After being a homemaker for over 20 years, Cathy Kidd earned an accounting degree at the age of 47 and worked in small-business accounting. Shortly after, she attended Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE), and the seed was planted to start her own business in Birmingham, Alabama. By Nancy E. Williams

After being a homemaker for over 20 years, Cathy Kidd earned an accounting degree at the age of 47 and worked in small-business accounting. Shortly after, she attended Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE), and the seed was planted to start her own business in Birmingham, Alabama. “I purchased my first six machines in 2017, and the first year was pretty challenging. However, I was fortunate enough to get a few great locations from the beginning that really helped me keep the dream alive,” Kidd said. “I then learned that Birmingham welcomed the idea of personalized vending to include healthy and traditional items. The big vendors were not able to provide the personalization or service that I offered, and there was genuine excitement on the part of the location when I solved that problem for them.”

In 2018, Kidd purchased a few more machines and started to realize that the vending business could really take off for her, so she asked her son, Grant, to join her. “This was the turning point to our success. With Grant and I being from two different generations, we are a great team. He is great with technology and is very forward-thinking. I’m a bit slower and cautious. With Grant now on board, we have grown to almost 50 machines and two micro-markets. We moved out of the garage to a warehouse a few months ago and have more machines on order!”

With persistence and consistency in following the process and guidance from Naturals2Go, Kidd has built a very successful vending business called HealthyChoice2Go, that continues to grow. Naturals2Go is also in the process of building a “women in vending” group for continued education, guidance, and support.

To learn more, visit naturals2go.com.

– Nancy E. Williams