Proprietary detergent / laundry vending
Place vending machines that dispense proprietary detergent or laundry products at laundromats and apartments.
The idea, in plain language
This idea places proprietary detergent or laundry-product vending in laundromats or apartments, earning product margin from recurring laundry customers. The videos approach it through adjacent unattended retail and laundromat operations: ice and water vending machines bought distressed and monitored by phone, and a laundromat franchise with a proprietary detergent system, commercial washers, and remote management software. Customers are laundromat patrons, apartment residents, or laundry operators, and starting requires equipment, locations, maintenance, financing or franchise capital, and supply operations. The quoted numbers are four vending locations with no full-time employees, a laundromat doing $1M+/year or about $85K/month, 130-pound washers, and roughly 36 franchise territories sold; specific vending machine costs, margins, and startup costs are referenced but not provided in the synopsis.
Where the sources agree
- Both videos treat location and remote monitoring as important to making unattended or semi-attended operations work.
- The business is physical and equipment-based, with maintenance and financing realities behind the apparent passivity.
- Recurring local demand matters because customers repeatedly need laundry, water, ice, or related consumables.
Where they differ
- CJ Lovas focuses on ice and water vending, distressed machine acquisition, and running four locations without full-time employees.
- Tyler Purcell focuses on a laundromat franchise with proprietary detergent, large commercial washers, financing, and remote management software.
- The vending example is about buying assets cheaply and managing them from a phone, while the laundry example warns that buying an old passive laundromat can become a low-paying job.
- Only the laundromat video gives concrete revenue, $1M+/year or about $85K/month; the vending synopsis mentions machine costs and margins but does not quote them.
What each source says
KoernerForget Snack Machines. This One Refills Itself
CJ Lovas explains an ice and water vending business with four locations, distressed machine purchases, maintenance, margins, location selection, and phone-based monitoring.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerThe Boring $85K/Month Business That Almost Never Fails
Tyler Purcell describes Laundry Spot's flagship laundromat doing $1M+/year, about $85K/month, with 130-pound washers, proprietary detergent, remote software, and around 36 franchise territories sold.
Watch on YouTubeTools people use for this
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