Stephen Labadie has had an interest in candy and vending machines for years and now the Bradford West Gwillimbury resident is turning that interest into a business.
Labadie has officially launched Phaze1 Vending, his candy machine business with the goal of placing the machines in local businesses around Bradford.
His interest all began back when he was a kid at the Bradford bowling alley. He would go to the bowling alley just to get candy, which initially ignited his passion for candy machines and led him to research more about them as a teenager.
“Every kid has a general fascination with candy machines, but I always thought they were particularly cool,” he says. “I’ve always been entrepreneurial and my curiosity hit as a teenager and I began researching about larger vending machines.”
Despite his research, he never got into the vending machine business and as he got into his early 20s life took him into other ventures. Now 30, he’s decided to revisit that interest.
“In the last year or two I’ve been thinking about it,” Labadie says “I started looking into it more and realized 95 per cent plus of the vending machines are run by vending machines businesses and small businesses who just have a chain of them locally, like myself.”
After researching vending machines he realized anyone could get into the business with a few dollars — and, as Labadie puts it, “gusto” — he knew this was something worth trying.
“Realistically, it’s just about having the ambition to do it,” he says. “Recently, I had my daughter and I’ve been pre-planning this and I finally picked up a candy machine a couple weeks before taking parental leave. Now that I’m home on parental leave I got the machine ready and I learned all the ins and outs of it.”
Now with the machine ready and loaded with candy, Labadie has spent the last few weeks working on his pitch to local businesses.
“I tried my pitch online and our community responded really well,” he says.
After meeting with Hacienda Santa Teresa’s owner Juan Velazquez, Labadie is placing his first candy machine at the front of the restaurant.
“I see a long-term future with it,” he says. “I’ve got a plan now that I’ve got the first one set. I’ve spoken with a few other local businesses about the potential of placing candy machines in their businesses. I’ve got a source to buy more candy machines and with this transpiring I’ll be picking up two more.”
Another aspect of the business that excites Labadie is the chance to have fun with it as his newborn daughter gets older.
“It would be nice to have fun as a family and go around and collect candy and coins when she’s older,” he said.
The community has been a big help for finding leads for Labadie’s candy machine business and he couldn't be happier with the local support.
“I’m really grateful for the community response with this,” he says. “If anyone finds me a lead I’ll be giving them a candy gift bag.”
Those looking to connect with Labadie regarding his candy machine business can reach him via email at [email protected].
