Creating new Value Markets
India is one of the fastest Ready-To-Drink (RTD) markets in the world. In the past, the cost of the dispensing machines was hampering the industry’s growth. Typically built for western high footfall markets, conventional machines can dispense drinks every few seconds, but cost thousands of dollars. The larger market in India comprises 12 million small shops that cannot afford the expensive machines.
There was a growing backlash against MNC brands in certain states. We, at Bang Design, worked with a $65Bn global food, snack and beverage company to address this market. We worked on the product design, and manufacturing engineering of the entire system while the brand’s in-house team worked on the valves, process engineering and packaging for the formulae.
The innovative industrial design combines an intuitive, engaging interface with tried and tested tactile membrane technology. The product is unique in leveraging pre-existing beverage formulae while providing additional or new product options to consumers. For all its simplicity, the dispenser is also smart. With every pour, it observes which brands and flavors people love most—empowering individual locations to optimize their offerings, based on actual usage data.
The distinction of this dispenser is in its industrial strength design that is elegant in form and details. The front door is plastic and houses all the external interfaces – backlit signage, and a tactile membrane keypad for rough use. Behind the door is access to refill powder chambers, connect vacuum sealed beverage concentrate packs, and both heating and chilling tanks. The sculptural cavity in the front helps direct the user to place their glass correctly. Aesthetically, our goal is to balance the organic with the mechanical, creating a luxurious yet approachable and affordable ‘value’ machine. Pop of colors added from the partner brands represent the freshness of the dispensed beverage.