From Skeptics to SnackyMatz: A HealthyYOU Vending Success

As experienced business owners for 23 years, HealthyYOU Vending operator/owner Terrie Matz and her husband Pete Ambrosino know how to measure income and value when seeking out new opportunities. So when they began looking for an alternative stream of income with a company whose values were congruent with their own, HealthyYOU Vending seemed too good to be true. “HealthyYOU Vending didn’t have a franchise agreement. They provided all the benefits of support and training. It just looked too easy,” says Pete.

Terrie and Pete had initially looked into purchasing a franchise but didn’t see how that would benefit their business goals in the long term. “The thing I couldn’t wrap my mind around with franchise models was how they would provide any value to earn their royalties,” Pete wondered. “How would our business grow with their name on it?”

He was so skeptical about HealthyYOU Vending’s too-good-to-be-true business model that he booked a flight to Utah and visited HealthyYOU Vending’s corporate offices in person. After meeting HealthyYOU Vending’s owners, and speaking with coaches and lifetime support staff, Pete realized “this business is as simple as it seems.”

Since Terrie was newly diagnosed with a gluten allergy, “Moving forward with HealthyYOU Vending just felt right,” says Pete. “We always had an interest in natural and organic foods. With HealthyYOU Vending, we saw an opportunity to offer gluten-free options as well.” Today, SnackyMatz is the sole provider of healthy snacks and drinks in vending machines across the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

 

Now in its third year of business, SnackyMatz currently operates 19 healthy vending machines in local charter schools, airports, gyms, outpatient surgical centers, a long-distance trucker lounge in a 1 million-square-foot warehouse, and at Crayola corporate headquarters and manufacturing plants. As SnackyMatz’ business manager, Pete had successfully placed 17 SnackyMatz machines himself, and then decided to give HealthyYOU Vending a shot at finding even better locations for his last two machines. When they arranged to have three healthy vending machines placed at Crayola, SnackyMatz happily relocated its weakest performing machine from another location. Pete notes that SnackyMatz is thriving, and that some of their locations have exceeded their greatest expectations. “The trucker lounge is killing it,” he says. “This location needs to be serviced frequently, sometimes twice a week.”

With the success of their HealthyYOU Vending business, Pete and Terrie saw another opportunity: to give back to the local community. The SnackyMatz business model is designed around giving back to the Dream Come True Foundation, which grants wishes to seriously, chronically, and terminally ill children in the Lehigh Valley community. Stickers on SnackyMatz machines promote that a percentage of the proceeds support the foundation. “We thought it was only right to create another way to give,” said Pete. “That’s what this business gives us an opportunity to do.”