Lavazza Professional has announced the acquisition of Scottish vending operation SV24-7 Vending (Stirlingshire Vending). SV24-7, a family business with over 60 years of vending industry experience, offers vending and office coffee services, including micro markets. Ken MacIsaac, UK business leader at Lavazza Professional, said: “By welcoming such a well-established and reputable provider to the Lavazza Professional family, we can continue to deliver a ‘one-stop-shop’ solution for machines, drinks, snacks and exceptional service to customers in the central belt of Scotland; from Glasgow to Edinburgh, to Tayside and everything in between”. He added: “The changes have been well received, and we’re looking forward to unlocking the opportunities that the acquisition presents". Fiona Chambers, former director of SV24-7, commented: “Over the years, we built our business on providing our clients with the most effective vending solutions, underpinned by our commitment to service excellence and a product portfolio tailored specifically to the needs of each client – aligning perfectly with Lavazza Professional". “We have built strong relationships with our customers over the last 11 years, so with both businesses sharing the same values, it was a logical step for us to move the operation when the opportunity arose.” Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Refresco has opened a new €20 million high-bay warehouse at its production site in Calvörde, Germany. The new facility has a total capacity of over 41,000 pallet spaces, becoming Refresco’s largest fully automated warehouse. Refresco said the warehouse is of “strategic importance” for future production and logistics at the site. In addition, the fully automated logistics system is expected to enhance occupational safety. With the investment, the company expects to improve the efficiency of both the production environment and the transportation of finished products. The warehouse will enable Refresco to continue to grow and acquire new business. Till Alvermann, managing director at Refresco Germany, said: “The new high-bay warehouse is a milestone for us and makes this one of Refresco’s most advanced locations worldwide. Among other things, the complete automation of our logistical handling allows us to load quickly and safely and improves our competitive advantage. We also strengthen the service level for our customers.” #Germany #Refresco

Mettler Toledo has launched its next-generation Easy Vis, which analyses liquid samples for their optical spectrum, colour and water parameters. The notebook-sized device is able to carry out three measuring tasks with the potential to replace three instruments: a colourimeter, a spectrophotometer and measuring methods for water testing, such as titration. The machine provides workflow guidance, enabling untrained staff to operate it with ease and reducing training time. Within seconds, the results appear on a visual interface. Easy Vis streamlines the production process as it can be used multiple times; inspecting raw materials, quality control and products, or testing the water quality of wastewater. The instrument’s sample analysis removes the need to send samples to external laboratories for testing. Easy Vis operates within a wavelength range of 330 to 1,000 nanometres. Its light source is an easy-to-replace tungsten lamp. The instrument is preinstalled with 25 standard-compliant colour scales in the visible range, for example, ICUMSA for sugar colour, ESBC for beer quality analysis and OIV CIELab for wine colour determination. The water analysis tool shows the concentration of chemicals within the sample – for example, aluminium or polyphenol. This reveals whether the liquid is fit for human consumption or whether the wastewater is safe to release. In terms of spectrophotometry, the instrument analyses the sample at the wavelengths where it has its characteristic absorption of light, measuring the transmitted or absorbed light. The reading reveals the sample’s concentration or purity. #Liquidanalysis #MettlerToledo

Trigo has raised $100 million in an equity financing round led by Singaporean investment firm Temasek and 83North. The round included participation from new and existing investors, such as SAP, Hetz Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners, Vertex Ventures, Viola and supermarket giant Rewe Group. Based in Israel, Trigo uses artificial intelligence to build the infrastructure for autonomous grocery stores. The company works with retailers to convert their existing stores into frictionless shopping experiences. Employing technologies such as ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors, Trigo’s retail automation platform identifies picked-up shopping items with very high levels of accuracy, enabling a seamless checkout process. In addition, the company says that its StoreOS store operating system can track inventory in real-time, minimise out-of-stock and expired items, and manage store and supply chain operations predictively. Trigo solutions are employed by leading grocery retailers around the world, including Tesco in the UK, Aldi Nord in the Netherlands, Rewe, Netto, Israel’s Shufersal and Wakefern Food. The company will use the new capital to scale the deployment of its cashier-free technology across the US and Europe, expand into new geographies and further develop its StoreOS store and inventory management software application suite. Michael Gabay, Trigo co-founder and CEO, said: “By opening multiple autonomous stores with five of the world’s leading grocery retailers, we have proven that we can deploy computer vision and AI to empower physical stores with the same kinds of insights and capabilities that e-commerce stores have. This investment allows Trigo to build on this success and focus on three core initiatives: expanding our autonomous retail platform, building increasingly larger stores and executing a pipeline of contracted stores around the world.” Joern Keller, EVP at SAP, added: “Trigo’s superior computer vision technology built the infrastructure for grab-and-go shopping and laid the foundation for additional in-store scenarios of the future. As a leading provider of enterprise software for the retail industry, SAP is delighted to join as a strategic investor to Trigo to support the development of the StoreOS autonomous supermarket operating system. Their solutions will complement SAP’s cloud solutions for retail, integrating seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA and pave the way towards building an intelligent store.” #Israel #Trigo

