Boozelator Aims to Reduce Drunk Drivers, One Bar at a Time

Gabriel Jacobs is President of Sales & Marketing for Blo Dad & Sons, the Boozelator Breathalyzer Vending and Advertising Machine company. Headquartered in Cape Coral, Fla., the company is determined to make a difference in the world by reducing the amount of drunk drivers on the road, one bar at a time. Drunk driving is a real and present danger that claims the lives of nearly 10,000 Americans every year, more than one life every hour.

In our Q&A with Jacobs, we learn the idea behind the franchise, what he would’ve done differently and where he sees the company in five years.


Tell us about your company?

Blo Dad & Sons offers unique vending products for recession-proof industries (alcohol and beauty). Our main product is the Boozelator 5001 Smart Breathalyzer Vending Machine w/Advertising Screen. This product is placed in bars, pubs and nightclubs and allows bar-goers the ability to test their BrAC (Breath Alcohol Content) level for a fee ($1-$5 per test – machine owner sets the price). There is an embedded Smart advertising monitor on the machine that allows machine owners to sell advertising to local businesses (taxi cabs, DUI attorneys and more) for additional revenue. The vending route operator can maintain a large vending route without changing their current lifestyle. Since the machines require so little maintenance, you can keep your current job and lifestyle. All of this, with the added benefit that you are helping to save lives by creating alcohol awareness.

RELATED: TOP NEW FRANCHISES TO INVEST IN

What is the idea behind the franchise?

The concept is that people purchase and own the Boozelator vending machines and place them in bars, pubs and clubs and maintain them, collecting the money generated by BrAC tests. Vending is a numbers game, one machine is not really too attractive, but growing a route of several machines can generate a nice residual income with little work.

According to most DUI police reports, those arrested for DUI often report that they felt safe to drive and did not realize they were over the legal alcohol limit. This confirmed the need to make a product that allows alcohol consumers the ability to test themselves while spending a night out on the town. Our goal with the Boozelator 5001 is to help reduce drunk driving in local communities and around the world by allowing alcohol-consumers the ability to test their BrAC levels and hopefully make wise decisions not to drive. All this while allowing the machine owner to profit on BrAC test sales and advertising sales.

How does it compare to its competition?

The Boozelator 5001 is so unique that we do not have any direct competitors. There have been a handful of breathalyzer vending machines over the last three decades that have come and gone, but none as successful as the Boozelator brand. The main thing that sets us apart is that we were the first in the industry to use a real law enforcement grade Platinum Fuel Cell alcohol sensor, the worldwide standard in law enforcement BrAC testing. Prior and competitor models mainly used cheap and inaccurate ‘semiconductor’ sensors, which require a clean air environment, meaning that alcohol fumes in a bar greatly reduce the accuracy of the cheap sensors and make it a poor choice for a public breathalyzer.

Our customer support is unparalleled in the vending industry. We offer free customer and technical support for life to help our vending machine clients start, grow and maintain a successful vending route. Our machines have remote/offsite monitoring capabilities to monitor sales, mouthpiece levels and send advertisements to the machines from your home and/or office computer.

Our machines are also unique in that there is a disclaimer “Do Not Drive” that is displayed with each and every test result, even if the user tested under the legal driving limit. This is to protect the machine owner and the establishment where the machine is placed.

Who is your demographic?

Any alcohol-serving establishment can benefit from having a BrAC vending machine for their clients and patrons.

Where do you see the company in five years?

First released in 2009, the Boozelator is now on it’s third generation model. We are constantly adding upgrades to ensure our machine is far above the competition. Wherever we see opportunity, we add upgradable features. Many upgrades are compatible with prior model machines. We see this machine in all major bars, pubs and nightclubs throughout the USA and world in the next five years.

Can you describe a typical day in the life of a licensee?

Life as normal! Once machines are placed, you can maintain them once every 6-8 weeks at only about 3 minutes per machine. You can effectively maintain a 50 machine vending route in one afternoon, 6-8 times per year.

What’s your background?

My background is in marketing, product development and over a decade in national, regional and local media sales.

What motivates you to keep going?

We thoroughly enjoy the positive feedback we hear daily from our clients, patrons of bars that love our products, as well as knowing that we are helping to make the world a safer place with our clients support for growing their vending routes so effectively.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

We started as our competitors did with the cheap ‘semiconductor’ alcohol sensor, which we found to be very inaccurate. Instead of spending one year developing an inaccurate machine that we never ended up selling, we wish we would have consulted a little more to go with a top quality product right away. This being said, it helped us learn more about why a high-quality alcohol sensor is so important. So while it was initially regrettable, I think it was an important, yet expensive, learning curve to better know how our products fair against the competition.

Please tell us your secret to success…

Our philosophy is simple: if our clients are not successful, then we are not successful! This is why we offer the most intimate customer and technical support in the vending industry. Free customer and technical support for life!

What is the worst job you have ever had and what did you learn from it?

Working retail. It was so boring waiting for clients to come through the doors and I felt so unproductive spending most of my time waiting. I prefer a job that I have control over. That is also why we like vending so much – if one machine is not performing to your standards, its simple – relocate it! Our vending machines are smaller than the average, weighing only about 30lbs, so they are easily transportable in a situation as this.

What is one thing that really excites you?

I am excited by many things but mainly the company of family and friends, and meeting new people.

Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Always ensure the company you are looking to franchise with for the next several years is easy to get in touch with by both phone and email during your information gathering and preorder phase. It is imperative to ensure that you have proper support for any guidance you may need along the way!

Where can people find out more about Boozelator?

Visit their website here

Where can people find Boozelator on social media?

RELATED: 20 CHEAP FRANCHISES TO START UNDER $20,000