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BizVoice/Indiana Chamber – March/April 2014
SteadyServ, based in Carmel, has developed
iKeg™ technology, which features a sensor
and a mobile app to tell those behind the bar
exactly how much beer is left in their kegs. It
also communicates when the beer was delivered
and tapped, as well as its age. Previous order
information, consumption trends and local
weather forecasts also help managers monitor
beer inventory and sales potential.
The SteadyServ office features an innovative
backroom complete with a walk-in cooler,
half filled with kegs at the time of this interview.
SteadyServ CEO Steve Hershberger
attempts to illustrate the guessing game
employees must play when determining keg
capacity. He asks the
BizVoice
®
team – a
reporter and a photographer – to lift a keg
and then estimate how full it is. This reporter
confidently guesses 60%.
And our photographer? “25%,” he ventures.
Mission accomplished.
“A bar’s largest margin is draft beer –
typically by a factor of two,” Hershberger
quantifies. “So you’re guessing about what you
spend the most money on and what delivers
you the most product every single week.
“By the way,” he adds, “if the beer rep
can’t get in touch with you, he places an
order on your behalf – even though he may
not have been in your facility for a month. He
looks at your order history. So he just placed a
$7,000 order for you that you’re committed
to. He guessed because you were too busy to
guess.”
Freshly tapped
SteadyServ was launched three years ago
and has been in an engineering and research
and development mode since. The company
now has 16 people on staff. There are two
facilities in the Indianapolis area, one in Dallas
and another in China (the product is engineered
in the United States and manufactured
overseas).
Hershberger is no stranger to technology –
or beer, for that matter. His resumé includes
a background in technology and data. In fact,
he once worked for Apple, and moved back
from California to Indianapolis for family
reasons. He ran a software company and sold
it in the early 2000s. He then founded a
business in social sciences – software and
analytics for social media. It is based in
Chicago and he remains a part owner. Then
several years ago, he was a founder of Flat 12
Bierwerks, one of Indianapolis’ popular craft
beer brewers (he’s since sold his stake in Flat
12 to focus on SteadyServ).
Indiana Ingenuity
Overflowing
With
Potential
SteadyServ Tapped
to Revolutionize
Beer Industry
By Matt L. Ottinger
For many beer connoisseurs,
wasting a frothy beverage is an
offense worthy of hefty reprimand.
But for bar owners, not getting
the last drop to customers is a hit
to the bottom line as draft beer
generates their highest profit
margin.
