An Aquafab-ulous origin

With over 25 years of hospitality experience under his belt, Danny Kane and his business partner, Rebecca Grey, set out to find an egg white alternative for bartenders to finish a foamed cocktail. In just over a year of development, Aquafab is now stocked in over 200 venues and skyrocketing to bigger horizons.

The idea for Aquafab was born in mid-2023 from a desire to create allergen-free cocktails, but Danny Kane and Rebecca Grey quickly realised its potential as a plant-based alternative ingredient.

Made from the liquid of cooked legumes, Aquafab produces the silky finish that bartenders strive for when crafting cocktails, while catering to the growing number of customers seeking plant-based alternatives.

The formula provides a versatile, shelf-stable solution for perfecting foams, textures, and flavours in drinks, as effective as egg-white and more sustainable than the byproduct of canned chickpeas.

Starting out

In 2021, Kane and Grey opened Luton Lane Wine Bar in Hawthorn, and it was on a busy night of making cocktails that the initial seed for Aquafab was planted.

“Allergens are a huge issue. When things get busy most bars will just rinse and reuse a cocktail shaker, but for people with severe egg allergies, it really needs to be thoroughly washed,” said Grey.

“We decided to move to chickpeas as an alternative, straining the juice out of them to make aquafaba, or bean water, which works because they’re high in protein and make a foam. But we were getting so frustrated by the fact that there was no quality control.

“We were straining chickpeas and cans were left open with so much waste. We looked at each other and thought, we must be able to get aquafaba on its own, and that was the light bulb moment,” she said.

After some research, Grey and Kane found a few companies that made their own aquafaba, but none were commercial, or in long-life packaging that could be stored at ambient temperature. 

Commitment to the process and a willingness to partner with experts enabled the pair to take Aquafab from a seedling idea to manufacturing in under a year.

“Danny and I made sure to partner with people that knew what they were talking about, including consultants and food scientists, rather than chancing early mistakes. We wanted to produce a high quality product that people could trust, from brand to packaging to contents, from the outset,” said Grey.

Attention to detail

“When we were getting started we were very conscious that branding is really important, especially because it's a simple product,” said Kane.

“I'm very good friends with one of the guys who started Four Pillars Gin, Cameron Mackenzie, and he was probably the first person that knew about this project. He recommended we take it to Stuart Gregor at the creative agency, Liquid Ideas, so we did that in December 2023.

“We made him a whiskey sour at 10 o’clock in the morning, which he loved, and the company ended up taking us on for product branding,” he said.

Aside from product branding, Grey and Kane also wanted to ensure their product was as sustainable as possible, and less reliant on international supply chains.

Grey told F&DB that while they were in the “mad scientist” stage of development, experimenting with different ingredients, they realised that the domestic demand for chickpeas in Australia exceeds production – meaning it would be difficult to find a local, sustainable source.

The solution was moving to a different kind of aquafaba, made using Victorian-grown faba beans.

“We ended up making Aquafab with faba beans instead of chickpeas, leading to a more neutral smell and taste,” said Grey.

“They’re planted in Victoria, as an alternative crop to wheat. So, not only are they putting nitrogen back into the soil to improve its fertility, but any waste by-product goes to feedlots for animals,” said Kane.

“The product is 100 per cent Victorian, and there’s no waste in our manufacturing process.”

Development process

Tetra Pak was one of the first global companies that Grey and Kane were in contact with, interested in the opportunity to create a clean product – limiting the number of ingredients and not including any preservatives or additives.

“We wanted packaging that was guaranteed to be safe, and wanted to work with a global company, so there would be opportunities to reach the international market eventually,” said Kane.

“Tetra Pak has a product development centre in Singapore, so we worked with the food scientists there to choose the final formula for Aquafab. The purpose of the product is to foam in cocktails, so in the manufacturing process we had to be careful with how much it foams and adjust the protein levels accordingly – there was a lot of fine-tuning involved.

“We literally walked into the lab in Singapore with cocktail shakers, ice, a bottle of vodka, lemon and lime juice, sugar, and a cocktail glass, because if we didn’t test it out then and there, we wouldn’t know if it works,” he said.

After working with the Tetra Pak team in Singapore to develop the formula, Grey and Kane headed back home to find a local production line.

Aquafab is produced in Ballarat, at Cottonwood Springs, which also makes alternative milk products.

“It doesn’t work like milk, but it’s manufactured like alternative dairy. The current form of Aquafab is designed specifically for cocktails, but we’re working on R&D to produce a food product that could be used in baking and cooking. However, our current focus is to get this into as many bars around the world as we can,” said Kane.

One of the key priorities for Grey and Kane was to make a shelf-stable aquafaba product, working alongside Tetra Pak on the packaging development. The first production run, in September 2024, had a 12-month shelf life, while the second run, in January 2025, is 18 months shelf stable.

The packaging keeps it fresh and ready to pour, and testing has ensured there’s no separation, which sometimes occurs in chickpea products or synthetic foamers.

“We wanted to make sure bartenders could spend less time decanting products into non-recyclable plastic containers that are really hard to wash. We were trying to reduce waste and cost for hospitality,” said Grey.

“Some of the places that are buying from us have bans on raw animal products being used in service. Aquafab has given them the confidence to put foaming cocktails on the menu, without having to worry about training staff and food handling certificates.

“We’re now in over 200 venues, in just over four months of trade,” she said.

Looking forward

As Aquafab gains momentum in the Australian market, Kane and Grey are setting sights on the seven seas.

“We’re about to head to F&B@Sea in Miami, the biggest trade show for the cruise industry. We figured Aquafab would be right in the zone for cruise ships from the beginning, as using raw products can be an issue, and we’ve already had interest from some of the biggest lines in the world,” said Kane.

Grey and Kane just found out Aquafab has been nominated for the Innovative F&B Product at the F&B@Sea Awards, alongside established global companies Heineken and Violife, exemplifying the industry’s interest in what they have to offer.

“For the short term we want to get onto cruise ships and break into a few export markets. There are some areas in the United States that are interested, as they have a big market for vegan-friendly alternative products,” said Kane.

“With Tetra Pak we’re also set up for international production, so if we wanted to produce Aquafab in the US, they could put us in touch with an affiliated co-packer. We’re always conscious of the carbon footprint and keeping things sustainable,” said Kane.

Aquafab is also providing samples for a promotion with Four Pillars Gin, who are sending out Bloody Shiraz Gin sour cocktail packs to the top 40 bars in Australia.

“They came to us and said, ‘we want to launch a pack that you can make sours with, but we can’t just send an egg, we can’t send a can of chickpeas, and we also don’t want to send a synthetic product that’s not made in Australia, so we want to use you’,” said Kane.

Grey and Kane indicated that collaborating with brands for situations like this would be something they are keen to continue with, with eyes set on eventually having Aquafab enter liquor stores.

“The product is still business-to-business at the moment, so we would love the next step to be retail – having Aquafab stocked in liquor stores for people that want to make cocktails at home,” said Grey.

“That involves a lot more research, and we would like the industry to really trust our brand before taking that step.”

This article first appeared in the April/May 2025 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.