On April 29, 2026, the Fishers High School Café launched an automated beverage machine, also known as the Drinkbot, rented from the company Botrista. It produces specialty drinks, such as boba tea, matcha, and refreshers. Cafeteria workers offered free samples in the days leading up to their availability, then started serving drinks on April 29. These drinks are available during lunch and in the morning before classes.
Based in San Francisco, Botrista provides a platform for businesses to sell cold drinks. It was founded in 2017 by former Tesla engineer Sean Hsu to help food service operators serve profitable, trending beverages without added operational complexity.
FHS Café comanager Kate Greenwood explained that the FHS food service is renting the machine from Botrista, introducing the machine in the late second semester due to a discount offered by the company. On Monday, April 27, Botrista employees installed the machine at FHS, then trained cafeteria staff on how to use it the next day.
“[On] Wednesday, we started selling drinks,” Greenwood said. “So, it all went really, really quickly back-to-back.”
The Botrista machine is operated in K-12 schools in 42 states, and it creates thousands of drinks every day. The user interface allows customers to customize their drinks, and the ingredients are moved to the blender through one of the 14 nozzles. A honeycomb blender simulates a drink shaker to deliver foam and texture, and the drink is created in around 12 seconds.
Greenwood explained how all the drinks are pre-portioned and mixed by the Drinkbot.
“The bot will tell you when it needs certain things,” said Greenwood. “I don’t know if that’s creepy or encouraging.”
Greenwood revealed that the first day the cafeteria launched the Drinkbot, they sold 173 drinks during lunch. On the second day, they sold almost 200 drinks. The price is set by the food service admin at $4.50, and the profit from sales goes into funding for the district’s food service committee.
The Drinkbot complies with the US Department of Agriculture nutrition standards and supports the Smart Snacks guidelines, which limit calories, fat and sugar. The machine also reduces SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) complexity in schools, which refers to the unit of measure in which the stocks of a material are managed. This can include various product types and their variants, like size and color. The simplicity of the Drinkbot makes inventory management and operational efficiency smoother, since the machine produces all the drinks.
Senior Nicholas Riley, who works in the FHS cafeteria in the mornings, appreciates the simplicity of the Drinkbot.
“It’s pretty easy,” Riley said. “You just press a couple buttons, and it makes good drinks.”
Botrista has machines in a wide range of dining establishments, from restaurants and theme parks to college campuses. They continuously improve their beverage automation technology while expanding flavor offerings.
Senior Kailee Hooton has tried many of the refreshers, her favorite one being the pink dragon fruit refresher. She believes the Drinkbot is a good investment since the school directly profits from it, but the drinks have a few drawbacks.
“They’re just expensive, and they have a lot of ice in them,” Hooton said. However, she admitted she would probably buy more drinks “once in a while, if I’m in the mood for it.”
Junior Safia Anwarzai agrees that the drinks are too pricey.
“I think they’re expensive for how small they are and how little liquid is in them,” said Anwarzai. “They fill them up with so much ice and they’re barely putting anything in them.”
Right now, the drinks are still popular, especially since they just opened, but some students think the prices are too high for the small size and the amount of ice. Others enjoy the refreshers and coffee, and some are annoyed with the long lines in the CCA. Whether the drinks will stand the test of time or lose customers because of the high prices remains to be seen.
