Best-Selling Drinks, Snacks and Candy for Vending Machines

One of the biggest keys to success with a vending machine business is offering products customers love. When someone walks up to your vending machine, they're much more likely to make an impulse buy if you sell their #1 favorite drink and/or snack.

To help ensure your success, we've reviewed the most recent vending industry sales data for the United States along with dozens and dozens of popularity surveys, best selling lists, and more.

The lists below provide a great starting point for stocking your vending machine. Over time, though, you'll want to adjust your product offering based on what's selling well for you. If a couple/few products aren't selling well, you'll want to replace them with other products from the lists below.

Conversely, if you find yourself having to visit your vending machine more often than you'd like because a couple/few products are constantly selling out, you may want to dedicate two (or even three) slots to that item.

Without further ado, here are the lists...

Best-Selling Soft Drinks (Soda Pop)

  1. Coca-Cola
  2. Pepsi
  3. Diet Coke
  4. Dr. Pepper
  5. Mountain Dew
  6. Sprite
  7. Diet Pepsi
  8. Coke Zero
  9. Fanta
  10. Diet Mountain Dew

Other Best-Selling Cold Beverages

  1. Water (best sellers in order: Aquafina, Dasani and Nestle)

  2. Energy drinks (best sellers in order: Red Bull, Monster Energy, Bang Energy, Red Bull Sugarfree, Monster Ultra)

  3. Cold coffee (best sellers in order: Bizzy Organic Cold Brew Coffee (breakfast blend), Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew, High Brew Cold Brew Coffee (dairy-free, black & bold), Starbucks Cold Brew Coffee (black unsweetened), Wandering Bear Extra Strong Organic Cold Brew Coffee)

  4. Vitamin Water (best sellers in order: Acai Blueberry Pomegranate, Power-C Dragonfruit, Focus Kiwi-Strawberry, Refresh Tropical Mango and Energy Tropical Citrus)

  5. Flavored water (top brands: Propel, Hint, Bai, Some Water and Lemon Perfect)

  6. Diet Soda (best sellers in order: Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Coke Zero, Diet Mountain Dew and Diet Dr. Pepper)

  7. Gatorade (top flavors in order: Cool Blue, Fruit Punch, Lemon Lime, Glacier Freeze and Orange)

  8. Iced tea (top brands: Gold Peak Tea, Lipton Tea and Honest Tea)

  9. Seltzers (top brands: La Croix, Polar, Schweppes and Perrier)

  10. Lemonade (top brands: Minute Maid, Simply Lemonade, Newman's and Tropicana)

Best-Selling Candy

  1. M&M's
  2. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
  3. Hershey Bar
  4. Snickers
  5. Kit Kat
  6. Twix
  7. Twizzlers
  8. Skittles
  9. Dove Bar
  10. 3 Musketeers

Other Best-Selling Snacks

  1. Doritos
  2. Lay's Classic Potato Chips
  3. Oreo Cookies
  4. Planters Peanuts
  5. Fritos Corn Chips
  6. Cheetos
  7. Ritz Crackers
  8. Clif Bar
  9. Grandma's Cookies
  10. Sun Chips

Other Snacks to Experiment With

  • Planters Trail Mix
  • Pop Tarts
  • Oh Henry!
  • Granola bars
  • Cheez-Its
  • Gummi Bears
  • Baby Ruth
  • Milky Way
  • Other nuts (cashews, almonds, etc.)
  • Butterfinger
  • Chex Mix
  • Pretzels
  • Almond Joy
  • Sour Patch Kids
  • Mike and Ikes
  • Starburst
  • Sweetarts
  • Sweetart ropes
  • Mentos
  • Takis
  • Pringles
  • Barbecue-flavored chips
  • Salt and vinegar chips
  • Sour gummy worms
  • Fruit snacks
  • Fig Newtons
  • Mini Chips Ahoy
  • Wheat Thins
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Beef jerky
  • Rice Crispy Treats
  • Honey Buns
  • Sugar-free gum (Trident, Orbit, Extra)
  • Luna bars
  • Fiber One bars
  • Nutrigrain bars
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