When heading out to their local watering hole for a drink, some customers prefer to serve themselves. We've highlighted Amsterdam's Minibar and the table-top taps of Pilsen's Unique Bars. Offering a self-service system that can be retrofitted anywhere is the TableTender by TableTap.

The TableTender system, available in Britain and the United States, is designed and built for each specific venue. There's a tap (or several) located at each table, which allows patrons to pour at their leisure—to a point. The system is designed to comply with drinking regulations, shutting off after dispensing around 11 pints of beer and only resuming once a waiter has checked the table. The amount dispensed is displayed on a meter at the table, as well as recorded on the proprietor’s database to monitor sales and consumption by hour, day, month and table.

Like installation, pricing is bespoke, but for a ballpark figure: the first bar to install the system paid USD 110,000, excluding a monthly fee for maintenance and software licensing. While the upfront costs may be steep, ease of drinks purchase combined with lower costs for wait staff could make for a profitable addition to bars seeking to stand out from the competition.

Website: www.tabletap.co.uk — www.thetabletap.com
Contact: www.tabletap.co.uk/contact — jeff.libby@thetabletap.com

Developed on the assumption that there's no such thing as too much choice, Coca-Cola Freestyle is a new self-serve soda fountain that can dispense up to 100 different drink flavours. The machine is being tested this summer at fastfood restaurants in California and Atlanta, with the intention of rolling out units across the US early next year.

Flavoured teas, waters, juices and soft drinks will all be available from Coca-Cola Freestyle, letting customers select drinks based on brand, calorie content or caffeine levels, all through the system's touchscreen interface. Combinations will be pre-set, meaning Raspberry Coke and Peach Fanta are available on tap, but frat dares combining tea and Sprite won't be possible. Many of the flavours on offer are new to the US market.

RFID tags will keep track of the syrup the machine uses, telling retailers when to refill, and providing Coke HQ with insight into popular flavours and locations. By tracking sales, Coca-Cola gains valuable insight into which drinks would be most successful if offered bottled or canned. Which means the intelligent technology doesn't just offer a new level of choice for customers, but also streamlines supply chain management and informs new product development. (Related: Drinks vended & blended on demand — Ice cream factory in a vending machine.)

Website: www.thecoca-colacompany.com
Contact: www.thecoca-colacompany.com/contactus/

Spotted by: Sherri Scott

Out to help those looking for a quick relaxation fix, a new drink from Canada offers ‘an acupuncture session’ in every can. An antidote to energy drinks like Red Bull, Slow Cow was developed to help people de-stress.

Under the premise that caffeine-packed drinks tend to increase anxiety, Slow Cow contains theanine, chamomile, valerian, passiflora and other ingredients known for their calming effects. The beverage is meant to increase mental awareness while improving relaxation, without the post-hit dip that caffeine and other stimulants cause.

Slow Cow, whose tongue-in-cheek logo apparently did not amuse Red Bull, might have found a gap in a market saturated with energy drinks of every possible variety. It's not the only beverage to position itself as a relaxation drink, mind you, (Drank is another), but Slow Cow gets our vote for best branding. Seems like a natural fit for spas, hotels, airlines—or anywhere else consumers could use a serving of relaxation.

Website: www.slowcowdrink.com
Contact: www.slowcowdrink.com/english.asp?no=116

Spotted by: Sylvie Lafave

Where the Amazing Food Wine Company, which we covered a few years ago, created its wines for pairing with commonly enjoyed contemporary American foods—pizza, pasta, etc—Madeinmilan Wines has taken the opposite approach, focusing instead on a historical meal. The Italian label includes three wines from northeast Italy: Brutus (Sangiovese di Romagna), Paparazzi (Lambrusco Grasparossa) and Romeo (Cagnina di Romagna), and for Brutus, it recently launched a campaign that includes pairing with a five-course ancient Roman meal. Olive caviar, sweet ham, Imperial Chicken, herbed cheese and honey dates make up the specially crafted menu for the Roman banquet Madeinmilan suggests, with complete recipes available for download from its site.

With so many competitors in the wine market already, focusing on ancient pairings is an innovative marketing angle that may well be attractive to consumers seeking new insperiences and maybe some status skills to boot. Which just goes to show, of course, that it's a rare product indeed that can't be upgraded, reconceived or repositioned in some novel way to make it new all over again in consumers' eyes. If that can be done for wine—surely one of the oldest products in the world—just imagine the possibilities for your product or brand! ;-)

Website: www.madeinmilanwine.com
Contact: info@madeinmilanwine.com

Food trucks such as Kogi Korean BBQ and Coolhaus have been claiming an increasing proportion of our virtual ink lately, fueled not just by their use of social media like Twitter but also no doubt by economic conditions, which clearly favour low-cost fare. Now aiming to review, highlight and uncover the best of such curbside cuisine nationwide comes VendrTV, a video podcast that profiles a different street vendor each week.

Hosted by twenty-something foodie Daniel Delaney, VendrTV consists of episodes seven to 10 minutes long, each highlighting an individual vendor along with its food and locale. The premiere episode covered the Treats Truck in New York City, for example—a name regular Springwise readers may remember; others have included The Magic Carpet in Philadelphia, Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco and The Brunch Box in Portland, Oregon. Each episode airs on Wednesday, viewable both online and as an iTunes podcast. Ad-supported VendrTV also maintains a Facebook community and a presence on Twitter. Coming soon, according to the site, is an online "schwag shop" with apparel and "gear to help you eat the street." VendrTV also recently signed a deal with Next New Networks, which will distribute episodes beginning later this year.

Between curbside cuisine and "anti-restaurants" such as BookOfCooks and Charlie's Burgers, there's clearly growing demand for lower-priced (and more unusual) alternatives to the traditional, sit-down, full-service meal. Now it's time for the reviews, guides and profiles such as those that have been bringing transparency (and new patrons) to restaurants for years. VendrTV is ambitious to include the whole nation in its domain; one to adapt or emulate with a localized or niche approach?

Website: www.vendr.tv
Contact: tips@vendr.tv