Every minute you spend on low-value work costs you opportunities you can’t get back. That is why BELAY exists: to help leaders like you get back to what matters.

Our Delegation Guide + Worksheet gives you a simple system to:
✓ Identify what to delegate
✓ Prioritize what’s costing you most
✓ Hand it off strategically

And when you’re ready, BELAY provides top-tier remote staffing solutions — U.S.-based, highly vetted, and personally matched — to help you put those hours back where they belong: fueling strategy, leadership, and growth.

Real freedom starts with a right partner.

Get BELAY’s Delegation Guide.

Welcome back to Niche Riches, your weekly dose of real businesses and side hustles that put extra money in your pocket.

This week, we are diving into a business that feels simple on the surface but can quietly print money in the background. Vending machines.

It is one of those underrated plays that people walk past every single day without thinking twice. Snacks. Drinks. Even little impulse buys. All sitting behind glass, earning money whether you are awake, asleep, or sitting at home with your kids.

The catch. You do have to set it up right. Location matters more than anything. But once you land a good spot, the machine fills the pockets for you. A quick restock here and there, a few tweaks to what sells well, and the income becomes predictable and surprisingly steady.

This is one of those hustles that rewards consistency more than complexity. If you can build relationships, keep machines running, and pay attention to what your area likes to buy, you can grow this from a single machine to a whole little portfolio that pays you every month.

Let us run some simple numbers so you know what is realistic.

Goal. $500 per month
Place one solid drink and snack combo machine in a busy spot. Machines in gyms and auto shops often hit this number alone.

Goal. $1,500 to $2,000 per month
This usually comes from three to five machines. Think a mix of offices, break rooms, and apartment complexes. You swing by once or twice a week to restock and collect.

Goal. $5,000 or more per month
This is where people turn vending into a real business. Ten or more machines in high traffic spots with optimized product selections. Some operators bring in over $100,000 a year once they dial it in.

If you want to try vending without blowing your budget or getting buried in equipment, here is the cleanest way to start.

Do you want to offer snacks, drinks, healthy options, or a mix. Drinks sell fast but are heavy to restock. Snacks are light and easy. Some people start with a snack only machine to learn the ropes before adding a drink machine later.

Walk through gyms, laundromats, hotels, and small offices. Take note of what is already there and where gaps are. If a location has an old, poorly stocked machine with peeling stickers, that is an opportunity.

This is the real work. But it is not complicated.

Start with places that benefit from keeping people on site. Apartment complex clubhouses. Small medical offices. Auto shops. Hotel lobbies. Break rooms. Gyms. Call or walk in and offer a simple pitch. You place the machine. You stock it. You handle everything. They get either a small cut of sales or free snacks for staff each month.

Many owners say yes simply because they are tired of dealing with old machines or unreliable vendors.

You have two main options.

Option 1. Buy used
Facebook Marketplace. Craigslist. Vending Facebook groups. You can get a full snack and drink combo machine for $1,000 to $2,000. Test it fully before moving it into a location.

Option 2. Buy new
More expensive, but you get warranty support. Newer machines look better, run smoother, and come with updated payment systems, including card readers.

Card readers are a big deal. About half of modern vending sales come from cards or mobile payments.

Do not overload the machine with random items. Start with crowd favorites. Chips. Candy bars. Energy drinks. Water. Gatorade. Protein bars if the location is fitness-based.

Watch what sells and replace slow items quickly. Each slot is valuable real estate.

Vending only becomes passive once you build a simple system.

Keep an inventory list for each machine. Track sales weekly or biweekly. Check expiration dates. Bring spare parts like springs, labels, or coin mechanisms. The goal is to eliminate downtime because downtime means lost sales.

A well-stocked machine is more profitable than one that sits empty for even a few days.

Be polite. Communicate clearly. Clean up any messes around the machine. Make payouts on time if you are sharing revenue. Location owners talk, and being easy to work with is how you land more machines without cold calling.

Once you have your first location dialed in, repeat the process.

Look for clusters of places close to each other so your route stays efficient. Add machines where traffic is guaranteed. Offices with lots of employees. Gyms with constant foot traffic. Community centers. Student housing. Hotels.

Each new location becomes another stream that stacks with the others.

Track your sales, costs, and restock times. This tells you which machines are worth keeping and which are dead weight.

Once your route is consistent, you can buy better machines, add card readers, or hire someone part-time to handle restocking while you focus on landing larger accounts.

That is how vending becomes more than a side gig. It becomes a small empire of revenue boxes working for you.

There is a certain charm to a business that quietly earns money in the background while life keeps moving. That is what pulls me toward vending machines. They look simple, almost too simple. A metal box filled with snacks and drinks. But the more I think about it, the more I see why people stick with this business for years.

What interests me most is not the machine itself. It is the puzzle behind it. What sells best. How foot traffic changes things. Which locations have people who want protein bars and which ones want chips. I like the idea that you can tweak the lineup, shift things around, watch what moves, and slowly turn one average machine into a strong one simply by paying attention.

It feels like a hands on game in the beginning. You buy a machine, you place it, you stock it, and you learn what works. But over time, it becomes something else. You build little streams of income that stack together. One machine becomes two. Two becomes five. Eventually you have a route that pays you every month even when you are not hovering over it. That is what gets my attention. Slow, steady compounding without needing to swing for the fences.

I can see myself giving this a shot, but I would want something turn key to start. The hardest part seems to be finding and securing the right locations. Once that part is handled, the business feels almost relaxing. A routine. A rhythm. A predictable loop of stocking, collecting, and optimizing.

That is what makes vending appealing to me. It is not flashy or loud. It does not rely on trends or hype. It is just consistent work rewarded by consistent results. And in a world where so many side hustles burn out fast, there is something refreshing about a business that hums along quietly and keeps paying as long as you take care of it.

Come back for the next one! Sign up here for free.

What side hustle should I try or research next? Let me know.