Take expects to earn BRL 50 million from sensible fridges to promote drinks

A company from Ribeirão Preto developed refrigerators in which the customer buys without putting money or swiping the card; there are already 2,500 units across the country

imagine buying beer without having to put your hand in your wallet: just open the fridge and get what you want, as if you were in the kitchen at home. This is the proposal of take, a company from Ribeirão Preto that developed smart refrigerators to make selling beverages simpler. Founded in 2020, the company already has about 2,500 refrigerators across the countrylocated mainly in condominiums.

In 2020, the year of foundation, the company’s revenue was 330 thousand reais, a number that jumped to about BRL 9.4 million in 2021. With this exponential growth, the company integrates the Expanding Business Ranking 2022yearbook of EXAM which recognizes the fastest growing businesses throughout 2021 (see the full report on the ranking and the winning companies).

For 2022, Take’s goal is to reach the end of the year with 6 thousand refrigerators and a revenue of around BRL 50 million. “There is a pent-up demand for good self-service systems in Brazil, and we have developed our own technology to do this”, says Yoshitaka Terasawa, who is a trained doctor and started the company together with partners Evandro Chicória and Vinícius Orsi. Later, Gustavo Almeida also joined the business and is the current CEO.

refrigerator with technology

In order to transform the consumer’s shopping experience, Take invested in technology. The company buys common vending machines and ships a suite of solutions developed in-house, which uses internet of things, automation, image recognition, facial biometrics and cloud servers.

In practice, this allows the customer buys at the machine without having to put money or swipe a card. To gain access, he needs to download the Take app on his cell phone and register his data, which includes his credit card. To make a purchase, the customer uses the cell phone to open the fridge, using a QR Code. He then takes the products he wants, which are identified by the machine and will be automatically charged to the card registered in the application.

expansion model

Take ended 2020 with around 50 refrigerators in operation. By 2021, that number had jumped to over 1,000. The explosion came with an adaptation in the business model and a help from social networks. “A video went viral on the internet explaining how the cooler worked. This generated a greater demand for knowing our technology, and so we formatted an expansion model”, he says.

The expansion was based on contracts for licensing. In this way, Take licenses the use of technology and those who prospect the point of sale, install the equipment and supply the refrigerators are the partners. Today the company has a network of about 250 licensees and more than 100 thousand users registered in the application. For 2023, the goal is to reach 15 thousand coolers installed.

From beer to ice cream

Take started with the sale of beers, but is already expanding its operations, now also for non-alcoholic beverages, such as teas, soft drinks, energy drinks, water, juices and isotonic drinks. It is also expanding the points of sale. Before they were just condominiums, now the company also works with universities, coworkings, hotels, parking lots and gyms. The company is also studying to expand to other segments, such as frozen foods, ice cream and barbecue meats.

The licensing model requires an initial investment of BRL 15,000 and royalties of 7% on total sales. According to Take, profitability is between 13% and 22% and the expected return on investment varies between 12 and 24 months.

Source: Exam