What it's like to own a bread route (and should you buy one)?

-- Links to courses / personal training in description --
Wanna chat directly? Direct Phone Consultation & Training:
Clarity.fm/TonyDiNitto/
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Video Overview:
This lays the initial framework for beginning to evaluate bread routes. It discusses:
-- What are bread routes and the business model on a high level,
-- Which companies you can contract with,
-- Unique routes only found in the Northeast of the US,
-- Why we don't see huge contractors in this business model,
-- Examining the day to day operations of owners,
-- Ways to determine if it's even a business that you'd like to own and operate.
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Find the route that's best suited for you and evaluate it correctly using the system I've crafted from nearly 15 years of route evaluation:
RouteTycoon.thinkific.com/cou...
Main Site:
RouteTycoon.com
I've evaluated businesses, primarily FedEx / bread routes, for buyers for nearly 15 years now. I have managed FedEx and bread routes personally, worked with and coached large contractors. Own and manage RouteTycoon.com
Disclaimer:
I'm not endorsed, sponsored, approved or otherwise affiliated with FedEx or any other distribution routes.
No advice is given here.
Opinions are my own (but are awesome).
Not a CPA or lawyer.
Use your professional team however you feel is best for your unique situation.

[@jamesbrewer1130]

I owned a Flowers and a Arnold/Bimbo Bread route 15 years and two years. Hard work early hours, good pay. I grossed 2 to 3 thousand weekly before expenses. But I had large volume routes. You're working grocery stores, restaurants, etc. You're working in the elements daily, rain or shine. Bottom line, if you want to make more money? Sell more 🍞

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

Nice dude - I bet you've got some stories to tell! ;) Also, you're still watching bread route videos even after selling your routes? Maybe you're like me - even when you sell your routes, you're still a route guy down deep? ;) I'd love to hear why you switched from Bimbo vs Flowers (since I'm guessing you ran one for 15 years, and the other for 2).

[@jamesbrewer1130]

Yes, sir, a Marine first, then always a breadman. Wanted and needed a change from Flowers. Switched to Bimbo for a smaller route, but it turned into a monster route, and I ended up making more money. But decided to sell that also and retire to Florida. Thanks

[@marriedgoals3223]

I’m Looking for a great bread route now

[@allaennawilliams2306]

❤

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

@@marriedgoals3223 Lots of em out there for sale - just determine what's most important. Either: 1) the cash flow (or upside potential), 2) your time, or 3) your risk. That will help narrow it down a bit when you see one route making $100k but taking 60 hours a week and another route making $70k but only 35 hours a week, and so on.

[@kozmic.investmentz]

Hey I just had my consultation with you and I wanted to say thanks again I think that it would be cool to have other channels of communication like a discord blog or chat space. I will let you know how it all goes!

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

Appreciate the kind words and glad the call was helpful! We'll definitely stay in touch and see how things go for ya!

[@gabeferreira9500]

Would love to know more about the logistics of multi route ownership. As you said, there are some of the majors that do allow multi unit ownership and I feel like there are tonnes of advantages to having multiple units (namely economies of scale). Is the reason people don’t do this people? Capital? Both? Very curious

[@luisvargas3153]

the main reason people dont do this from experience is because they need to have someone that is 100% reliable.

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

Hey Gabe - I just released a video talking about why multiple route ownership is so rare (but CAN be done) in this video here - > kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6jJhH5qedCJjZo

[@felipegarcia9143]

@@luisvargas3153you are 100% correct. My dad at one point owned 5 flowers bread routes. Some of his drivers became unreliable over time so he decided to sell 3 of those routes and now just has 2

[@howtolife5276]

How do you feel about Amazon DSP businesses to buy ?

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

This is a great question! Give me a few days and I'll make a video explaining my full thoughts on this.

