The Beverage Industry is Not Short on Innovation
From the blended revolution of the 1990s to the rise of alternative milks in the 2000s, to today’s boom of flavored syrups and growth of ready-to-drink products, beverages and the way they are made are always changing. These beverages capture our imagination and taste buds; however, they also create a new operational challenge: Effective and Efficient cleaning.
Most new beverage innovations, whether they are alcohol, coffee, tea, or juice-based, start as an idea. These ideas are often concocted behind the bar after hours; other times they are meticulously crafted and perfected for a beverage competition or for the signature drink at an event. Eventually, the idea becomes a delicious beverage, and its popularity grows enough for operational questions to start being asked:
- Can we make it faster?
- Can we batch it?
- Will it be consistent?
- Can we automate it?
As the popularity of the beverage grows, equipment manufacturers become involved and will often end up developing equipment specific to the new category.
Innovation Doesn't Stop at the Machine
Advances in manufacturing are making it faster and more cost-effective to develop sophisticated beverage equipment. At the same time, automation is helping operators improve consistency, increase production speed, and reduce manual steps.
In one interesting example of this, some beverages are now delivered as pre-mixed concentrates that are diluted with water or dairy immediately before serving.
The result? Automation helps operators:
- Reduce labor costs by minimizing manual preparation and intervention.
- Improve consistency by standardizing dosing, mixing, and dispensing.
- Increase speed and throughput by automating key steps in beverage production.
- Create more predictable operations with repeatable processes and less variability.
- The more sophisticated the equipment becomes, the more sophisticated its cleaning needs can become.
Cleaning Challenges are Changing
These benefits sound great, but they are not without their costs. While today’s beverage equipment is designed to be faster, smarter and more precise, this precision creates new cleaning challenges. Smaller pathways, more intricate components, and new materials leave less room for residue buildup and can make equipment harder to access and clean. Now, even small amounts of buildup can affect valves, restrict flow, and impact equipment performance. To make it worse, components are more difficult to disassemble, and sometimes disassembly is not advised by the manufacturer. The margin for errors in cleaning has gone down, and when done improperly a clog or component failure will bring an entire beverage operation to a stop.
As beverage equipment evolves, cleaning needs to evolve with it.
Thinking Ahead of the Equipment Manufacturer
At Urnex, we don’t believe cleaning solutions should be developed after the technology has already been changed. We believe they should be developed with the future of beverage equipment in mind.
That means fully understanding where the industry is heading, identifying the cleaning challenges as new technologies emerge, and developing solutions that can work within increasingly sophisticated systems. Effective cleaning isn't simply about finding the strongest chemistry. It requires balancing the following:
- Cleaning efficacy
- Material compatibility
- Application method
- Ease of use
Designed for Today’s Complex Beverage System
Only a few years ago, most beverages had a multi-step process with different ingredient pieces being prepared on several pieces of equipment. That meant staff could use a few different cleaning chemicals specific to those pieces, formulated to remove specific buildup.
Now, with the rise of automated full-service multi-ingredient systems, especially in concentrated form, one cleaner on its own must remove fats, sugars, oils, lipids, and other buildup while balancing cleaning strength with material compatibility. The cleaning solution needs to be effective against these different soils while also being appropriate for the equipment.
That's why Urnex evaluates cleaning formulas against a wide range of materials, including metals, plastics, and silicone. Our evaluations are designed to assess both cleaning performance and material compatibility, helping ensure the cleaning solution is appropriate for the equipment it is designed to clean.
Our testing is done within the laboratory, set to a proprietary standard which mimics use and duration. The cleaner should effectively remove contamination without causing significant material degradation that could shorten the component’s intended service life. We test our cleaners on more than 50 types of equipment over several weeks, to ensure effective cleaning without causing material damage that could shorten component life.
Cleaning Must Fit the Operation
The last thing anyone wants to do after a long day's work is clean, and as any operations manager will tell you, if the protocol is complicated, it will not get done.
Equipment manufacturers develop automated cleaning solutions and clean-in-place protocols. This means that the cleaning chemical being used must be as easily deployed as pressing the button on a mission to start the cleaning.
BEVZ: Cleaning Designed for Beverage Equipment Innovation
Balancing all these factors, Urnex has developed BEVZ: a once-daily, alkaline cleaning powder that dissolves in ambient-temperature water and utilizes quat and surfactants to deliver superior cleaning efficacy. BEVZ is a powder-based solution that can be used in manual, semi-automated, and automated cleaning systems. It is designed for cold beverage dispensing machines with intricate mechanics, specifically to clean tea, syrup, dairy, and coffee.
As manufacturers balance the use of preservatives in their products, BEVZ improves system hygiene by removing organic residues that can contribute to build-up and contamination.
BEVZ ensures there's no growth within the machine's beverage lines, whether they are Teflon, silicone, or stainless steel. The chelating agents in the formula attack mineral buildup, as well as ensure that water hardness is not a factor with BEVZ. The formula’s surfactant, quaternary ammonium, allows for easier breakdown of oils by flushing them out of the system and cleaning microbiological buildup.
BEVZ can be used across a range of cleaning applications, including:
- Manual cleaning
- Component soaking
- Spray applications
- Semi-automated cleaning
- Automated and clean-in-place systems
BEVZ combines cleaning performance with a convenient powder format, giving operators a flexible solution that can fit into existing and future equipment cleaning processes.
Click here to request a complimentary sample of BEVZ (for qualified customers)
Thinking Ahead. Cleaning What’s Next.
Beverage equipment will continue to evolve. New beverages, new ingredients, and new technologies will create new cleaning challenges. Urnex is already thinking about them.
Because cleaning shouldn't be an afterthought to equipment innovation. It should be part of it.
Our goal is to develop cleaning solutions that enable operators to maintain consistency, protect beverage equipment performance and reliability, and deliver great-tasting beverages every day. The equipment is evolving. The cleaning needs to evolve with it.
URNEX, Ahead of What’s Next
Contact an Urnex Representative to learn more about our complete portfolio of beverage cleaning solutions that can help keep every pour tasting its best.
About the Writer:
Maciej Ostrowski is the Product Development Manager at Urnex, where he helps improve OEM cleaning protocols and leads the design for new clean-in-place solutions. With nearly 2 decades of experience in the coffee and beverage industry, he's worked in nearly every position from barista to product design. Prior to joining Urnex, he spent 10 years with Rancilio Group.
