The Beverage Spirit Box

Schools are seeing major results by adding cold beverage vending to their Spirit Box lineup. The Beverage Box is a powerful addition that gives students access to refreshing drinks while significantly increasing school store revenue. Schools like Olathe East High School, Camdenton High School, and Rio Rancho High School have all integrated Beverage Boxes into their programs—with Rio Rancho reporting a $35,000 boost in total sales their first year.

What is the Beverage Box?

The Beverage Box is a cold beverage vending machine designed specifically for school store vending programs. Unlike the traditional Spirit Box, this machine exclusively vends drinks—making it the perfect way to expand your product offering and boost sales.

It comes with all the features schools love about Spirit Box:

• Custom graphic wrap in your school colors and mascot

• 9-inch interactive touchscreen

• Accepts cash, credit cards, and mobile payments

• Real-time online sales reporting

• On-site training at your school

• Ongoing program support from the Spirit Box team

Adding a cold beverage vending machine is a smart, student-focused upgrade that brings value to your campus and proven results to your school store.

Why Expand Your Spirit Box Business?

Staying competitive means staying proactive. Whether you're running a school-based business or a company in the real world, growth is key. Growth funds new ideas, builds momentum, and brings you closer to your long-term vision.  In previous blog posts such as writing a vision and creating SMART goals, we have talked about activities that keep your business moving forward and growing. So now’s a good time to ask: Are your goals helping you move forward? Are you regularly checking in on your progress?

One powerful way to grow your Spirit Box business is by expanding what you offer. The Beverage Box is more than just a vending machine—it’s an opportunity to serve your customers in a new way by offering cold beverages that meet a clear need. Every time you improve your product selection, you increase the value your customers receive—and that builds trust and loyalty.

There's also a bigger opportunity here. By adding a Beverage Box, your team could position your Spirit Box business to become the only vending provider at your school. Competing for your school’s vending contract means eliminating third-party vendors and keeping all vending revenue within your program. That’s more money for your team, more funding for your school, and a stronger case for Spirit Box as the go-to solution for student-run vending.

How it Benefits Your Team

When it comes to growing your business, any change or expansion should create value for both your customers and your team. The Beverage Box does just that. Here are a few ways expanding your Spirit Box business with a cold beverage vending machine can benefit your program:

• DECA SBE Certification or Recertification
  Demonstrating growth, innovation, and product diversity makes your business stronger—and more competitive when applying for or renewing your DECA SBE Certification.

• Revenue Growth
  Real results speak for themselves: Camdenton High School increased their revenue from $1,441.50 in January to $3,448.50 in February after adding a Beverage Box. That’s over $2,000 in additional income in just one month. They now average over $20,000 a year just from their beverage box!

  In their first full year with a Beverage Box, Olathe East High School nearly doubled their total Spirit Box sales. By the second year, the Beverage Box alone generated over $30,000 in sales!

• More Value for Your Customers
  Expanding your product selection to include cold drinks meets an ongoing student demand and enhances their overall shopping experience. When you offer more of what customers want, they come back more often.

Perspective from Camdenton High School

According to Tyler and Payton, the Beverage Box began outperforming their snack machine and delivering a strong return right away. Before adding the machine, they recognized a clear need—students at Camdenton were already purchasing drinks from a teacher’s classroom to satisfy demand. This gave their team insight into which beverages would sell best and helped them stock the machine strategically from day one.

When asked their experience growing their Spirit Box business, Tyler stated, “It has absolutely sky-rocketed. Last year when I was introduced to it, they were making $30-40 a day. After a month, we were seeing it grow to over $100 a day - even before we were introduced to the idea of a micro market.”

How they operate the new machine and their current machine:

• Payton handles the money 

• Tyler stocks machine 

• They work on one box at a time together 

What Marketing Strategies Are Working?

• Word of mouth between students

• Stocking holiday-themed or seasonal beverages

• Bi-weekly Spirit Box commercials on the school’s video announcements

• Strategic placement: the machine is well-lit, highly visible, and located in a high-traffic area

Camdenton’s story shows that with the right planning, teamwork, and customer awareness, expanding your school store vending program with a Beverage Box can drive serious results.

Conclusion

Is it time to expand—or even launch—your Spirit Box business? Whether you're considering adding a Beverage Box or deciding which vending option is the right fit for your school, now is the perfect time to think strategically about growth.

If your goal is to boost sales and offer more value to students, start by meeting with your team to evaluate your next steps. Identify who needs to be part of the conversation—whether it’s administrators, teachers, or club sponsors—and what information they’ll need to make an informed decision.

Ready to take the next step?