INVENTHERM, L.L.C. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase II: 8.5

Description

PROJECT SUMMARYImproperly cleaned soft serve ice cream machines are a known significant contributor to foodborneillnesses worldwide. Studies indicate that from 12% to over 50% of soft serve ice cream machinesare contaminated with unsatisfactory levels of bacteria. Contamination issues are due largely tothe complex and costly disassembly cleaning and sanitizing (DCS) process required for allmachines currently on the market. The DCS process can cost businesses well over $6300 for eachmachine per year in wasted product labor and supplies. In addition significant potential revenueis lost when the machine is out of service for cleaning.Inventherm is developing commercial soft serve ice cream and slush machines (SSMs) thatvirtually eliminates the DCS process produces aseptic or sterile products and slashes operatingcosts by several thousand dollars per machine annually. While not the focus of the currentdevelopment Inventherm's technology can also be applied for producing sterile saline slushwhich is used in surgical procedures for reducing tissue damage.Elimination of the DCS process and delivering the safest-to-eat soft serve and frozen beverages isaccomplished by containing the product mix in consumable packaging. From liquid mix throughdispensing the product never contacts any part of the machine. During the Phase I effortInventherm's processing technology was experimentally verified on Inventherm's SSM. Theprototype produces smooth and creamy soft serve with any desired overrun. Frozen beverageswere also produced. R&D efforts will continue in Phase II where the objective is to conclude theproject with late-stage fully functional prototypes. These prototypes will form the basis forcommercialization during Phase III.Global revenue from new soft serve and frozen beverage machine sales exceeds $1 billionannually. Competition comes primarily from conventional soft serve machine manufacturers.There is virtually no product differentiation across all current manufacturers. This lack ofinnovation has allowed foreign competition to dominate the world market once controlled by USmanufacturers. Inventherm's SSM solves the number one pain point in a technologically stagnantindustry and is poised to disrupt the market and bring more SSM manufacturing back to the U.S.Note: Proprietary information is italicized in this proposal. 1