International Dispensing Corporation (IDC)

IDC has created, patented, and commercialized The Answer®, the world’s only aseptic tap for consumable liquids. The Answer safely dispenses aseptic product from a large flexible bag or pouch while keeping the remaining contents fresh for weeks, in some cases months, without refrigeration or preservatives. 

 Aseptic Packaging Overview

By 2020, the aseptic packaging industry is projected to exceed $60 billion, the market leader being Tetra Pak. The world’s most prevalent and fastest-growing form of food & beverage processing, aseptic is energy saving and does not require refrigeration before opening. Once opened, however, an aseptic package needs to be refrigerated and the contents consumed in short order, which is why it is a single-serve retail package—one-liter or smaller—and not conducive to the rapidly growing foodservice sector.

 The Answer enables aseptic beverage processors to offer a safe large-format package (3-25 liters) to foodservice clients—restaurants, hotels, stadiums, kiosks, schools, the military, disaster relief—and open up significant new avenues of distribution.  By reducing cost per serving, eliminating waste and maintenance, and setting new standards for safety, IDC is creating a global standard and aims to become “The Tetra Pak of Foodservice.”

 The Answer is suitable for juices, dairy products, teas, soy, water, coconut water, broths/stocks, health drinks, and other non-particulate products.  It is so reliable that it is being used to dispense nuclease-free sterile water essential for DNA and RNA molecular testing used in cancer research.

 Market Opportunities: The Developing World

The Answer is currently generating revenue in China (Döhler: juice, milk tea, coconut water), Germany (Naarmann:  dairy; Qiagen: nuclease-free sterile water), Pakistan (Naarmann:  dairy), Mexico (FEMSA:  juice), and the USA (Cold Star:  coffee creamers and dairy-based coffee beverages).

 Targeting the developing world, which lacks refrigeration and is accustomed to aseptic processing, IDC is driving additional projects with market leaders in China, Pakistan, Turkey, Mexico/Latin America, India, Africa, Malaysia, the Middle East, and the USA.

 Management & Advisory Team

-          Greg Abbott, Chairman & CEO:  former CEO Ithaca Industries, founding investor EarthLink, founder IDC

-          Bo Thorn, Director based in New York: former managing director of Tetra Pak China & Malaysia

-          Pär Söderlund, Special Consultant based in Dubai:  former managing director of Tetra Pak Pakistan & Middle East, and Eastern Europe

-          Li Xin, Director based in Shanghai:  former President of Sealed Air China

-          William Hickey, Advisor:  former CEO of Sealed Air

 Key Investors

-          Greg Abbott:  founder IDC

-          Lou Simpson:  former CIO & Vice Chairman of Geico and protégé of Warren Buffet

-          Stan Shuman:  Senior investment banker Allen & Co., director emeritus News Corp

-          Herb Siegel:  former owner Chris-Craft Industries

-          William Hickey:  former CEO of Sealed Air

-          Leon Gianesschi, PhD:  former CEO Scholle Corporation

 Business Model

Simple B-to-B model with very low overhead and low initial customer capital investment ($250,000).

Leveraging high-level contacts of its employees and consultants, IDC has forged strategic alliances with leading industry players (Hoffer Plastics, Starlim-Sterner, Goglio, Aran, Elpo, Alfa Laval, Sealed Air), enabling it to offer customers a world-class product with a turnkey solution (tap, bag, and filler). IDC is collaborating with Georgia Pacific (Koch Industries) to penetrate global foodservice enterprises. Georgia Pacific has invited IDC to participate in its booth at Pack Expo 2017 (Las Vegas, September 25-27) to showcase its innovation and vision.

 Competition

The Answer is strongly patented around the world, yet the know-how and trade secrets IDC possesses constitute even greater protection.  Creating and validating an aseptic tap is a rigorous process requiring years and millions of dollars with no guarantee of achieving an undeviating aseptic result. What IDC has achieved is arduous and difficult—many companies have tried it and failed; there is no shortcut to avoiding the millions of dollars and years of R&D and testing required.

 After conducting an exhaustive formal search, a multinational beverage customer affirmed that The Answer is the world’s only true aseptic tap. The multinational sent three separate delegations to Hoffer Plastics, IDC’s manufacturing facility in South Elgin, IL, with the intent of making The Answer in China, only to abandon that notion once they saw the quality control intricacies of assembling an aseptic tap.

 Awards

The Answer has won The DuPont Packaging Award and the Flexible Packaging Association Gold Medal. Recently, with its customer Döhler China, IDC won a coveted Marking Award sponsored by the Food & Beverage Innovation Forum (FBIF) in Shanghai, one of only six awards granted out of several hundred entries. The IDC-Döhler entry won the Marking Award for Best Mark in Practicality, sharing the winners’ podium with Coca-Cola, Tetra Pak, and Mengniu (China’s largest dairy).

 New Products & Trademarks

The company has developed a tap for the multi-billion-dollar boxed-wine market, one offering superior oxygen barriers and ergonomics and based on the same patents as The Answer. IDC has also trademarked BID™ (Bag-in-Dispenser), as opposed to the generic BIB (Bag-in-Box).  IDC’s BID avoids the costly printed box and consists simply of a bag with The Answer, which is loaded like a flexible cartridge into a variety of free-standing units depending on customer requirements, resulting in super-competitive cost per serving.

 Investment Thesis

The market is enormous; IDC’s product is unique, patented, and laden with trade secrets; its management and advisors have had significant success in this arena; IDC is generating global revenue and has strategic momentum. This High Tech Packaging Company Could Double - IDND OTC