Vending Machine Business Valuation Benchmarks

Business owners, prospective buyers, and industry investors rely on a diverse set of financial benchmarks to assess the value of a business. We have compiled data from current BizBuySell listings and sold businesses to provide insight into the business for sale market and important benchmarks for pricing and evaluating vending machine businesses relative to industry standards.

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Highlights of Vending Machine Businesses Sold on BizBuySell

Vending machine businesses listed and sold on BizBuySell engage in the procurement, distribution, restocking, maintenance, and cash collection on vending machine routes. Cash collection is becoming less common as vending machines move towards credit card and smart phone-based payment systems.

There are typically two types of vending machine business owners listing these businesses for sale: Those who own and operate their own vending routes with a small number of accounts, and those who own many routes and accounts, and employ workers to manage the day-to-day work of restocking and maintaining the machines.

Vending Machine Business Transaction Trends

The median sale price of vending machine businesses sold on BizBuySell is generally consistent but fluctuates when interest rates change materially. Median value of vending machine routes sold on BizBuySell had been increasing through the pandemic years, then returned to pre-pandemic levels when interest rates were raised to combat inflation in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, sale prices remained stable.

Median days on market for vending machine businesses sold is less than half the typical business. These routes are often traded between existing vending machine business owners who understand the market well and move fairly quickly.

Vending Machine Business Valuation Multiples

Valuation, or pricing, multiples are financial tools that allow for comparisons between businesses that have different levels of revenue and earnings. They represent the sales price of a business relative to its financial performance, and given enough individual business sales data, they represent what the market is willing to pay for a business given its revenue and earnings.

Valuation Trends

Business values and associated multiples fluctuate over time, influenced by a variety of macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation, consumer spending, and overall economic growth.

Valuation multiples of vending machine businesses sold grew along with the retail business for sale market after the peak of the pandemic, then fell in 2022 as interest rate increased, putting pressure on transaction financing and sales prices through 2024.

Earnings Multiples

Earnings multiples represent the value of a business relative to its owner’s discretionary earnings or "cash flow". Arguably the most important valuation metric - as seller's discretionary earnings will often dictate how much a buyer is able to borrow to finance the business acquisition - most business valuations will hinge on a reasonable earnings multiple.

Revenue Multiples

Revenue multiples represent the value of a business relative to its overall sales or revenue. In conjunction with an earnings analysis, revenue multiples are commonly used to value a business based on its overall sales.

How to Interpret These Multiples

Recent Listings vs. Sold Businesses

We calculate and provide valuation multiples from two sources: Current and recent listings of vending machine businesses for sale, and our database of "comparable" businesses sold on BizBuySell. Multiples based on listing data are generally higher due to owners setting asking prices above what their businesses might typically sell for. This occurs either intentionally as a negotiation strategy, or incidentally due to business owners’ common tendency to overvalue their own businesses.

In the case of vending machine business valuation multiples, recent listings multiples are actually lower due to elevated interest rates keeping the asking prices on which they are based lowered.

Multiples based on comparable businesses - "comps" in business broker parlance - are much more useful as they represent the prices at which businesses ultimately get sold. Business brokers and valuation professionals will always turn to local comps when pricing businesses for sale or evaluating businesses for acquisition. We provide both sets of data at the national level to offer general context.

Quartiles, Median, and Average

No two businesses are identical, and as such, valuation multiples exist in a range. We have carved out four common values within this range: Lower quartile represents the value under which the lowest 25% of valuation multiples fell. Upper quartile represents the value above which the highest 25% of multiples fell. Median is the middle of the range, and average is the mean of the set. Mean is almost always higher than the median, driven by a minority of high volume, high value businesses sold at multiples above the upper quartile.

Businesses with consistent financial performance, above average revenue and earnings, demonstrable growth potential, low owner involvement, unique competitive advantages, and a seller willing to finance will command a multiple at or above the upper quartile. Lower volume businesses with thin profit margins, full-time owner involvement, and many direct competitors will trade at or below the lower quartile. Most businesses will fall somewhere in the middle.

Based on this data, half of vending machine businesses are valued between 1.39 and 2.46 times their annual seller discretionary earnings, with 25% of well-managed, larger businesses trading above this range, and 25% of smaller, less desirable routes trading below.

Financial Benchmarks

To determine how a business compares in terms of revenue and earnings relative to industry peers, it’s necessary to have some insight into industry standards. "Benchmarking" describes the practice of comparing a business’s financial performance to typical industry standards to determine where a business falls relative to other businesses in the same industry. These benchmarks can help guide owners and investors towards appropriate valuation multiples from the range above.

To that end, we have aggregated financial ranges useful for comparing a vending machine business to its peers in the market.

Vending Machine Business Revenue and Earnings Trends

Median revenue of vending machine businesses sold on BizBuySell fell sharply in 2022, however, earnings remained relatively high. In 2023, revenue improved while earnings fell, bringing profit margins back in-line with the already very high standards. 2024 saw a 12% and 7% drop in revenue and earnings, respectively.

Earnings Ranges

Discretionary earnings (used interchangeably with the terms "cash flow" and seller's discretionary earnings or SDE) is often the crux of business valuations, so it is important to benchmark it relative to other businesses traded on the market. Below you will find discretionary earnings ranges for vending machine businesses sold over the past five years, as well as recent for sale listings.

Revenue Ranges

Sales volume plays a large role in business valuation, as it measures the size of the potential income opportunity for new ownership. It's not uncommon for buyers to select an earnings multiple range based on overall revenue. The table below includes revenue ranges of vending machine businesses sold over the past five years, as well as recent for sale listings.

How Revenue and Earnings Level Affects Business Values

Clearly higher levels of earnings lead to higher valuations, even given the same multiple. However, valuation multiples also tend to rise with business sales volume. Vending machine routes with high volume accounts that generate higher sales (and maintain high profit margins) tend to sell for earnings multiples on the higher end. So, a vending machine business consistently generating sales over $130k annually may sell for an earnings multiple around 2.5, where a route with sales below $50k would likely sell for an earnings multiple closer to 1.5.

This tendency for higher sales volumes to fetch higher valuation multiples is largely driven by the economics of business acquisition financing. Higher volume businesses give buyers more cushion to cover debt service obligations and still have enough left over to pay the new owner a reasonable income.

Sector Comparisons

For a more complete understanding of the market and valuation standards, consider comparisons within the broader retail sector when benchmarking vending machine businesses. The chart and table below includes key metrics from sales of select retail businesses on BizBuySell between 2020 and 2024.

Compared to other businesses in the retail space, vending machine businesses tend to receive a valuation premium relative to their fairly small average sales and earnings. This is likely driven by the higher profit margins compared to larger retail businesses, as well as the low-cost operating model. The labor required to operate a vending machine route is far lower than other retail businesses, making them simpler to run.

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