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

Thanks for the question - I finally got that video done (better late than never?! lol). The (unpleasant) truths of buying DSP routes revealed here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3TUhn6hi7KpgqMsi=YM_7h8VpjljVLrA2

[@-PURPLE-HEAD]

So if you end up having to finance like 200k, how are you still able to make money? People in my area are selling routes for 250k and they only net like $1,200 a week, which btw, is below the cost of living.

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

A route netting like $50k selling for $250k is basically overpriced (although Pepperidge Farm routes can sell at these multiples). Regardless, you're right to have some concern with a multiple like that. Most bread routes across the country (there are unique sub-markets of course) will sell around 1-2.5x the net income. As for financing some of these deals, if the route isn't pulling in serious cash (and $50k/yr is definitely not very strong for most bread routes), the financing payments will kill your profitability. Sometimes it's a matter of getting a deal at a low enough valuation multiple, low enough interest rate (or long enough term), or have enough income to cover your living expenses and still pay the loan back. If all those stars don't align just right, the only option is to put a larger down payment (or even have to just buy it cash). Sometimes for Pepperidge Farm routes, that's exactly what has to happen for it to make any sense at all. Every business, even outside of bread routes, will end up being awful if the loan terms are nasty enough. Anyway, you're totally correct in your concern - you've probably just found a nasty route. Keep looking! :)

[@-PURPLE-HEAD]

@@RoutetycoonVideos Routes are limited in my area, but thanks for the extended response and encouragement . I guess I’ll have to keep waiting and looking for the right one.

[@michaelmerck7576]

Since when

[@DannyBinArizona]

How can I set up a consultation?

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

For bread routes you can still set up a training call with me directly. As long as I'm still offering direct training with me (which I am as of late 2023), the link will be through Clarity and is in the video description. Looking forward to talking soon!

[@Jpcastrohn]

Is it possible to purchase a route but be in partnership with my brother and have him operate?

[@vickynoname9860]

Hope you get an answer. I am in a similar situation. Have cash, but not the credit and I heard Flowers requires credit even if paying cash.

[@brooklynsicily9145]

What if I worked 2 days then hired someone for the remaining 3 days on a 5 day schedule bread route

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

That's totally reaonable I think. And I've seen multiple people do that in a variety of the major bread route companies. Terminal managers are just mostly looking out for the "absentee owned" types of owners. I road along with one guy for a few days that actually had a kid from high school helping him. The owner had all these physical health issues but would work the scanner while the kid unloaded the truck and stocked the shelves. Between the 2 of em they blasted through that route and were often before school started for him. I've got all sorts of cool stories of tag teaming routes (either at the same time or different days of the week). Appreciate the comment - let me know what other videos you may want to see!

[@brooklynsicily9145]

@RoutetycoonVideos cool. Thanks for the insight. I saw this bread route online for sale - 80k and it nets a profit of $1,300 per week. I'm new to this stuff- do u think that's worth it? And who can I hire to go over the financials for these types of businesses? Thanks in advance if u have the time to respond . I def subscribed anyway!!

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

@@brooklynsicily9145 Netting $67k for an $80k priced route is a 1.1x multiple (80k ask / 67k net = 1.1). That's super reasonable - a lot will sell for around 2x the net income. If you seriously start to look at it, I can take a look at the deal with you. As of right now, I still help people evaluate these things - you can find the links in the video description to schedule a call. It doesn't take long at all on a call (I don't drag stuff out) for me to show you how to find a good route (and avoid a trash route too). Thx for the sub no matter what though - help me get KZbin famous!! ;)

[@m1j9s79]

Is it possible to purchase and run two routes at once?

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

Definitely! It's not all that common though. However, Mission Tortilla allows for multiple route ownership, and Flowers Bakeries does as well. Technically, in MA you MUST own at least 3 routes. Check out this video I posted here too on this topic if you haven't seen it yet -> kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6jJhH5qedCJjZosi=ByismwXUpSr1xYDU

[@m1j9s79]

@@RoutetycoonVideos Thanks for your reply! Yes there are flowers and mission bread routes here for sale where I am at. I am very interested. Can you or did you cover truck leasing/maintenance etc? Do you have any idea what rate does the route typically appreciate at annually? Thank you so much!!!

