Heath Falzarano’s journey to finding Naturals2Go is similar to many of the company’s other vending business owners. Falzarano had been a special education teacher when he began looking for a change and more agency over his career. By Kelsi Trinidad
ENTREPRENEUR
Heath Falzarano’s journey to finding Naturals2Go is similar to many of the company’s other vending business owners. Falzarano had been a special education teacher when he began looking for a change and more agency over his career.
After seeking new career options, he and a partner purchased a call center. The business became a success, and the duo started exploring additional business opportunities to diversify. They were interested in franchising, and a consultant eventually brought them Naturals2Go, a healthy vending opportunity.
“I’m like, ‘Well, this healthy vending thing, you could take that option and throw it out the window because I’m not being a vending guy,’” recalled Falzarano. “I literally said that to the guy back then. So, we laugh nowadays, and we look back at starting as an owner-operator in 2016.”
It was Naturals2Go’s straightforward approach that sold him on the company, and he started with a package of 20 locations. Later in 2017 when then-CEO Randy Francis was looking to retire, Falzarano’s name kept being brought up to replace him. His skills from teaching and coaching were big selling points to the company and, in 2018, he officially took over as majority owner.
“I still picture myself green as grass,” said Falzarano. “I think that’s the best way to move this, although we’ve taken it from a little more than 20 employees in 2018 all the way to over 140 employees. We did about $6.5 million in revenue back then, and we’ll do over $30 million this year.”
Additionally, Naturals2Go is now establishing strategically placed regional operation centers that support all owners with product, training or other logistics near their locations.
Through strong partnerships with various suppliers, the company is expanding into other services beyond vending, including office coffee service, office coffee vending and pantry service.
“I think we’re just really kind of separating ourselves and diversifying ourselves within this unattended, convenient service industry,” said Falzarano. “We’re attracting a lot of really good people in this industry, and it’s quite humbling.”
Kelsi Trinidad