Straw accessible beverage pouches such as Capri Sun® and Kool Aid® Jammers are the on-the-go beverage of choice for many children, tweens, teens, and adults. These pouches are convenient, lightweight, and provide a beverage that is easily accessible. However, the current beverage pouches available on the market today are lacking a key element.
The missing element referred to above is a variety of beverages within a single pouch. The various pouches on the market today are available in a multitude of flavors and juices, such as ‘Tropical Punch’, ‘Grape’, ‘Lemonade’, among many others, but are limited in the sense that only one flavor or juice is ever available within a single pouch.
There exists a category of prior art which discusses pouches and beverage pouches with multiple compartments, but these forms of prior art do not solve the aforementioned problem discussed, nor do they seek to.
One example of such prior art is a multiple-compartment pouch which contains a frangible seal dividing the two or more compartments, which is intended to be ruptured when an external force is applied to the pouch, for example, a user's hand squeezing the pouch, which ultimately creates one single compartment. There exist a multitude of problems prohibiting this form of prior art from providing a solution to the variety dilemma discussed above.
One such problem is that the very nature of this design relates to contents that are intended to be mixed prior to consumption. An example of this is containing a soluble solid ingredient, such as protein powder, in one compartment, and a solution, such as water, in another compartment, and allowing a user to combine and mix the two contents immediately prior to consumption. Another example of a use case for this design would be containing two separate solutions which are known to create a chemical reaction when mixed, allowing a user to execute the mixing of the solutions at the correct time for whatever purpose this may serve. Essentially, when the contents of the pouch are mixed together prior to their consumption, there only remains a single beverage, and it fails to provide a variety of beverages within the pouch.
Another problem with this form of prior art is that there is no functionality set forth to allow a user access to the multiple compartments independently of each other, using a straw or any other device. Without access to the multiple compartments, a user is not provided with variety.
There does exist a form of prior art which contains multiple compartments, and also attempts to provide variety within a single pouch; however, it fails in a key area, creating disastrous ramifications, and ultimately making it unsuitable for commercial use.
This prior art consists of a beverage pouch with side-by-side compartments, each accessible by its own separate straw. The key area in which this prior art fails, is the use of a second straw, which lacks an applicable use case, and presents additional problems therein. The first problem created by a second straw is that producing an entire extra straw adds an inessential costs for the manufacturer. With the extra cost, the manufacturer will need to accept lower margins, or they will need to raise the price of the product for the consumer. Given the lack of benefit relative to the additional cost, it does not justify implementing the prior art in a commercial setting.
Another problem with an additional straw is that the end user is forced to take the time and effort to remove and unwrap a second straw, and to puncture the beverage pouch with the second straw. The beverage pouch is intended to be a quick and easy, on-the-go choice, and the addition of this extra straw complicates the entire consumption process.
A third problem with the secondary straw is the creation of additional waste regardless of if the additional straw has provided value or not during the consumption of the beverage.
A fourth problem with this secondary straw design, is that if it were to allow for a variety of flavors greater than two in a single pouch, it would do so by adding additional side-by-side compartments, which would propagate the use of even more straws, exacerbating the issues already discussed.
The use of a secondary straw in this design could be avoided by forcing the user to remove the original straw from the first beverage compartment, and having to insert it into the second beverage compartment in order to consume the second beverage, but this creates a high level of complexity for the user; ultimately making this option unfeasible. Not to mention that if this design were to be used with additional side-by-side compartments greater than two, the user would have to remove and re-insert the straw repeatedly, making an already complicated process laborious. In addition, the nature of this design is intended for use in providing the same beverage for multiple users, as opposed to multiple different beverages for a single user.
There currently does not exist, a design which allows for a variety of beverages within a single beverage pouch, which can be accessed and consumed via a single straw that remains in the pouch after initially entering the pouch.