Several years ago, my building principal came to me with the idea of creating a classroom business. The teacher’s lounge had a vending machine with soda, costing the school more money than it could make. Cue the Vending Cart!
Setting Up
After all the logistics are figured out between you and your administrators, the next step is setting up your vending cart. Decide if you are going to sell soda and snacks or only soda. It is helpful to send out a survey to staff to get an idea of what kind of soda and/or snacks your building prefers.
Make a list of all the items you will need to get started.
Here is a list to reference:
- Clipboard
- Money jar
- Recipe boxes (keep punch cards and staff favorites)
- Refrigerator for soda
- Storage drawers for snack items
- Money box
- Visuals (label outside storage drawers and fridge, visual scripts for deliveries, etc.)
- Caddy carrier
- Hanging pockets for order forms
Share the Process
Once everything is ready, find time to explain the process to your building staff. Explain how staff can purchase soda and snacks from the Vending Cart. This is also a great time to pass out staff favorite forms to keep on file.
Opportunities for Learning and Skill Generalization
Creating a business within my classroom opened the door to various real-world learning opportunities.
- Students can graph the sales of sodas and snacks each day (extend the activity by asking questions about what sold the most for the day or which one had the least amount of sales)
- Community-Based Instruction – our class went to the grocery store each week to purchase soda and snacks to keep the vending cart stocked
- Stocking soda and snack items daily
- Counting money
- Social opportunities when making deliveries
- Building independence and learning to navigate the school building when checking for delivery orders
- Communication opportunities
AND so much more!
11 Responses
Thanks a mil Ashley. I know it’s going to be a hit with my class. So many positives and so many learning opportunities in this one exercise.
Sorry-forgot to ask. Is this done to make a profit -to teach the concept of profit-or are items sold at cost?
Thanks for reading 🙂
Absolutely! Thank you!
Yes, to make a profit!
I have to sell candy bars for at least 1.50 to make a profit. Please share where you buy the stock!
We buy through Amazon and have had to increase our prices to make a profit.
Is the final step of the vending cart delivery to the appropriate teacher?
Is the numbered bulletin board with the numbers and clothes pins the hours that deliveries were needed?
Yes, the final step is to deliver the item to the teacher.
Yes, the numbers on the bulletin board with clothespins below are the hours with the deliveries needed.
What size chex mix are you selling? I only found the big bags and selling them for 50cents wouldn’t make a profit
do you have a lesson or unit on how to figure out pricing for you cart delivery?
I have had to increase prices to make a profit. I believe you can get a box of 42 bags on Amazon that are 1.75-ounce bags and sell them for 75 cents to make some profit.