ColdSnap is a machine similar to Keurig for soft ice cream

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A new machine called ColdSnap, which looks and works like a Keurig for soft ice cream, has become one of the most buzzing products at this year’s fully digital CES tech show. At a time when much of the event, like much of our lives, is focused on ways to adapt to the pandemic, ColdSnap offers the promise of something sweeter, a la carte.

The system is marketed by taking recyclable and stable ice cream pods from the shelves of different flavors and freezing them in about 90 seconds before distributing them in a cup or cone. The company also works on smoothies pods, frozen coffees, protein shakes, non-dairy ice creams and frozen cocktails, such as mud slides and daiquiris. The machine reads a QR code at the top of the sheath label to find the specific freezing temperature of each product.

The product, which is only in the prototype phase with plans to launch in certain locations during the second quarter of 2021 and send it directly to consumers early next year, falls under the framework of where has this been all my life? category. But the price is less sweet than the product: $ 1,000. (The company said it plans to cut it in half.)

Matthew Fonte, the serial entrepreneur of the product, said it has been a great commitment to create pods that are safe, convenient (low cleaning), cost effective and sustainable; the pod containers are made of aluminum like a soda can. For a long time, Keurig and other disposable pod manufacturers have been criticized for their inability to recycle their products.

ColdSnap, a Keurig system for software ice cream, is expected to begin shipping early next year

“This is a challenge and requires significant development and engineering experience,” said Fonte, who holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Tufts University. “At first, a lot of people didn’t think it was like that [scientifically] it is possible to create ice cream like this in about a minute or so “.

The company claims that the machine simultaneously extracts heat from the pod, creating a cooling effect on the liquid ice cream mixture and sticking a part inside the pod that mixes the ingredients during the cooling process. The air is sucked into the can to form the loft required for ice cream.

The idea started years ago when Fonte and her two daughters got tired of reading the same books at bedtime and decided to write in “invention magazines.”

“We included new toys, toothbrushes and hoola hoops,” he told CNN Business. “One day, they ordered an ice cream machine.”

He explained that home ice cream machines are not usually efficient; many require a bucket to freeze overnight, a constant mixing process and are a disaster to clean up. “What about a Keurig ice cream machine?” asked a daughter.

The rest is strawberry.

Fonte’s background played an important role in the beginning of the process. He and his brother worked alongside his father, an Italian immigrant, for 20 years in a metalworking business, producing rocket boxes for missiles. After selling the business, they started another focused on super elastic orthopedic implants. His team from that company later left together to start ColdSnap.

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“It’s been a lot of fun with my daughters, who have seen the whole beginning of starting a business, buying a 2,500-square-foot building, getting patents, and having shares in the company,” he said. “I’ve been explaining how investors invest in us and how we can’t let them down.”

Since then, the company has become a team of 18 people. Despite the high price, Fonte said the company has “thousands” of subscriptions from people to buy the product. “Sometimes we get notes on our website that just say,‘ Hurry up. I need that. ”

Keurig-inspired ice cream machines are not entirely new. LG demonstrated a prototype of the frozen yogurt pod system called SnowWhite at the 2019 SXSW conference in Austin, and startup Wim Yogurt developed a $ 299 frozen yogurt machine, but suspended operations in 2018. Meanwhile, traditional home ice cream machines can cost less than $ 100.
The cost of the ColdSnap system may evoke memories of Juicero, the Keurig system for pressing juice connected to the $ 400 network backed by Google and others. It received $ 120 million in capital, but eventually failed largely because of the price, and many said Silicon Valley was out of touch with the rest of the country. It was also reported that customers could get the same result by compressing the startup juice packs with their bare hands as with the machine.

However, ColdSnap was intended for commercial spaces such as rest rooms in offices, vehicle dealerships and student unions. When Covid arrived early last year, the company refocused. Fonte said he intends to reduce the price to $ 500 by changing stainless steel parts for plastic fittings. The pods will cost $ 2.99 each when launched.

Keurig-like spinoffs are plentiful, from pod coffee and pod cocktails to pod cookies. ColdSnap claims its product is a much cleaner game, due to the recyclable aluminum pods, which look like Red Bull cans, and the process of keeping ice cream cold inside the trucks that then transport it.

Judging by the enthusiastic response, it seems like people still want a product like this to be a reality. Source said U.S. interest is high, but he also sees opportunities in places like India and China, where the cold supply chain is scarce and could benefit from an on-demand system like ColdSnap.

“Hopefully maybe someday, in 20 years, people will look back and say,‘ Remember when all the ice cream froze. What madness is this? “”

Perhaps innovation is a dish best served cold.

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