Vend Service

Vend Services, Inc. was founded in 1965 by Carl Sidwell. The idea for the creation of his company came during his employment with Southern Bread Company and Frito-Lay. While working for these two companies he serviced vending company operators. Carl was faced with huge delivery problems, as were his fellow route sales people and competitors. As the... operator would open in early morning, there would be as many as ten different companies waiting in line to deliver their products. It was very chaotic, time-consuming and costly in bookkeeping to process so many delivery invoices. It seemed that more and more operators faced the same set of problems. Carl saw a need for a distribution company that could carry most all the products the operator needed and deliver in one stop. He contacted some manufacturers in an attempt to start compiling a cross mix of items the operators wanted. The first manufacturer to sell to Vend Service, Inc. was Chattanooga Bakery Moon Pies. He saw that he quickly needed to start adding other lines, including fresh baked items. Luckily there was such a bakery in the same small town where he lived. Carl began buying from Pet Bakeries, which proved to be a key factor to his success. He was able to deliver pastry so fresh, there was still steam on the wrappers. It was a huge step when Vend Service added Bluebird Juice from Lake Wales, Florida to his menu. This was the first non-pastry item he had tried to sell in five years since starting. It also demanded he move his operations from his home to a real warehouse built in 1974. He would soon be forced to add an addition to the warehouse in 1976 to house the more than 25 items he sold to operators. Carl sold his Rome business in 1984 to his two oldest sons and opened a 10,000 sq. foot facility in Orlando, Florida with his daughter and youngest son. Both businesses continued to grow and in early 1986 Flowers Bakery made an offer for the Orlando site. Seeing this as an opportunity to retire, Carl accepted the offer. He made good on his part and ...Read More