Monumental Vending is a vending machine operator that has been in business since 1991. The company is based in Beltsville, MD and services the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan region. The company is the largest, private vending company in the region and actively touts its reliance on technology including wireless connectivity to every machine as a key differentiating feature.
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Company
Monumental Vending was started in 1991 by Craig Kushner and David Gordon with a single vending machine. The two have guided the company through 20+ years of growth and they remain very active in daily management. Kushner has been elected as a board member for National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). Monumental Vending hired Richard Barney as the company’s Chief Operations Officer. The company employs 46 people from drivers to technicians to warehouse employees in their Beltsville, Maryland warehouse. Current clients include BWI Airport, Northrop Grumman, and the Library of Congress.
Technology
The company has seen sales growth every year in part as a result of leveraging technology. Monumental Vending was the first vending company in the U.S. to receive service alerts from vending machines in need of repair and was one of the first vending companies anywhere to use handheld technology for drivers and to install wireless technology throughout their 2,700 vending machines. Additionally, Monumental Vending also leverages cashless payment options, $1 and $5 bill acceptors, "ShureVend" technology, and the newest energy-efficient machines.
Beverages
Monumental Vending offers a full line of Coke and Pepsi products, fruit juices, water, sports drinks, energy drinks and more.
Snacks
Monumental Vending provides snacks from manufacturers including Frito-Lay, Utz, Nabisco, Mars, Hershey's, Snyder's, Clif, Planters, Kellogg's, Nature Valley, and Kraft. Monumental Vending's product mix includes chips, pastries, cookies, crackers, and candy.
Healthy vending
The company offers dedicated healthy snack machines as well as vending machines with a blend of healthy and more traditional snacks. Monumental Vending has developed, in partnership with VMI, a nutrition guideline program emphasizing sensible nutrition choices. The program was designed under the guidance of Carmen Gorniak, RD, CD. Monumental also works with healthy guidelines that originate from clients like Kaiser Permanente.
Recognition
Monumental Vending received the "Vending Operator of the Year" award from NAMA in 2011. This award is presented each year to a company that has "exhibited the highest level of integrity, dedication, and leadership in the vending industry." The award was presented by Michigan State University coach Tom Izzo at the NAMA annual convention in Chicago in March 2011.