US coffee technology brand, Terra Kaffe, has announced the launch of a “super-automatic” coffee machine, TK-02. According to Terra Kaffe, TK-02 uses “whole-bean coffee, new proprietary precision brewing technology and smart connectivity to craft ultra-customised drinks”. The coffee machine is able to brew both drip coffee and espresso. TK-02 features a barista-grade smart scale; hybrid brew unit to seamlessly switch between espresso-based drinks and drip coffee; automatic grind adjustment for intelligent automatic adjustment to different espresso and drip coffee profiles, as well as bean types; and a larger group head, which allows for brewing of up to 16g of ground coffee per drink. The TK-02 is available for $1,400 on the brand’s website. #TerraKaffe #US

In an update on its announcement from November last year, Royal Unibrew has said that it will no longer be acquiring Scandinavian mineral water producer Aqua d’Or from Danone. According to the statement released this week, the parties have determined that they will not be able to fulfil the closing conditions and have therefore agreed that the deal will not materialise. The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority said that it had expressed competition concerns about the acquisition. Jonas Guldborg Hansen, head of investor relations and communications at Royal Unibrew, said: “The parties have withdrawn the notification of the transaction to the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority”. #AquadOr #Danone #Denmark #RoyalUnibrew

Hiru Corporation has announced the purchase of a full-scale water bottling company in Roseville, California. The value of the bottling plant is around $7 million, and the deal included both cash and equity. The facility offers 133,000 square feet of floor space, four automated bottling lines and the capacity to produce all sizes of water bottles, which will support the company in fulfilling its invoices from Alkaline 88 and other clients. Hiru president and CEO, Kathryn Gavin, said: “The acquisition of the Roseville water bottling plant will allow us to expand our relationship with Alkaline 88 and our other major national and regional clients. It will also let us significantly surpass our previous projected top-line revenue for 2023, which was $30 million.” Gavin continued: “We are currently working to make sure all four automated bottling lines are fully operational as soon as possible. This new location is very versatile as it will allow us to produce any size water bottle to meet all of our current client needs. Closing this acquisition was a priority for Hiru as soon as we discovered it was available. It is exactly what we needed to move to the next level and to continue the exponential growth we have experienced since inception.” #Hiru #US

Primo Water Corporation has announced it has acquired substantially all the assets of bottled water manufacturer Crystal Spring Water Company. The purchase was made by the company’s Primo Water North America (PWNA) subsidiary. Crystal Spring Water Company has manufactured and distributed spring water to Rhode Island – where it is based– and southeastern Massachusetts, both in New England, since 1907. Tom Harrington, CEO of Primo, said: “Crystal Spring Water Company offers high-quality spring water solutions and delivers superior customer service that aligns with our mission of inspiring healthier lives through water your way.” Primo operates largely under a razorblade revenue model, comprised of Water Direct, Water Exchange and Water Refill. Its Water Direct business delivers sustainable hydration solutions to homes and businesses. Meanwhile, its Water Exchange and Refill businesses offer pre-filled and reusable water containers, water dispenser sales and water refill units. Primo also provides water-filtration units. The acquisition will strengthen PWNA’s footprint in the northeastern region of the US, increasing its number of customers by an estimated 2,500. “We are excited to welcome these customers and associates to our Primo family,” added Harrington. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. #CrystalSpringWater #PrimoWaterCorporation #PrimoWaterNorthAmerica #waterdispensers

