(We originally posted this in 2020. You can read more of our original ideas in our archive.)
Problem: Bartenders occasionally make my drinks incorrectly. Also for bars, labor is one of the highest expenses (after real estate and costs of goods sold).
Solution: A business that develops IoT-enabled robotics devices that manufacture, distribute, and operate robotic bartenders to create robot bars. While this is a leap forward in technology, the innovation for this business would be in the sales model rather than being in the actual product. Most robotics companies attempt to sell hardware to bar owners at a high, one-time fixed cost. This business, on the other hand, would give bar owners a free robot and would recoup the costs by taking a percentage of dollars from drinks sold. Moreover, the business would use the data on popular drinks made to sell insights to distillers, brewers, and more. Other alternative revenue streams (that again would innovate on the model and promote cheaper up-front costs) could include sponsored robots that could be placed in bars.
Technology-wise, this business is feasible today: products on par (“parable products” if that’s a phrase) include the Pepsi Spire (pictured below), Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, and the bar bot (made by a college student).
Most of these products today are non-alcoholic; however, I argue that an alcoholic version of these same robots would be revolutionary and could potentially garner even more money.
As reported by Park Street, “The volume of the U.S. beverage market totals at 202 billion liters of liquid. Alcohol is responsible for 16.5% of total beverage volume. The alcoholic beverage market is over 80% attributed to malt beverages with wine and spirits products splitting the remaining 20%. Distilled spirits make up around 7% of the sales of alcoholic beverages. The largest sub-category of spirits is vodka with 34% of cases sold, followed by whiskey with 24% and miscellaneous specialty spirits at 12%. Wines make up around 11% of the alcoholic beverage market. 71% of the cases sold are domestically produced wines and 19% are imported wines. Champagnes and sparkling wines make up around 7% of the wine volume.”
Globally in terms of dollar size, “The global alcoholic beverages market was valued at $1.439 trillion in 2017, and is expected to reach $1.684 trillion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 2.0% from 2018 to 2025. Most cultures across the globe have traditionally consumed various types of alcoholic beverages; however, local specialty alcoholic beverages account for the majority share. Only a small number have evolved into commodities that are produced commercially on a large scale. On a global level, beer from barley, wine from grapes, and other distilled beverages are sold as commodities. The pricing of these beverages is determined by the costs of production and the duties levied on those costs. The effects of prices as measured with price elasticities differ across countries and in different time periods.”
Monetization: The innovative models described above.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)