Transformation on Tap: BrewLogix IoT Delivers Smart Beverage Operations with Trek10 and AWS

BrewLogix uses its patented Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help bar and restaurant owners run a more profitable business. To execute its product roadmap, BrewLogix worked with AWS Partner Trek10 to deliver a set of powerful, production-ready tools for managing, marketing, and monetizing an establishment’s draft beverage inventory. From predicting the best time to swap out kegs, to giving servers access to updated draft menus, the BrewLogix solution shows what’s possible when draft beverage operations embrace data-driven capabilities. Working with AWS also enabled BrewLogix to hold the line on affordability: minimizing infrastructure costs without sacrificing reliability or performance.

Bar and restaurant owners know there’s a lot riding on their draft beverage programs. A high-quality draft operation can be the key to delivering a unique and compelling guest experience, and for many establishments, it’s also a critical profit driver. Tapping into this potential, however, depends on first-rate decision-making for consistent inventory planning and timely keg rotations to meet customer expectations. It also depends on accurate product knowledge—helping “craft curious” customers make informed choices and keeping loyal regulars in the loop when menu options change.

“Bar hospitality is an inherently stressful operation,” said Lori Bolin, president and chief strategy officer of BrewLogix. “Kegs kick in the middle of busy shifts and products can move slower or faster than expected, creating out-of-stock or overstock issues.” An expired product can put a bar’s reputation at risk, and even the best servers can’t always keep up with rotating taps and last-minute product changes.

“BrewLogix gives our customers the ability to eliminate that stress,” Bolin added. “We enable them to leverage their own draft program data to generate insights that are unique to their businesses and deliver tangible benefits (like predicting when kegs will kick or accurately evaluating a special product offer). Instead of accepting the historical status quo, bar managers can use data-driven workflows, systems, and knowledge to run more efficient operations and deliver better guest experiences.”

BrewLogix offers patented IoT sensor technology that delivers real-time, ounce-by-ounce draft consumption data from every tapped keg in a customer’s inventory. That data feeds a powerful set of tools so bars and restaurants can improve how they plan, manage, and promote their draft beverages. Unlike existing flow-monitoring systems, BrewLogix works without touching the beverage or putting product quality at risk. “We combine our IoT innovation with big data and the power of AWS to help bars and restaurants manage draft operations, market craft beverages, and educate their customers,” Bolin explained.

When it comes to staffing, BrewLogix offers new ways to tackle longstanding challenges related to high turnover and staff burnout. In addition to having an up-to-date draft list at their fingertips, servers can call up detailed insights on a drink’s flavor profile, nutritional information, and even food pairing options. “Servers are set up for success, almost instantly, from their very first shift,” Bolin said. “If a customer asks which draft beer to order with their fish tacos, the server has a viable answer. That isn’t just good business—it creates delight for everyone involved. And while you can measure these moments in add-on-sales dollars, you can also measure them in both staff and customer satisfaction, which is proving to be critical in today’s experience economy.”

While the BrewLogix leadership team had a clear vision for the product, they needed help to scale their development team, processes, and infrastructure to build production-ready applications. “We had a supersized product vision with a small-but-mighty internal engineering team,” Bolin said. “Finding the right long-term partner was the first step toward our goal.”                            
                                                                                
For BrewLogix, the right partner had to integrate seamlessly with its existing team, right down to participating in daily standups. They also had to hand off critical implementation tasks without losing visibility and control. BrewLogix had worked with  AWS Partner Trek10 before and knew the firm could meet both requirements.

Trek10 and BrewLogix identified multiple Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions components. AWS IoT Core supports secure, real-time interactions across connected sensors on the pumps and ingests monitoring data for storage and analysis. It provides unprecedented visibility into the inventory data and allows BrewLogix to create alerts when kegs are low. Using AWS AppSync, BrewLogix unlocks API functionality. Through a scalable, GraphQL interface, AWS AppSync pulls data from multiple sources, including Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Lambda, and HTTP APIs. Finally, Brewlogix and Trek10 leveraged Amazon Redshift and Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to build a data lake that feeds the solution’s on-demand analytics and automated planning tools.

“Combining AWS building blocks with our Trek10 partnership made it so much easier to focus on what mattered and solve the tough technology problems,” said Nate Zander, senior director of engineering at BrewLogix. “We created this ecosystem and this idea from scratch. But with AWS and Trek10, we successfully built out an impressive and robust architecture.”

Despite developing such a powerful IoT solution, BrewLogix has maintained exceptionally low infrastructure costs by running on AWS. “It’s remarkable, given the complexity and breadth of our backend architecture,” Zander said. “AWS is key to delivering a massively scalable architecture—without sacrificing our ability to deliver a cost-effective solution for smaller customers.”

Although BrewLogix has just begun to bring its solutions to market, it’s received a warm reception throughout the industry. “Our raw engagement numbers across our ecosystem are remarkable—we’re talking about percentage increases in the thousands over 12 months,” Bolin said. “We also know why we’re seeing those gains: We’re giving customers a solution that is driving higher sales and lower costs, reliably and securely, at an affordable cost.”