‘Smart Cups,’ Clever Idea: Alum’s Company 3D Prints Ingredients
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Founder and CEO Chris Kanik ’05 hopes its technology will revolutionize how we transport beverages, medicines, and more
By Melissa Newcomb
At first glance, the clear plastic cup looks empty—with just some bright pink, hexagonal embellishments on the bottom. But there’s more to this container than meets the eye.
In fact, it’s not any cup—it’s a Smart Cup.
Founded by Chris Kanik ’05, Smart Cups has developed proprietary technology for 3D-printing ingredients onto surfaces; to access the final product, the consumer just adds water.
In this case, the colorful hexagons dissolve into a berry-flavored energy drink, one of several kinds the California-based company sells online.
But as Kanik—whose product was named one of the best inventions of 2021 by Time magazine—stresses, the beverages are just the beginning. They’re proof of concept for the technology, whose positive impacts he says could be profound.
“We can print food, medications, supplements, micronutrients, and more,” says the former Arts & Sciences econ major, whose firm has grown to 30 staffers.
“In the next five years, I hope this becomes a globally adopted technology.”
As Kanik explains: dehydrated milk, broth, batters for baked goods, and more can be printed into a cup or bowl—cutting food waste, lowering shipping and storage costs, and lowering the environmental impact.
Among the ingredients the company has tested: powdered eggs.
In the next five years, I hope this becomes a globally adopted technology.
“You can directly impact hunger,” Kanik says. “Now you have an egg that has a minimum shelf life of two years and doesn’t require refrigeration.”
Kanik also envisions applications in the pharmaceutical industry, noting advantages like obviating the need for refrigeration in under-resourced communities worldwide.
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Plus, he says: “Kids hate taking pills—but if you print a medication, it becomes a fun experience, like a little science project.”
In September 2023, the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling published the results of a study (partly funded by Smart Cups) by a researcher at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, who found that replacing traditional beverage packaging and transportation methods with Smart Cups would dramatically reduce negative environmental impacts, including fossil fuel consumption.
Kanik, who had a previous career in standup comedy, was inspired to start Smart Cups after finishing a national tour. Waiting for a margarita at a busy Mexican restaurant, it struck him how convenient it would be to have powdered cocktails to which the consumer could just add water.
Kanik also envisions applications in the pharmaceutical industry, noting advantages like obviating the need for refrigeration in under-resourced communities worldwide.
He scribbled the idea on a napkin and, in the following days, turned his kitchen into a lab to develop a prototype (causing, at one point, a minor explosion).
He started Smart Cups in 2011—focusing on energy drinks rather than alcohol, due in part to the regulatory issues involved.
In 2023, Kanik won the first season of “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars,” a reality show where food and beverage entrepreneurs compete for a $250,000 prize and the chance to partner with the celebrity chef.
As Ramsay told Kanik during the finale: “Your product could quite honestly change the world.”
(All photos provided.)
Published April 9, 2025
…and what happens to the plastic containers? How can the container supplier collect and process its products?
WOULD IT NOT BE BETTER TO PLACE THE SOLUBLE POWDER INTO A SOLUBLE PACKET INSTEAD OF A PLASTIC GLASS THAT MUST ALSO BE RECYCLED?