despite the spectacular failure of Juicero—A $ 400 machine that created freshly squeezed juice for squeezing bags full of juice– there are still companies willing to bet on instant food machines based on capsules. The most recent is the Cold wave which creates a soft on-demand service and other frozen treats if you have another piece of counter space to sacrifice to the life of the pod.
It is understandable why companies are still trying to find gold with the capsule-based instant food approach. Last August, Keurig Dr. Pepper anticipated your revenues by 2020 it would exceed $ 11 billion and, although with a little more effort, anyone can make a cup of coffee at home this far exceeds the quality of what a Keurig machine can manufacture; consumers love convenience.
But the biggest concern with instant food machines based on capsules and packages is not the quality of the food or drinks they produce, but the capsules and capsules themselves. The machines produce a lot of unnecessary waste and, although coffee capsules are generally recyclable or compostable at this point, the manufacturing and recycling process still consumes resources that do not need to be spent just for the sake of convenience when you are half awake in the morning.
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Instead of ‘fresh’ coffee or juice, ColdSnap creates portions of a single serving of frozen treats, including creamy ice cream, frozen yogurt, iced coffee, smoothies, “healthy shakes”, smoothies and even cocktails anywhere from 60 to 90 seconds. It’s like having a McDonald’s ice cream dispenser and a Slurpee 7-11 machine in your kitchen for your personal use – admittedly, a very tempting argument – but when it comes to capsule-based machines, ColdSnap requires more space in the kitchen than most.
Not only is the ColdSnap machine much bigger than a Keurig, but the fruits you use are as big as a can of caustic soda. They are stable on the shelf, meaning the cans and ingredients don’t need to be refrigerated, but they will still be struggling with their LaCroix and White Claw cans for space in their pantry.
There is no pricing information yet, as ColdSnap is being released with a limited beta launch in the Boston area this summer, but you can expect the machine’s price to be several hundred dollars, given its ability to freeze ingredients quickly in less two minutes – plus the cost of single-service pods. Will it be worth the cost? Again, the biggest selling point here is convenience, but for less than $ 100 you can get an ice cream maker that produces frozen treats in about 20 minutes with the ingredients that are already in your fridge and cupboards. With a little patience, you can probably save a lot of money and a trash can full of discarded capsules.