Nectar Introduces Connected Beer Cap and Other Bar Management Innovations

Press Release

Nectar’s current and newly introduced innovations - all built around the profound need for real-time pour data - has garnered the attention of industry leaders.
5.29.2019

Nectar, the company bringing long-overdue innovation to the hospitality industry by tackling the problem of lost revenue and inventory inefficiencies, has announced a series of strategic products and leadership steps.

The Palo Alto, California-based company, led by Chegg co-founder Aayush Phumbhra, is unveiling an expanded lineup of its pioneering connected pourers and stoppers that enable real-time pour data, with minimal cost and disruption to bartender behavior. Its hardware and software platform generates valuable and previously unavailable insights, like average pour size, off-hour pours, and rate of pour, all of which are immediately actionable, and can increase revenue and boost profits. To date, the company has digitized over two million pours, resulting in a nearly 20% reduction in average pour size.

Driven by strong demand for the current offering and growing customers 200% quarter over quarter, Nectar is now launching three further industry-defining innovations:

SnapTap Beer Spacer
Each day, thousands of gallons of beer are poured around the world, with no ability to track what’s happening.

With Nectar, beer tap finally meets real-time measurement with an elegant IoT device that seamlessly integrates into existing taps, and – with simple calibration – can immediately offer data about real-time pours.

This product is aligned with Nectar’s mission to deliver economic benefits with minimum infrastructure change and without changing bartender behavior. The company is taking orders starting today.

Inventory & Precise Audit Software
With this patented software inventory innovation – no Nectar hardware is required here – any establishment can simply mark the bottle level on the image in the app and PreciseAudit helps users track the remaining volume with an extremely high degree of accuracy.

The industry today uses pen and paper – or primitive image-based software – to track inventory. These methods are woefully inaccurate and leave a wide margin of error. Nectar uses a proprietary system for bottle-by-bottle accuracy at the highest level – accounting for various factors.

The cost is only $29.99/month when paid annually for the first 1000 orders only.

Self-Serve Online SmartCap Ordering
Nectar is launching a direct-sales version of the hardware and software platform. Establishments that don’t require the company’s technical or sales support can go online and pick from the standard packages and order. With this introduction, Nectar is offering pre-paired caps that can be activated with a single click once they are placed on the bottle, making it simple to get access to real-time pour data. All packages are available at getnectar.com/pricing

Nectar’s current and newly introduced innovations – all built around the profound need for real-time pour data – has garnered the attention of industry leaders. As validation, Nectar is welcoming Gerard Ruvo, Chairman – Campari America, to its Board of Directors, as well as James Thompson, ex-Diageo CMO, to its Advisory Board. Thompson and Ruvo are two of the industry’s most respective executives, with extensive experience in distribution as well as brand-building.

“PJ and I are thrilled by our team’s progress, as evidenced by our three new products and our continued traction with our core business, having measured over 2.2 million pours and saving customers almost 20% on pour cost, said Aayush Phumbhra, co-founder and CEO of Nectar. We are tackling a long-ignored and massive global problem that is damaging the economic model for both the giants of the hospitality industry and the thousands of entrepreneurs who own bars and restaurants in the U.S. and globally. We are honored that leaders of the stature of Gerard and James recognize that we are the industry’s only solution to the problem and are joining the team.”

“Nectar is the only solution that can provide a 360-degree view of how brands are moving on-premise, insight into trends and new brands, and the implications for off-premise,” said Gerard Ruvo. “I could not be more excited to join this team as a Board member, at this threshold moment of growth.”

“Today’s world is moving towards instant everything – but until Nectar, the liquor industry simply did not have real-time data access, and insight into what their consumers are drinking – including when, how, and how much” added James Thompson.

“Our goal is simple; Improve one of the oldest businesses in the world without changing behavior,” explained Prabhanjan “PJ” Gurumohan, co-founder and COO of Nectar. “It’s working and our customers now see at least a five times return on investment.”

Nectar was founded by Aayush Phumbhra and Prabhanjan “PJ” Gurumohan, a duo with extensive expertise in consumer products and digital platforms. Phumbhra co-founded Chegg, the challenger brand that disrupted expensive textbook purchases, that he grew from a bootstrapped startup to a multi-billion dollar publicly traded digital learning platform (NYSE: CHGG). Gurumohan was the co-founder and CEO of Genwi, one of the largest cloud publishing solutions that’s used by more than 1,500 customers like Condé Nast, Forbes, and PBS.

About Nectar 
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Nectar is backed by leading investors in software, hardware and digital platforms such as Palantir co-founder and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, Eclipse Founder Lior Susan, DragonCapital.vc Managing Partner Vic Alston, Tinder co-founders, Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, Chetrit Ventures, the founding family of the Modelo Group, founder of Streamlined Ventures Ullas Naik, CEO of Chegg Dan Rosensweig, JD Montgomery, Adam Hanft and founder of Level Ventures Albert Azout.