovating and being unique in our creations.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No definitely not after we started using the custom hip hop vending machines it got so much attention from the likes of TMZ a lot of companies started to copy our marketing which caused customer confusion so we had other companies customers contacting us and coming to us for things we did not know about so that took alot of resources and time directing those customers in the right direction and trying to help them out.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Candyman Vending- Exotic Pop Shop – what should we know?
We specialize in Exotic Drinks and Snacks as well as our custom Candy bar the Bigfella Bar which is both a CBD and non CBD chocolate candy bar. We are most known for our Candy, Drinks and crazy product ideas we create. I am most proud of my company because we continue to create and innovate as the markets continue to change and shift this is what separates us from the competition.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Staying consistent and customer service is key. Every customer counts so I make sure that I embed that into our business model. It doesn’t matter how much marketing you do if you do not take care of your customer, you will lose in the end.
Pricing:
- Exotic Pop Shop Drinks range from $5 to $20 depending on where they are from
- Bigfella Bars range from $5 for our non cbd candy bars to up to $50 for our 500mb CBD chocolate bars
Contact Info:
- Website: candymanvendingservice.com
- Phone: 281-624-6102
- Email: csr@candymanvendingservice.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/exoticpopshop
- Facebook: facebook.com/bigfellabar
Image Credit:
Exotic Pop Shop; Candyman Vending; Bigfella Bar
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