If one has an idea for a new vending machine what's the best approach for it to come to fruition? Speak to a company that builds them and then pay them to build the new one? How do you prevent them from stealing your idea?

Well I'm pretty sure you should call as many manafacturers as you can find to see if someone already has machines with what you want to do... I'm pretty sure the outside may be different but the innards and mechanics already exsist someplace... so after you do some research, find someone who will do a custom one-off machine for tens of thousands of dollars, get them to sign a contract not to reproduce it... then write the check...