Smart beverage system, apparatus, and method of using same

A beverage dispensing system comprising:

• a beverage dispensing apparatus comprising:
• a user interface displaying a menu comprising a plurality of beverage options, wherein the plurality of beverage options are customized based on an available status of beverage preparation ingredient package types at a geographic location;
• and
• a package holder configured to receive a beverage preparation ingredient package type, the beverage preparation ingredient package type comprising at least one of available status or an unavailable status at the geographic location;
• and
• a processor configured to update a status of beverage preparation ingredient package type from the unavailable status to the available status when the beverage preparation ingredient package type receives an unavailable beverage preparation ingredient package type into the package holder;
• wherein the user interface displays one or more additional beverage options that are producible using the beverage preparation ingredient package type updated from the unavailable status to the available status.

A method of customizing a beverage menu of a beverage dispensing apparatus, the method comprising:

• indicating, to a processor of the beverage dispensing apparatus, which of a plurality of beverage preparation ingredient package types are available packages and which of the plurality of beverage preparation ingredient package types are unavailable packages;
• displaying, on a user interface of the beverage dispensing apparatus, a customized menu comprising a plurality of beverage options that can be produced using the packages indicated as available;
• receiving, into the beverage dispensing apparatus, a package indicated as unavailable, the processor of the beverage dispensing apparatus determining that the received package indicated as unavailable is a package newly-indicated as available;
• and
• automatically updating, via the processor of the beverage dispensing apparatus, the customized menu to include one or more additional beverage options that are producible using the package newly-indicated as available.