#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Mark McCoy, CEO, KegSafe
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Modernizing Keg Inventory Management
KegSafe, a new startup venture based in Beaumont, Texas, is using ultrasonic technology and software to help bar owners and beer distributors keep tabs on their inventories by providing up-to-the-ounce data on every single keg. We recently spoke with Mark McCoy, KegSafe’s CEO, to learn more about the startup’s work and use of technology.
Can you tell us a little about yourself? What is your background?
I’m a petroleum engineer and I worked in the oil field at my own company for a long time. I’ve travelled the world installing level detectors in underground storage caverns. I also worked at one time for a contractor to the U.S. government, and I was in charge of 220 million barrels of oil at the Department of Energy’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Tell us about KegSafe. What is the work you’re doing?
I’ve been working with ultrasonics and level detectors for about 25 years. When it comes to trying to inventory the beer inside an actual beer keg, there’s really no way to tell how much beer is in there. People have tried weighing them and using flow meters. They pick them up by hand to try and estimate, but the industry has never really found a solution to monitoring the beer inside a keg. And when you don’t have inventory control, things tend to disappear. The industry estimates losses in keg beer at around 15 percent. In the last year in the U.S. alone, 200 million kegs were sold. Using a loss factor of only 15%, that means about 30 million kegs of beer amazingly disappeared. If each keg costs $100, that amounts to 3 billion dollars!
KegSafe is a non-intrusive ultrasonic level device that tracks the actual beer level INSIDE the keg. Our patented system can actually see the level inside the keg and convert that to how many ounces are remaining inside the keg. For example, a bar could see he has 100 glasses of beer prior to opening that night. At the end of the night, he shows 25 glasses remaining in the keg. That means 75 beers were given out. But how many were rung up on the register? Only sixty! So fifteen beers went out and didn’t get charged. At five dollars a beer, that’s a loss of $75, every day!
KegSafe also prevents “blowing your lines.” Beer is pushed by CO2. With KegSafe, the level will start flashing red when it gets very low and prevent a bar form filling their lines with CO2 and wasting time and resources
How does the KegSafe system work, and what type of technology do you use to track keg lines?
A transceiver connects to 8 transducers located in 8 keg holding bases designed by KegSafe. The transceiver is also connected to the web. All the data is sent to—and stored in—the cloud, where the customer can access it for viewing. All the data is stored for analytics as well. KegSafe can tell what you have, what you’ve used, and what you need. KegSafe also tells the customer their kegroom temperature and will text them if it keeps above a certain temperature.
KegSafe will operate as Software as a Service(SaaS), and customers will pay a monthly fee to access our software and all the data. It’s a bargain and costs “only a beer a day.”
What can you tell us about the local startup community in Beaumont?
Not too much going on in Beaumont as far as startups go. I made some connections in Houston and Austin, and even as far as Denver. We’ll see what the future holds.
What was the patent process like for you?
Obtaining our patent with 18 claims took two years, start to finish. It all went fairly smooth, although it was a learning process.
Are there any hurdles or roadblocks you’ve faced launching KegSafe?
It took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to “see” inside a keg and track the actual level. Product development can take a long time and can be very costly.
What is your goal for KegSafe moving forward?
We’re completing our software and we’re hoping to get some units in and start our beta testing. Once we have proven our system and show the industry’s approval, we will look for an investor to get thing really rocking.
In five years years, we hope to have around 5,000 customers and have a revenue of $9 million a year.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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