UK – Leading foodservice equipment manufacturer, Hoshizaki, has introduced a mobile self-serve ‘Beer Station’ concept, in an effort to minimize human interactions in restaurants.

The beer station, developed in collaboration with Victor Manufacturing,  incorporates Hoshizaki’s new automatic beer dispenser, BeerMatic Dual Tap DBF-AS65WE, which pours a pint at a push of a button following payment through an inbuilt system.

As well as the BeerMatic Dual Tap, the self-contained unit can store a beer keg, CO₂ cylinder and glasses.

The beer dispenser has an internal chilling system that can connect directly to a standard keg kept at room temperature, enabling businesses with limited facilities to provide freshly poured, chilled pints.

The ‘Beer Station’ can incorporate a variety of payment systems including contactless, ApplePay or credit cards and couldn’t be easier for customers to use – they simply pay for their drink, place their glass in the holder and press a button.

Once the process is over, Simon Frost, director UK & Ireland, Hoshizaki UK, says clients can then have “a perfectly poured pint or half pint ready in just 15 seconds.”

“Our industry has had to adapt to changes over the past year. One of the positive things I have seen develop is the unity and willingness of likeminded manufactures to work together on projects where both companies’ strengths can be fully utilised,”

Steven McGarvie, UK sales and marketing director at Victor Manufacturing.

A timely innovation

The innovation is timely as it is being launched during a pandemic where people are being required to observe social distancing in order to curb the spread of the virus.

“Our industry has had to adapt to changes over the past year. One of the positive things I have seen develop is the unity and willingness of likeminded manufactures to work together on projects where both companies’ strengths can be fully utilised,” says Steven McGarvie, UK sales and marketing director at Victor Manufacturing.

Frost says that the company has already received significant interest in the mobile self-serve ‘Beer Station’ from a wide variety of operators including professional sports clubs and leisure venues.

The covid-19 period has also impacted development of food equipment leading to innovations that lean towards social distancing and contactless service.

Earlier, Keurig Commercial, the out-of-home coffee division of Keurig Dr Pepper,  introduced touch-free brewing features to its range of bean-to-cup coffee machines for workplaces.

Developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Keurig Remote Brew app reportedly allows users to select and customise beverages from Keurig coffee machines using a smartphone, without touching the machines physically.

“While a lot has changed, we’re committed to providing our office customers the comfort and normalcy of great coffee with safe and hygienic brewing solutions,” Phil Drapeau, senior vice-president, away-from-home for Keurig Dr Pepper said.

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