Could accessing precision nutrition really be as convenient as getting a coffee? An Irish startup hopes its functional beverage dispensers could create healthier, happier workplaces.
Reso Health has made an innovative platform that enables employees to freshly prepare personalised supplement drinks to support their individual health and performance goals.
The innovation is the brainchild of co-founders Dermot O’Riordan and Ken O’Shea.
“We worked together for a number of years in the pharma sector,” said O’Riordan. “We wanted to work on something more proactive in the healthcare sector and were seeing society as a whole move towards taking more proactive measures to health.”
O’Riordan, who has a background in engineering, and O’Shea, who has a background in science, thought that a balance between science and convenience was what was missing in the nutritional sector. Convenient products were not always that effective, while good science was often buried behind better branded products.
Another thing they realised was that a great deal of health data was being collected on wearables but was not going to good use.
“We thought that there must be a better way to use this data, to combine it with technology, and to use that science to deliver a better customer experience,” said O’Riordan. “So, we set about designing a platform to deliver precision nutritional products in a convenient way.”
Their innovation consists of three key elements – the platform itself, the product, and the dispenser. The dispenser, which operates like a coffee machine, receives information from an app worn or carried by an employee.
“This app is like having a nutritionist in your pocket,” said O’Riordan. “It learns about you, your habits, your goals, where you might be nutritionally deficient, and what supplement might work for you.”
Data is sent from the platform to the dispenser, which then formulates the right nutritional mix from single ingredients. Reso Health has broken down multivitamins into individual essential vitamins, minerals, and flavours. Ingredients include antioxidants and adaptogens, which can help reduce stress and improve mood.
“All an employee needs to do is walk up to the machine, place their water bottle, fill it up, and walk back to their desk,” said O’Riordan. “Ingredients are recombined according to specific data.”
O’Riordan believes that providing access to proper nutrition at the workplace in this way could help boost employee wellbeing, improving cognition, energy, and resilience levels. This ultimately means happier workplaces.
“The idea is that access to quality supplements should be as easy as getting a coffee,” he said. “It has to be like this, as this is what people expect.”
The long-term goal is to install this technology in workplaces and gyms, and in hospitality and retail settings.
“It’s not about making employees give up their coffee, but rather [offering] an alternative,” said O’Riordan. “Coffee is often the answer to every problem in the office space – if people are tired, stressed, worn out, etc. There is an overreliance on coffee. At the same time, though, who is going to walk around the office with a pocket full of multivitamins?”
The company has developed a prototype that has been trialled at various locations in Ireland. The feedback, said O’Riordan, has been fantastic.
“When you show people what is possible, the response is amazing,” he said. “It’s like taking them on a bypass around a city, while they have been driving through town for years. It’s a weight off people, to know that effective nutritional supplementation can be so convenient. It clicks with them.”
Reso Health was recognised as being the Most Innovative Service, Technology, or Digital Solution Supporting the Nutraceutical Industry at the 2024 Vitafoods Europe Startup Innovation Challenge.
“There is nothing like being approved by your peers,” said O’Riordan. “It is the ultimate differentiator.”
Moving forward, the company will continue to raise funds, as it moves towards commercialisation.
“What we have simply hasn’t been built before,” said O’Riordan. “The technology has existed in different fields – it has just never been combined to deliver nutrition. We believe that bringing the product, the software, and the hardware all together is what is going to change the game.
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