With a scorching summer on the way, Dan Murphy’s is trialing V-Tex cooling technology to provide its customers with chilled drinks in just three minutes.
Capable of chilling wine bottles to 11 degrees and cans to five degrees, the V-Tex unit is a low energy cooling device that chills drinks by rotating beverages at speed inside a bath of ice water. This circulates the contents to ensure a consistent temperature, but without disturbing the liquid inside the bottle, meaning that it is suitable for both wines and carbonated beverages.
The trial will take place until early February in Sydney at the Dan Murphy’s Coogee store, with further rollout plans to be assessed following the trial period. The Coogee store was chosen as the trial location due to the high demand for chilled drinks from the customer base.
Head of Endeavour Build Paul Burrows says that the V-Tex unit will benefit both customers and store staff.
“This will really deliver the convenience that customers are looking for and it can all be done at the point of sale. While we have extensive refrigeration space in all Dan Murphy’s stores, we are always exploring new ways to give customers the most seamless and convenient shopping experience. This technology means that if someone is heading straight to a barbecue or dinner party this summer, their choices aren’t limited by what’s already in the fridges.
“V-Tex also gives us a sustainable edge, as there is also no glycol or chemical component to the cooling process. It means the beverage will be chilled in line with temperatures achieved in fridges, all while you continue to browse and enjoy the Dan Murphy’s shopping experience and then walk out the door with your drinks of choice chilled and ready to serve,” he said.
V-Tex Sales Director Colin Rodgers expects the product to be popular on the Australian market.
“The idea of on-demand drinks chilling has been around for many years, and several large companies have tried to achieve it without success. V-Tex enables drinks to be chilled in a brief time, from a small footprint, whilst using significantly less energy than conventional methods. I hope, in time, this technology will be the global standard for beverage chilling. We are excited to be working with Dan Murphy’s and Endeavour Drinks Group to release this technology in Australia,” he said.