Restaurants and bars that serve beer on tap have a challenging task in monitoring how much beer is onsite at any given time, and in tracking when new deliveries will be required in order to ensure product does not run out. Most of these retailers keep a very limited amount of beer on the premises—two or three kegs of a specific brand, for example—and thus expect very quick deliveries from distributors and breweries to keep that small number replenished.
To help ensure that retailers never run out of beer, SteadyServ Technologies has developed an automated beer-management solution known as iKeg, which employs a passive high-frequency (HF) RFID tag, an RFID reader and a weight sensor, as well as a hosted software application that tracks not only which kegs filled with a particular type of beer are onsite, but also is the amount remaining in each keg. Several beer retailers and distributors are currently beta-testing an RFID-based solution, including distributors Monarch Beverage Co. and Premium Beverage Supply, as well as a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Carmel, Ind., and the Champions Sports Bar at the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown.
SteadyServ was founded in Carmel by several individuals with backgrounds in both technology and beer brewing. Cofounder Steve Hershberger owned his own microbrewery, where he says he faced the challenges of ensuring that deliveries were made to each restaurant or bar, that empty kegs were picked up, and that product did not pile up or run out at any customer site.
The iKeg solution includes a passive HF 13.56 MHz Identive RFID inlay made with an NXP Semiconductors chip and integrated into a label by RR Donnelley. The tag, compliant with the ISO 15693 standard, is attached to the handle of a keg as it is delivered. The solution also features SteadyServ’s “sensor ring”—a steel ring containing a built-in RFID reader and a weight sensor that serves as a platform on which a keg is stored at the retailer’s site. Another element of the system is a mobile application for either Android or Apple iOS devices, enabling users to manage their beer inventory levels from their mobile phone or tablet. With the SteadyServ system, the company installs a SteadyServ gateway at each participating bar and restaurant, and then provides that beer retailer with a sensor ring for each keg located on the premises.
When a distributor or brewer receives an order for a specified number of kegs of certain beer brands, employees at that company print the order and allocate a specific quantity of RFID tags to it, with a unique tag ID linked to each particular keg. Those tags are then provided to the driver in the same sequence as the list of kegs to be delivered, each printed with the beer’s name on the front, thereby ensuring that the proper ID number on the tag corresponds with the brand of beer being delivered.
Upon arrival at the retailer, the driver unloads the kegs and attaches the proper tag to each one. He or she then picks up a sensor ring that remains at the customer’s site, and taps the sensor against the tag. The sensor’s built-in RFID reader, custom-made for the solution by a third-party provider, captures the ID number and transmits that information via a 802.15.4 wireless connection to the retailer’s SteadyServ gateway, which then forwards that data to SteadyServ’s server via a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. The software on the server links the beer keg’s ID number, along with the specific type of beer, with that sensor ring, which is then attached to the bottom of the keg. The keg now sits atop the sensor ring, which measures the keg’s weight, periodically sending data to the gateway. The software calculates the remaining volume within the keg, as well as the remaining number of beer servings, and also tracks how many kegs are onsite and when they should be reordered. The weight data identifies the amount of beer within each keg, Hershberger says, to a sensitivity within several pints.
The keg’s weight changes as it is used, and the software determines how many glasses of beer remains and when that keg will soon need to be replaced. SteadyServ then not only issues an alert to the retailer’s management via the mobile app, but also generates a new purchase order for the distributor, instructing it to prepare to ship a new keg to the restaurant or bar.
Once an empty keg is picked up for return to the distributor, the driver leaves the sensor ring behind and delivers a new, full keg, pairing it with the sensor ring. The driver also removes the tag from the empty keg (each tag is designed to be used only a single time), and then takes the empty keg back to the distributor or brewery, where it can be cleaned and refilled.
Every distributor and brewery has its own login ID for the hosted software, allowing it to access product-usage and supply-chain information to help it manage the flow of beer to customers. In that way, the distributor can ensure that it never sends too many kegs to the retailer, and it can be certain it delivers full kegs as soon as those onsite are emptied. Sensor rings are typically rented or purchased outright by the retailer.
Hershberger says the app also allows users (bar and restaurant operators, as well as beer suppliers) to obtain analytics, such as how quickly specific beers are being consumed. The system tracks data, including when a keg’s sell-by date is due to expire, thereby ensuring that it is consumed on time. The service typically costs about $3.50 to $4 per keg, he says. Customers pay a monthly data and reporting fee, ranging from $25 to $50, in order to access that information. The device’s batteries have a lifetime of up to three years and are replaceable. The sensor ring is designed to enter sleep mode if its sensor readings are not changing, thus indicating that the keg is not being used.
According to Hershberger, the solution will save retailers considerable money, by ensuring that their product does not run out. “Draft beer delivers the largest [profit] margin” for many bars and restaurants, he states, and the solution can ensure that sales never stop due to a beer keg being emptied before it was expected it to be.
Following the beta-testing period, Hershberger says, the solution will be made commercially available toward the end of the first quarter of 2014.