Munich Startup: What does Redrink do? What problem do you solve?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: Redrink is the first digital and bottle-free beverage service that provides its users with delicious drinks tailored to their personal taste via beverage dispensers. The drinks are produced directly on site – in offices, for example. Redrink thus solves several problems at once and satisfies important needs of our time: firstly, it reduces costs and effort for companies. They no longer have to worry about procuring and transporting bottles for their employees. With Redrink, companies only have to spend around 15 minutes a week – we take care of most of it. Bottled drinks also cost a lot of money, up to 60 percent more than our bottle-free drinks.
Furthermore, opting for Redrink does not mean “either – or”: either bland water or over-sugared soft drinks that always taste the same. Redrink means drinks to suit your personal taste. Whether mild or highly effervescent, slightly sweeter or just with a light, subtle aroma: Redrink provides its users with a wide variety of flavors, most of which are organic.
And very importantly, Redrink protects our environment. We follow a “the best packaging is no packaging” approach. Because even the often highly praised use of glass bottles does more damage to our environment than we think. After all, they also have to be transported and cleaned, which means considerable CO2 emissions. Redrink prevents the use of 51,000 bottles per company and reduces CO2 emissions by several dozen tons.
We already support numerous companies such as Celonis, Foodji, Recogni and Spendit with our beverage solution – and see that these companies attach particular importance to sustainability.
Redrink digitizes and refines existing technologies
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: Yes and no. The technology we are building on has been around for decades, especially in the restaurant and hotel industry, and there are also regular water dispensers. But there haven’t been any major changes here for years. Redrink digitizes and refines the existing technology in the beverage dispenser sector and thus ensures better applicability, which can be implemented in many places, in offices, airports and then also in public places. We provide a more varied and high-quality taste experience – our essences are mostly organic. Redrink ensures that companies get the flavors they want – because let’s face it, our tastes are different. With Redrink, companies can offer their employees exactly the drinks they like.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: Neither of us are fans of plain tap water; drinks always had to offer flavor and fizz for us, especially in summer. We both had the bad habit of not being able to get past an expensive soft drink bottle from the vending machine on a hot summer’s day, for example. And we shared our guilty consciences about our plastic bottle consumption. But a guilty conscience alone doesn’t improve anything. So we thought that something specific had to be done: use the resource that is already there, tap water. But away from the bottles and drinks according to your own taste: the idea of Redrink was born.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: Putting an initially idealistic idea into practice was certainly the biggest challenge. Filtering out what was perhaps a bit fantastic and what was really feasible, i.e. by and large simply the practical implementation of our idea, which ultimately succeeded as we had imagined.
Revolution in drinking behavior
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where would you like to be in five years?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: “Always think big”, that’s how we think. That’s why our goal is to revolutionize drinking habits in Germany and Austria – sustainable, smart, personalized and healthy. In a year’s time, we want to be represented in the largest conurbations in Austria and Germany and grow as a company to such an extent that we can handle this effort. In five years’ time, Redrink should be a brand that everyone in Europe knows, and ideally beyond.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: Munich proved to be the right location for us as founders. With an initial idea and a first pitch deck, we were welcomed with open arms at Xplore. We were then accepted into the TUM Venture Labs and into the Exist funding program, supported by TUM (and probably as the first team without a TUM background). We are in active exchange and good contact with all universities and their incubators and have always received broad support from all sides.
Munich Startup: Public transportation or bicycle?
Adrian Beissel, Redrink: In Munich, we cycle 90 percent of the time, and in winter we also like to use public transport. But nothing beats the Munich spring and summer on a bike.