Eco-friendly beverage technology startup Lavit looks to enter US residential market

14-Sep-2017 - Last updated on 15-Sep-2017 at 11:10 GMT

Lavit's patented, single-serve cold beverage water cooler is seeking to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar bottling industry.

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Lavit aims to make drinking water more varied and personal with its patented single-serve cold beverage water cooler that allows users to create chilled, filtered, better-for-you beverages; and plans to launch an in-home unit in 2018.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in New York City, Lavit “Cooler Water Coolers” are installed in less than 2,000 commercial locations such as office break rooms, car dealerships, medical centers, condominium community rooms, schools, and universities throughout the US.

The company’s newest member of the board of directors and former global president of Mars Drinks, Xavier Unkovic, hopes to drastically expand Lavit’s market presence.

“Given the millions of install opportunities that exist on the US commercial side alone, including those which Lavit currently has a presence in, Lavit has literally just scratched the barest of surfaces here,” Unkovic told BeverageDaily.

Unkovic said he planned on “aggressively” growing Lavit’s presence in the commercial sector in the short term and eventually enter the US residential market as a midterm goal.

The company’s home unit version is under development and will be launched in 2018.

Eco-friendly input and output

The Lavit cold beverage system strives to be environmentally conscious by cutting down on packaged waste that comes from drinking cold packaged beverages.

The machine uses fully recyclable EcoCaps, which contain the zero- or low-calorie flavors and are inserted into the system and the user can then adjust the flavor intensity and carbonation level.

“Lavit is uniquely and extremely eco-friendly from both the input and output side of the equation,” Unkovic said.

“On the input side, Lavit's capsules weigh a small fraction of any bottle or canned beverage, and at the point of consumption require no refrigeration.”

EcoCaps can be recycled just as a consumer would recycle an aluminum soda can, the company said.

More than a ‘millennial magnet’

Millennials have gravitated towards the single-serve chilled beverage system due to its 33 healthy beverage choices that are all preservative free and 10 or less calories per 12-ounces serving, says Unkovic.

However, he believes that the technology’s core audience is much larger and has not been fully tapped yet.

“Consumer targeting is currently less about demographic and more about location at the moment,” he said.

“Lavit is certainly a ‘millennial magnet’, but we think the audience is much broader.”

The company will further refine its core audience once it migrates into home usage opportunities, Unkovic added.