ColdSnap is a Keurig type machine for soft ice cream

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A new machine called ColdSnap, which looks and functions like a Keurig for soft serve ice cream, became one of the hottest products at this year’s CES tech show. At a time when much of the event, like much of our lives, is focused on coping with the pandemic, the ColdSnap offers the promise of something milder, on demand.

The system is marketed to take recyclable shelf-stable ice cream pods of different flavors and freeze them in about 90 seconds before dispensing them into a cup or cone. The company is also working on pods for smoothies, frozen coffees, protein shakes, non-dairy ice creams and frozen cocktails, such as landslides and daiquiris. The machine reads a QR code on the top of the capsule label to find the specific freezing temperature for each product.

The product, which is only at the prototype stage with plans to launch in some locations in the second quarter of 2021 and ship direct to consumers early next year, falls under the where has it been all my life? Category. But the price is less sweet than the product: $ 1,000. (The company said it intended to cut it in half.)

Matthew Fonte, the serial entrepreneur behind the product, said creating safe, convenient (low-cleaning), cost-effective and long-lasting pods has been a big undertaking; pod containers are aluminum like a soda can. Keurig and other manufacturers of single-use pods have long been criticized for their inability to recycle their products.

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

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

The company claims that the machine simultaneously pulls heat from the capsule, creating a cooling effect on the liquid ice cream mixture, and engages a part in the capsule that stirs the ingredients during the cooling process. Air is drawn into the box to make the required loft in the 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 journals”.

“We have included new toys, toothbrushes and hoops,” he told CNN Business. “One day they asked for an ice machine.”

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

The rest is histrawberry.

Fonte’s background played an important role in starting the process. He and his brother worked alongside their father, an Italian immigrant, for 20 years in a metalworking company, producing rocket motor housings for missiles. After selling the business, they started another one focused on super elastic orthopedic implants. His team from this company then left to start ColdSnap.

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“It was a lot of fun with my daughters, who saw the whole start of starting a business, buying a 2,500 square foot building, getting patents and they have shares in it. the business, ”he said. “I explained how investors invest in us and how we cannot let them down.”

The company has since grown into a team of 18 people. Despite the high price tag, Fonte said the company had “thousands” of signatories to purchase the product. “Sometimes we get notes on our website that just say, ‘Hurry up. I need this. “”

Keurig-inspired ice cream machines aren’t entirely new. LG demonstrated a prototype frozen yogurt pod system called SnowWhite at the SXSW 2019 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 conjure up memories of Juicero, the $ 400 web-connected Keurig-for-Press-Juice system backed by Google and others. It received $ 120 million in capital, but ultimately failed largely because of the price, with many claiming Silicon Valley was disconnected from the rest of the country. There have also been reports that customers could achieve the same result by squeezing the startup’s juice packs with their bare hands as they did with the machine.

ColdSnap, however, was originally intended for commercial spaces like break rooms in offices, car dealerships and student unions. When Covid struck earlier last year, the company refocused. Fonte said he aimed to bring the price down to $ 500 by replacing stainless steel parts with plastic fixtures. Pods will cost $ 2.99 each when it launches.

Keurig-like spinoffs are numerous, ranging from coffee pods 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 become a reality. Fonte said US interest was high, but he also saw opportunities in countries like India and China, where the cold supply chain is uneven and could benefit from a system on demand like ColdSnap.

“We hope that one day maybe, 20 years from now, people will look back and say, ‘Remember when ice cream was frozen all the time. How crazy is that? ‘”

Perhaps innovation is a dish best served cold.

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