Tiger Ideas Drinks

The Tiger has ideas, do you?
— A slogan from Tiger Ideas Drinks

Location

Tiger Ideas Drinks is a drinks production company that has a factory that can be found in 3 7, in the city of Birdencaster.

Purpose

The purpose of the drinks factory is to produce powdered drinks. An amount of the powder can be added to water to make the intended drink.

The Product Line

The drinks are an alternative to fruit juices and other soft drinks that, due to transportation limitations, would either not be safe or would go flat or expire.

Nutritional Value Of The Drinks

The nutritional value of the drinks, near matches it’s Old World equivalent. The exception for this is apple juice as the Old World equivalent is less nutritious than orange juice ^[3][4] which is not the case with the powdered variety. Fizzy soft drinks are nearly the same nutritional value to their Old World equivalents.

What Packaging Do They Come In?

Canister by Tesco

All types of drinks come in two varieties but both come in a canister that is similar to how hot chocolate is packaged in the Old World^{[Image Left]}. The varieties are;

Sachet

When the customer opens a canister of this variety they will find a reel of separable sachets. Each sachet makes enough for 250ml (8.45 fl oz) or a glass of drink.

Powder In The Canister

When the customer opens a canister of this variety they will find that the canister is full of powder, and contains a PLA plastic spoon. The spoon measures out 75g of powder which is enough to make 1 litre (33.81 fl oz) of drink.

How It’s Produced

The powdered drinks are first made by adding the dry powders into a mixing machine. The sacks are slit open and carefully poured in as to not allow any fires to happen if there is a spark. Sparks can make powders catch fire such as with coffee creamer ^[6]. The dry ingredients are mixed thoroughly which include the vitamins and minerals along with any dry ingredients that allow for a better taste experience. For orange juice, citric acid is added which provides it's sour flavour undertones^[8]. Other dry ingredients include sugar and other powders that allow the ingredients to be dissolved in water without floating ingredients. Once the dry ingredients are mixed, the wet ingredients are added, which are the flavours and the colours. Fruit juice powders only have one flavour ingredient, while fizzy soft drinks have a cocktail of flavour ingredients, which can include odd flavour combinations for the taste of the drink. These include citrus oils, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg or coriander, and lavender ^[7]. The ingredients are then mixed until the telltale sign of no white streaks. Once this occurs the batch of powder is emptied out of the bottom. The powder is much stiffer and no longer has flammability issues. The emptied powder is laid out in trays to dry. Once dried it is put into one of two machines, depending on the packaging being used. Sachet
The powder is dumped into the hopper at the top. Sachet tapes are loaded into the machine; it measures an amount of the powder into each sachet and seals them. Each tape has the same sachets that would go into a canister. Powder in the Canister
In this variant, a canister is loaded at the bottom. The logic of the machine knows when an empty canister is loaded, and when a canister is there but is full. Once an empty canister is loaded the machine drops a measured amount into the canister and the spoon is inserted. Then, the canister is closed by the workers themselves. The lid is made out of PLA plastic.

Why are The Drinks Powdered Instead of Bottled?

They are powdered to save on resources, to lower waste of the product, and in powdered form, more can be transported than if it were bottled.

Carbonisation

For powdered drinks that are required to be somewhat fizzy, Calcium Bicarbonate in powdered form is added at the dry ingredients stage. The drink will not remain fizzy so will need to be drunk when made.

Employees

How Many People Work There?

For the mixing stage, there is only one person at each mixing machine although each machine is large, able to create 100 canisters a batch. At the packing stage, there are four people for the Sachet Variant and three for the Canister Variant. Sachet Variant

One person to load the machine with powder.
One to load the machine with sachet tapes.
One to roll the sachets on themselves to be inserted into a canister.
One to quality check.

Canister Variant

One person to load the machine with powder.
One to load the machine with Canisters and insert the measuring spoon.
And one to quality check.

How Many Hours Do They Work?

Full-time hours are spent working at the factory.

Shipping and Distribution

Where Do Customers Buy The Drinks?

If they want the drink premade then they can go to a Porridge House. The canister of drinks can be purchased at the confectioners in 4 8.

Is There Competition?

While there is competition, it doesn’t produce drinks within Birdencaster. It does, however, have imports. The customers of the drinks have brand loyalty to the locally produced Tiger Ideas Drinks.

Mother: Sorry they ran out of Tiger Apple Juice Powder, I had to get a version from Stardust.
Teenager: Mum, I’d rather drink swill.
— A Family conversation on a shopping trip