Major global cruise operators including Princess, Disney, Holland, Silversea, Crystal and Seabourn are now serving cocktails using an Australian innovation called Aquafab.
The company has just shipped its first 40 foot export container to the United States, providing the opportunity for cruise ships to mix frothy cocktails such as whisky sours and amaretto sours at scale for the first time in decades,.
Created by Rebecca Grey and Danny Kane – and produced in Ballarat using Victorian-grown crops – Aquafab was designed to simplify how bartenders deliver foam-driven cocktails without relying on raw egg whites or chickpea liquid, providing a consistent, shelf-stable solution built for high-volume service environments.
Since launching commercially in October 2024, Aquafab is now used in around 800 venues across Australia and has been poured into more than one million cocktails.
“Bars are under enormous pressure to deliver quality drinks quickly with rotating staff and tight margins,” Grey said.
“Bartenders need a solution that is consistent, easy to train, reduces waste, and removes the complexity of handling raw ingredients during service. That is exactly what Aquafab delivers.”
The strongest commercial validation has come from the global cruise sector, where strict risk frameworks have historically limited the use of raw egg-based cocktails.
“The cruise industry does not adopt products lightly,” Kane said. “For years frothy cocktails were restricted on many vessels because raw egg whites were considered too risky at scale. Aquafab changes that. Shipping our first 40 foot container to the US and supplying operators like Princess, Holland, Silversea, Crystal, Disney and Seabourn shows this is not a niche product, it is infrastructure for modern bar service.”
Aquafab is a like-for-like volumetric replacement for egg whites, removing prep time, eliminates chickpea waste, simplifies training, and delivers stable foam without flavour interference. Its extended shelf life provides further operational certainty for venues working at speed.
Industry adoption has been driven by the bartender community, where speed, consistency and reduced complexity directly impact service performance and profitability.
With demand accelerating locally and internationally, Aquafab has opened an equity crowdfunding raise on the Birchal platform to scale production, expand export distribution, and support continued growth across hospitality, cruise, and resort markets.
Kane said the raise allows the company to move from early adoption to category leadership.
“We created Aquafab to solve a real service problem behind the bar,” Kane said. “The response from global operators shows this is much bigger than a single product. It is an Australian innovation with genuine export potential and no direct competitor at scale.”
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