Consumers of Coca-Cola in Spain can now pour and pay for drinks themselves as part of a European-first trial of a beverage dispensing system developed by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and Innovative Tap Solutions (ITS).
ITS’ technology will enable restaurants, cafes, offices, stadiums, and other venues to offer brands in CCEP’s portfolio via self-service taps. Through this system, consumers can refill their own drinks and pay for the quantity served themselves, directly through the tap.
The self-pour, self-pay technology offers consumers a packaging-free delivery method for their drinks, while also aiming to cut down queues, reduce the need for unnecessary contact, and free up serving staff – features that are beneficial as COVID-19 restrictions lift.
ITS, which is new to Europe, will be piloted with CCEP customers Restalia – a Spanish multinational catering group – and Aspro Parks – a company specialising in theme parks, water parks, zoos, and leisure centres.
The first ITS devices have been installed in Restalia’s 100 Montaditos restaurant at Centro Comercial TresAguas shopping centre, located in Madrid, and at Aspro Parks’s Palmitos Park and Aqualand Maspalomas, in Gran Canaria.
This initiative represents a step forward in CCEP’s This is Forward Action on Packaging strategy, which was launched in 2017. CCEP has committed to investing and innovating in refillable and dispensed delivery models with the aim of reducing packaging where it can and eliminating packaging waste, while lowering its carbon footprint as part of its 2040 net-zero ambition.
Craig Twyford, co-founder of CCEP Ventures, the company’s investment arm, comments: “We’re always looking for new and innovative ways for people to enjoy our drinks, thinking beyond the traditional bottle or can, and ITS is a great example of how we’re using technology to help our customers sell and deliver our products in different ways.
“One of the key focus areas for CCEP Ventures is exploring new partnerships and investments to accelerate sustainable packaging innovation and how we can deliver more beverages while using less packaging.
“ITS is an opportunity for us to explore and test new dispensed and packaging-free delivery solutions and, alongside other steps, create a circular economy model that will help us reduce, reuse and recycle our packaging.”
CCEP Ventures invested in ITS in 2020 and plans to co-develop the self-pour, self-pay solution for soft drinks with the goal of bringing new packaging and packaging-free innovations to market for CCEP customers.
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