ISRAEL – Israeli food tech company, Ripples, has launched the Ripples 2.0 Pro printer, a next-generation hardware device that prints selfies and logos on the tops of cocktails, beers, and coffees.
The unique technology is designed to help businesses and brands elevate consumer drink experiences.
Ripples teamed up with Diageo to create a Ketel One-branded printer that jazzes up the tops of espresso martinis.
Entrepreneur Yossi Meshulam founded Ripples in 2012 after spotting an opportunity to launch viral marketing campaigns on the tops of beverages.
The company began supplying its original device – the Ripple Maker – to bars, coffee shops, and restaurants in 2015.
The company used malt-based pods to allow consumers to print their selfies and logos on the heads of their pints, coffees, and cocktails.
The company’s patent-pending Chameleon Plus pods are made with flavorless cabbage extract and adjust to a drink’s pH level to print a spectrum of blue- and red-based hues to enhance cocktails.
Ripples CEO, Yossi Meshulam, said: “Gen Y and even more so Gen Z keep food and beverage businesses on their toes by raising expectations for innovation, personalization, and sustainability.
“The Ripple Maker II Pro was created with these audiences in mind. We wanted to elevate their food and beverage experiences and give them eye-catching reasons to share their moments on social media.”
The new beverage-top printer features a range of efficiency upgrades that ensure fast operational workflow.
Dual pods enable two colors to be printed onto a single drink and the new automated sensor recognizes cup dimensions to adjust the image size, keeping prints centered without manual intervention
The new refined technological device succeeds the Ripples 2.0. which was tested at a dozen venues around the world, and feedback was positive, so the first units are now starting to be shipped.
The printer has three main components – the hardware device, which sits on the bar; the software components; and the chemistry, the extracts, and the food technology.
The hardware took 18 months to develop and get into mass production, said Meshulam, to have a beautifully designed – very slick, very modern, with a small footprint.
The 2.0. printer was designed to be very Instagrammable after the company noticed from Ripple Maker 1.0, people like to take videos of the printing process.
The Ripple Maker 2.0 was made to have a whole cover from transparent glass so that people can take a video from the top and post it on Instagram.
It has replaceable panels, which allow customers to brand the units, and prints faster while also being a very quiet machine compared to the previous model.”
In addition, the new printer has a new glow extract [in addition to the malt extract], which shows under UV light, particularly made for clubs to be attention-grabbing.
Customers can now easily create their web apps with their look and feel, change the content and decide what kind of frames they want to have for selfies, Meshulam noted.
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