Short answer: to find vending machine locations, decide what a good site looks like (20 or more people on site, long hours, little food nearby), use free public data to list the businesses that match, watch for new ones opening, check public tenders, then contact the person who runs the building, within Canada's and the US's email rules. Paid locators can help, but in the US many of them fall under a federal disclosure rule, and that's your first question to them.
This is the operator side of what we do every week: finding sites, qualifying them and placing machines. Here's the process, in the order that works.
1. Write down what a good location is for you
Before searching, set your bar. Ours is three tests:
- People who stay: 20 or more staff, residents or regular visitors on a normal day.
- Long hours: evenings, nights or weekends, when nearby food is closed.
- Distance from food: no cafeteria inside, no convenience store next door.
Add your own route limits: how far you'll drive to restock, what machine types you run, and whether you need a card reader with cell signal. The best places guide shows which site types clear 20 people most often in the official data: hospitals, care homes, warehouses, plants, dealerships and hotels lead.
2. Build a list from free public data
You don't need to pay for a list to know where the larger workplaces are.
- US: County Business Patterns. The Census Bureau publishes establishment counts by industry and employee-size class for every county, and a ZIP-code version. Filter your service area for industries like warehousing (NAICS 493), manufacturing (31-33) and nursing care (623), size class 20 and up, and you know how many targets each ZIP holds before you knock on a door.
- Canada: Canadian Business Counts. Statistics Canada publishes business locations by employment-size range and industry for every province. It tells you how many 20+ employee locations to expect, not which ones, so pair it with local sources.
- City open data. Many cities publish business licence lists with type and address, and some include employee counts. Large cities in both countries have open data portals; search "business licences open data" with your city's name.
- Maps and directories. Industrial parks, hospital campuses and hotel clusters are easy to spot. Note who's there, then confirm size with the data above.
3. Watch for new sites
A new building is the easiest yes: nobody has a vending contract yet. Signals worth checking every month:
- New business licences in city open data.
- Building and occupancy permits for warehouses, plants, offices and apartment buildings.
- Hiring. A distribution centre posting 50 jobs will need a break room.
Our new workplaces report shows what this looks like with one region's data, and the same method works for any city that publishes licences or permits.
4. Check public tenders
Hospitals, transit systems, colleges, universities and governments usually put vending out to tender instead of picking a vendor informally.
- Canada: CanadaBuys lists federal tenders and many provincial, municipal and institutional ones. Recent vending notices there include a transit system, a hospital and a college.
- US: SAM.gov lists federal opportunities, and states and cities run their own procurement portals. On federal property, the Randolph-Sheppard Act gives licensed blind vendors priority, so check with the state licensing agency first.
Tenders take paperwork and insurance certificates, but they're large, long-term sites. Our rec centre RFP guide walks through what one public body actually asks for, with BC as the example.
5. Contact the right person, the right way
Most placements still come from a direct conversation with the person who decides: an office or facility manager, a property manager, an operations lead.
If you email, follow the law in each country:
| Canada (CASL) | US (CAN-SPAM) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you can email cold | An address the person conspicuously published, with no "no unsolicited messages" statement, and only if your message is relevant to their business role | Anyone, including business addresses; there's no B2B exception to the rules below |
| What every email needs | Your identity and contact information, and an unsubscribe mechanism | Your valid physical postal address and a clear way to opt out |
| Opt-out deadline | Within 10 business days | Within 10 business days |
What to offer is short: who you are, what the site gets (a stocked, serviced machine), what the site provides (a spot and an outlet), how service problems get fixed, and how they can end it. Hosts don't want a pitch; they want to know it won't become their problem. Our questions hosts ask list is the best preparation for that conversation.
6. Be careful with locators
A locator is a company that finds sites for you for a fee. Some do real work. The history is mixed: a 1998 sweep by the FTC and 10 states against vending business opportunities brought 40 enforcement actions, and FTC cases against vending sellers repeatedly describe promised "prime locations" that weren't real.
In the US, the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule covers sellers who offer to provide "locations, outlets, accounts, or customers" for equipment you buy. A covered seller has to give you a one-page disclosure document at least seven calendar days before you sign or pay. Before paying any locator:
- Ask for the disclosure document, and whether they think the rule applies to them.
- Ask for the addresses of the last ten sites they placed, and call those sites.
- Pay on placement, not upfront, if you can.
We explain how locators, operators and advocates differ, and who pays whom, in locator vs operator vs advocate.
Where VendFynd fits
We do this work for operators across Canada and the US: we find sites, qualify them with the three tests and the hosts' own answers, and introduce you to the person who decides. You pay when a machine is placed. See the operator page to apply, or send a host our way with the 5-minute site check.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns and ZIP Code Business Patterns: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html, accessed 2026-10-16
- Statistics Canada, Table 33-10-1014-01, Canadian Business Counts, with employees: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310101401, accessed 2026-10-16
- Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, S.C. 2010, c. 23, s. 10(9)(b) (conspicuous publication) and s. 11 (unsubscribe within 10 business days): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-1.6/, accessed 2026-10-16
- FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business, accessed 2026-10-16
- 16 CFR Part 437, Business Opportunity Rule (s. 437.1 definitions, s. 437.2 seven-day rule): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-437, accessed 2026-10-16
- FTC, "Operation Vend Up Broke" (1998, 40 enforcement actions with 10 states): https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/1998/09/ftc-announces-operation-vend-broke-states-feds-stop-business-opportunity-scams, accessed 2026-10-16
- Government of Canada, CanadaBuys: https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/tender-opportunities; SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/, accessed 2026-10-16
Last updated: October 30, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.