[@DaveTucker-el1nw]

@@RoutetycoonVideos Is it recommended/feasible to purchase and run both a Flowers and Mission route in the same territory? TIA

[@think41c]

@@DaveTucker-el1nw Hey Dave - From what I've personally seen, it's definitely very rare when it happens. Some of those companies are very hesistant to approve you as a contractor if they see you as a contractor at another company as well. This is due to the competition for shelf space (and sometimes even competing products). However, I can think of one person that did something like this years ago, and was never sure if it was officially "approved" by either of the companies as much as he had maybe(?) hidden it with different corporations and a relative he was in business with. Hiding stuff like that is a terrible idea though - I'm sure if they didn't want that to happen and caught him (and they definitely will), they'd very likely consider that breach of contract and just terminate him and he'd be left with basically nothing. Honesty is always the best policy with those terminal managers! :)

[@charlainajturner4328]

you lost me at 3 am😬

[@aliadeeb6859]

I felt like you forgot a brand. Aunt Millies.

[@skidMark_69]

So bread routes want me to buy the route for 100k just to have a job? Seems better to just find a job so you don’t have to pay 100k. If I’m paying 100k, I want to hire someone to do it and manage it myself….

[@brooklynsicily9145]

I would love a Coca-Cola route

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

I knew someone that ran a Pepsi / Coke route back in the day. For better or worse, I don't think you can buy them though. I think they're all mostly employees running those, and I don't think they get paid nearly as well as some of the bread routes available. However, there's some big pros and cons with running Pepsi routes vs owning bread routes. I'll make a video for you in the coming week or two that I think will help you determine whether a Pepsi route or a bread route is the right choice for you.

[@michaelmerck7576]

Lots of work for the money ​@@RoutetycoonVideos

[@brooklynsicily9145]

@@johncrawford6322 elaborate?

[@RoutetycoonVideos]

@@brooklynsicily9145 I got a video made for ya think that I think will help you think through which type of route might be best for you. I think a lot of people have similar questions to what you may be having too, so I think your comments and this video will help out a lot of people in a similar boat. Let me know what you think! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKDalJyvfdx5rac

[@jimm4798]

I have worked for Pepsi sales for 10 years. Both as a large format BCR and a small format PSAM. You can make good money depending on route and you get base pay and commission but you work for the company and have managers looking over your shoulder so you can never own anything. You are a cog with so many levels of management above you so you have very little say on most things. For people who don’t like being managed, especially by college grads much younger than them who often don’t know anything and tell you how to do the job you’ve done way longer than them, I’d back out. They have great benefits though which is why I’m still there but being managed and critiqued is something I don’t like and often there are products we are forced to sell that do terrible and all go out of code like starry and we often fail audits if we don’t have them in our stores. Plus we get a lot of heat for out of codes which I can be extremely hard to manage.

[@chrisbenj3819]

Not worth it

[@felimancilla9455]

Why

[@ROBERTSHIELDS13]

I "owned" a bread route for Bimbo for 8 years. You own NOTHING!! I have never been so micromanaged in my life. You make 0 decisions on how you do anything. The plant always shorts your order. And they will tell you thats not their problem and there is no excuse for not having it in the market. They a up your a$$ none stop. I would not give my worse enemy a route.

[@AnthonyM723]

Bimbo is hands down the worst company to work for in the IDP business. Not sure where your from but I experienced this with having a route with them for 10 years. Got the hell out and came to Pepperadge farm. Better commission, they leave you alone as long as you do your job. And with product supply they keep on top of it. Your not going to show up to the warehouse and be told the truck didn’t show up

[@ROBERTSHIELDS13]

@@AnthonyM723 FORT WORTH ,TX