Bob Tullio’s Product Perspective: A closer look at products, equipment and services that will impact an operator’s business

The Product

Bevi – A “smart water cooler,” offering filtered still water and sparkling water, with up to four naturally sweetened or unsweetened flavors. Available in an upright or countertop format.

Most popular flavors: Lemon, Coconut, Lemon Lime and Peach Mango Website – www.bevi.co

The Back Story

When Sean Grundy and his partner created Bevi about five years ago, their focus was to do their part to eliminate the use of plastic bottles in the beverage industry. “We were collectively horrified by the waste that was going into landfills, rivers and oceans,” said Grundy. “In office environments, we saw companies going through thousands of bottles and we realized that we could match many of the flavors, help companies save money and save time needed to manage a beverage program.”

Grundy and his team asked a basic question when they developed the Bevi dispenser. “Why are we mixing a drink in a bottling plant, putting it in a container, loading it on a truck and transporting the beverage somewhere, when we can simply deliver one percent of the ingredients to a location, mix it with filtered water and offer a quality beverage at the point of use?”

According to Grundy, the market is responding. Bevi continues to enjoy rapid growth in office environments across numerous business sectors, including many Fortune 500 companies. “Bevi has emerged as nice fit for companies who seek convenience, savings and a way to meet environmental initiatives,” he added.

The Bevi dispenser, in a countertop and upright version, offers still water, sparkling water and an extensive list of naturally sweetened and unsweetened flavors. Grundy said that Bevi does a lot of market research and competitive analysis to determine flavor demand. “If a major sparkling water company comes up with a flavor that is a hit, we try to react quickly to meet that demand.”

Bevi is also concentrating on the use seasonal flavors – using data to determine which flavors will be popular in cold or hot months. Grundy encourages operators to change flavors periodically; a strategy that contributes to consistent usage levels.

Grundy said he sees a big opportunity for Bevi in micro markets. “The company is in micro market locations now and the data looks promising. We have seen strong success and usage so far.”

Why it Makes Sense for Operators

1) Strong Sales Tool: What facility manager would not fall in love with Bevi? It is like a cute little robot that saves space, cuts costs, tugs on environmental emotions and delivers a quality beverage. If your reps can’t sell Bevi – what can they sell?

2) Demographics: What a perfect product for Millennials and the coming Generation Z, both of whom seek customized beverages (a trend that just keeps growing) and healthier products – along with greater environmental awareness.

3) Space Saving: How often does a kitchen layout make an operator scratch his head in disbelief? When a glass door cooler will not fit, Bevi is a solution. When the smaller location demands a micro market, Bevi can carry the beverage load.

4) Competitive Advantage: An operator that offers Bevi enjoys a nice addition to their equipment arsenal. It is a “must have” at some locations and if you are not a distributor, as time goes on, you may be challenged to retain certain accounts.

5) High Margins + Reduced Labor costs: Client service demands are not letting up. The leading locations offer great revenue opportunities in pantry service and micro markets, but they simply do not care about soaring labor costs being incurred by operators. Bevi can cut labor costs significantly.

Bob’s Perspective

Sean Grundy is very clear about Bevi’s interest in taking on serious new distributors. For operators, the window of opportunity is open – for now.

The best reason to become a Bevi distributor relates to the future. Bevi has taken on a new team of executives from companies like Amazon and Boston Dynamics. The company is focused on technology that will only make the Bevi dispenser more attractive.

Grundy said the company plans to release an updated version of Bevi – probably in late 2019, that will double or triple the amount of drink options. They are also working on meeting the increasing demand for “functional beverages,” like Kombucha, a typically a high-priced offering.

Water and flavored water is a red-hot segment of office refreshment and Bevi has found a perfect niche. The push for environmental sustainability along with consumer demand for customized beverages will only get bigger – all trending well for Bevi and their distributors.

For information about becoming a Bevi distributor: [email protected]

Would you like to have your product, equipment or service featured in Bob Tullio’s Product Perspective? Contact me at [email protected]