Lucas Bols and De Kuyper Royal Distillers have entered into an agreement to sell their alcoholic beverage business Avandis to Refresco for €25 million. Based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, Avandis is owned in equal share by Lucas Bols and De Kuyper as part of a joint venture established in 2001. The acquisition of Avandis offers a range of contract manufacturing solutions to brand owners in the alcohol industry, as well as having one of “Europe’s most advanced” bottling facilities for distilled beverages. As part of the deal, Refresco entered into a long-term manufacturing agreement with both Lucas Bols and De Kuyper to invest and expand the Avandis business. Lucas Bols CEO, Huub van Doorne, said: “We are confident that Refresco offers the best environment for Avandis to thrive. The transaction allows us to fully focus on our core activity: creating great cocktail experiences around the globe. We will benefit from Refresco’s size, scale and expertise in manufacturing beverages as our brands will continue to be manufactured by Avandis under the new ownership.” “This transaction is a strategic step forward for us, as we will be able to focus on building and marketing our premium cocktail liqueur brands according to our vision to “Own the Cocktail” while leveraging Refresco’s platform and capabilities,” added Mark de Witte, CEO of De Kuyper. Hans Roelofs, CEO of Refresco, commented: “This acquisition is a step change in expanding our offering to customers in the alcohol category and complements our existing hard liquor capabilities in Europe. As part of our Buy&Build strategy, we aim to expand in beverage categories that offer significant growth potential. As alcohol is one of those categories, this acquisition will make for a great fit and perfectly suits our company vision of ‘Our drinks on every table’.” The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. #DeKuyperRoyalDistillers #LucasBols #Refresco

McCafé has announced the launch of its new McCafé high-grown organic dark roast coffee for home drinking. McCafé’s high-grown organic dark roast coffee is made from 100% Arabica beans grown at high elevations in Central and South America’s coffee regions featuring notes of cocoa and caramel. “The influence of elevation on coffee beans is impactful, providing the ideal growing conditions for beans to unlock brighter, livelier flavours,” said Danielle Wedge, marketing director for the McCafé retail portfolio. Wedge added: “We’re thrilled about offering this elevated coffee-drinking experience exclusively through our retail partners and know McCafé coffee drinkers will love the difference ‘high grown’ brings to the table.” McCafé’s high-grown organic dark roast coffee can be enjoyed at home in various formats including single-serve, K-Cup pods, 300g fine ground bags and 300g whole bean bags. The products are now available online and through grocery and speciality retailers in the US. #McCafé #US

Joffer Beverage Company announced the addition of a new chocolate flavour carbonated water to its portfolio of sparkling drinks inspired by Jelly Belly jelly beans. The chocolate beverage features natural flavours infused in carbonated water, with zero sugar, sweeteners, calories and sodium. Jelly Belly Chocolate Sparkling Water will join the current lineup of five other flavour varieties: juicy pear, french vanilla, orange sherbet, very cherry and watermelon, all of which have only two ingredients, sparkling water and natural flavours. Co-founder of Joffer Beverage Company, Ben Joffer, said: “We are excited to continue expanding our line of innovative flavoured sparkling water products, especially with such a popular and unique flavour as chocolate. Our goal with this product was to introduce a flavour that enables consumers to enjoy a guiltless indulgence with amazing taste, along with zero calories and sweeteners. “The drink works on its own as a refreshing and indulgent thirst quencher or as a tasty and healthy ingredient that can be used in a variety of fun beverage creations,” he added. #carbonateddrinks #JellyBelly #JofferBeverageCompany

Israeli food tech company, Ripples, has launched the Ripple Maker II Pro, a hardware device that can print a range of images on the tops of beverages, all in natural plant-based colours. FoodBev met with the Ripples team at this year’s Drinktec, and was treated to a Winnie the Pooh printed image on our coffee! The unique technology is designed to help businesses and brands elevate consumer drink experiences. Meanwhile, the company’s patent-pending Chameleon Plus pods are made with flavourless cabbage extract and adjust to a drink’s pH level to print a spectrum of blue- and red-based hues to enhance cocktails. Ripples CEO, Yossi Meshulam, said: “Gen Y and even more so Gen Z keep food and beverage businesses on their toes by raising expectations for innovation, personalisation, and sustainability. The Ripple Maker II Pro was created with these audiences in mind. We wanted to elevate their food and beverage experiences and give them eye-catching reasons to share their moments on social media.” The new beverage-top printer features a range of efficiency upgrades that ensure fast operational workflow. Dual pods enable two colours to be printed onto a single drink and the new automated sensor recognises cup dimensions to adjust the image size, keeping prints centred without manual intervention. #bevtop #beveragetechnology #naturalcolours #Ripples