How does a coffee machine work for coffee

25. May 2025 at 14:45

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Coffee slot machines are common and some of the only choice if you are waiting for a bus station or a doctor for examination. In Slovakia they appeared in the early 1990s, inspiration for them is said to come from Italy.

This business has long been fragmented among dozens of small companies. It is gradually concentrated in the hands of large players. Recently, Czech Kofola entered it. So who controls this market, what is the most profitable and what trends are coffee machines?

Great players control the market

Currently, several thousand coffee machines are in operation in Slovakia. The exact number is difficult to find out, operators do not want to disclose it. In addition, via dispensing (so -called vending) machines also sell chilled drinks or snacks.

But coffee is top. « We also operate drinks for drinks, such as Red Bull, but coffee machines win, » says Dallmayr Managing Director Robert Tkáč.

He started in this business alone in 1996 and when he sold the company eleven years later to the German investor, he had in Bratislava And around four hundred dispensing machines: « However, we were still a small Slovak company and we could not compete with large foreign players with strong capital and innovations. »

Even the largest network with eighth Thousands of dispensing machines were built by a home player, a family company ASO VENDING. Its facilities will serve 150,000 customers a day, sales exceeded EUR 18.7 million last year and the company recorded a 1.3 million profit.

ASO Vending in March this year bought Kofola, which is watching strengthening its own coffee business. « We consider Vending a very promising sales channel, » said Kofola CEO Daniel Buryš.

The Czech owner also has another big player in this business. The Meroral Firm Mattoni is controlled by the Very Goodies with four thousand slot machines. In the network of coffee machines, which was originally started by Peter Grondžák from Kežmarok, the investment group St. Nicolaus, belonging to the portfolio of entrepreneurs around Ján Sabol.

In addition to large companies on the automatic market, dozens of small players still operate. Some have a few dozen machines in one region or just one city. And there are also sole traders who own two to three dispensing machines.

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Service by number of portions

The basis of success in this business is to have a slot machine in a good location. Ideal in one where many people move: bus and railway stations, hospitals, large factories, shopping centers, office buildings.

At the same time, the location of public institutions IV private premises is used to compete. If contacts and acquaintances do not decide, the scope of the range offered and the quality of service are taken into account.

“Some machines just visit one to twice a week, for others you need to be every day,” explains Radoslav Bosák, marketing director of Very Goodies.

According to Tkáč, the service of slot machines adapts to the number of portions that are sold in it. In busy places, it is common for a coffee machine to be complemented twice a week. It must be kept clean and descal.

At the disadvantage there are operators who have second -hand machines. They are more common, there are no longer spare parts, or they are outdated, so they only take coins, they cannot be paid by bank card or by mobile phone. The modern dispenser costs 4.5 thousand to five thousand euros, which is three times more than in the 1990s, is craving Tkáč.

The coffee machine market is also dominated by large beverage and coffee companies from abroad. (Source: SME/MARKO ERD)

In the hospital or for rent