With customers becoming increasingly concerned with water quality, cooler companies are getting more questions about sanitation and bacteria—in other words, the “gook” in the cooler.
Evan Glanzer, manager of Imperial Coffee’s water division, has found these questions easier to answer since he started offering the SIP 1000 automatic cooler sanitizer. “Now we can say, ‘Have you heard about the SIP?’ It opens doors for us that way, and the calls stop coming after that,” Glanzer said.
The SIP is a programmable, automatic device that sanitizes the internal water contact surfaces of POU or bottled water coolers. Every 24 hours, the SIP injects micro-bubbles of ozone into the cooler’s reservoir for approximately five minutes. “One of the secrets to increased ozone absorption is small bubbles, and our ceramic diffuser is wonderful at doing just that,” said Adam Levinson, CEO of SIP Technologies.
Because ozone can give water an off-taste, the SIP can be set to activate in the middle of the night. In addition, a red light can be attached to the front of the cooler to indicate activation.
The automatic sanitizer inhibits bacteria, virus, mold and algae growth. It also keeps biofilm, the gook that forms on the walls of a cooler’s reservoir, from developing. The SIP improves water quality by sanitizing the cooler every day instead of every three or six months.
According to Levinson, the SIP has been most popular with POU coolers. “Companies who sell/rent POU coolers have embraced the concept because they get to market the fact that their coolers are sanitized 365 times a year.”
At the Forefront
Imperial Coffee, a full-service office beverage company based in Ontario, Canada, started offering the SIP six months ago. “We’re always looking for options to keep us in the forefront,” Glanzer said. “We like to be the industry leader as opposed to following the trend.”
Glanzer said the SIP gives his company a competitive edge. “It allows us to strengthen our already strong product lineup.”
Imperial Coffee has installed the SIP on existing POU coolers and provided it as an option for new POU coolers. “The customers who are using them really like them, especially their health and safety committees,” Glanzer added.
Imperial Coffee ran into a few installation problems, but SIP quickly responded and solved them. “They’re terrific to deal with so far,” Glanzer said. “You make a call to them, and it’s returned almost immediately.”
Looking to the Future
Following his positive experiences with SIP in 2005, Glanzer plans to step up sales of the automatic sanitizer in 2006. He is planning to have a training session on the technology for his sales force, and they will be approaching all existing customers with the SIP.
“Cost for benefit, there’s nothing else on the market that compares,” Glanzer said. “I hope they continue to grow and that everyone uses some form of sanitizer, whether it’s the SIP or something else. I think it’s good for the industry as a whole.”
