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Design a better solution for restaurant condiment dispensers
Challenge Type: engineering
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$1,000
top 10
221
submissions
DONE
104 months ago

Squeeze bottles are one of the most commonly used containers in restaurants. This is especially true in the kitchen areas where condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup or mustard are used in sandwich and other food preparation. In the dining areas of restaurants there is a mixture of pump tanks, mini packets (especially for take-out) and squeeze bottles for adding condiments.

Squeeze bottles store and stand well on a work surface, are a diameter and weight that is rather easy to grasp, and include a nozzle to direct the applied condiments. Squeeze bottles, while well established, do have certain deficiencies. For example, squeeze bottles are often filled by employees from a larger container, or contents are funnel transferred from another bottle. This is slow, often messy labor, and may leave dried condiment product in or on the bottle, which does not assure anyone of the actual freshness of ingredients used. We are interested in bold, imaginative, NEW methods for dispensing condiments in the future.

Deliverables

Please complete the following:

1) Propose a different condiment dispensing concept that offers advantages over conventional squeeze bottles. The solution should:

- Be easy to use when building a sandwich

- Not require more counter space

- Not be too heavy for workers to use repeatedly.

- Be capable of metering and controlling the placement and amount of a select condiment; and

- Eliminate the need for frequent dispenser washing,

2) Be sure to explain your improvements when compared to existing alternatives.

3) Attach a sketch or mockup of your solution. Highlight how your design would enable employees to apply condiments like ketchup or mustard in a controlled manner without the need for frequent dispenser washing, and quickly re-load when the dispenser is empty.

    Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:
  • Meets Deliverables
  • Creativity
  • Clarity
Reward Tiers
5 Winners
will receive $150 each
5 Honorable Mentions
will receive $50 each
Leaderboard
$150.00 Sam King Texas State University-San Marcos
$150.00 Scott Weisberg University of Illinois
$150.00 Arnold Toppo Purdue University
$150.00 Jonathan D University of Minnesota
$150.00 Nicholas Hui University of British Columbia
$50.00 Noah Petti University of Missouri - Columbia
$50.00 Mason Chee Pennsylvania State University
$50.00 Hansong Huang University of Illinois
$50.00 Amit Mehta University of Waterloo
$50.00 Cal Stephens Georgia Institute of Technology
Submission questions


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