I think they should have a conventional soda fountain with the main products (regular Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite) right next to the Freestyle machine. Most people just want one of the old standbys, so they’d get their drinks faster.
They should have to pay for and maintain two different machines to save you fifteen seconds every couple of weeks?
Well, yes, of course they should make things easier for their customers.
I’ve never seen or used a Freestyle machine. What makes them so difficult to serve a main product?
A freestyle machine has a touchscreen display which you have to navigate through to get to your product. Typically it would go:
Main Menu:
Colas
Diet Colas
Non-colas
something I forget
Then Colas:
Coke Dr Pepper etc
Then Coke:
Coke Vanilla Coke Orange Coke etc
So that’s three menus you have to go through to get a simple Coke.
I’m seeing on them now on the front menu a quick select that takes you right to Coke Diet Coke Sprite
Maybe they should deliver them straight to your home.
Actually they have, and it’s you. See changing those things are a royal PITA and no one likes to do it, so the low syrup warning is routinely ignored, and that allows for more pours per change as it will run dry. Most customers, upon running out of syrup are cool about it and can easily make the switch to another flavor, but there are some who will insist of their preferred high fructose corn syrup mix and will go get someone who will change it, begrudgingly.
And that’s why it takes so darn long, because the employee really hates that chore. But all and all the customers are happy, since they either get their HFCS mix of their choice or their second choice and are equally happy about that. The one customer (yourself) who has been put to work as the final warning system that the syrup is totally out, without pay, tips or benefit, and out their own time has to accept that because every other place uses the exact same method and it is just ‘the way things are’.
BTW, according to this article, McDonald’s restaurants go to some length to make sure that Coca-Cola there tastes better than most places. They get the syrup in stainless steel containers rather than plastic bags as do most places, filter the water, chill the syrup and so forth.
Basically I think the machines have a bunch of syrups for various drinks, and can be combined in certain combinations- e.g. they have Coke syrup, lime syrup, cherry syrup and Ginger Ale syrup. The machine then might give the user the option of Coke, Cherry Coke, Cherry Fanta, Cherry-Lime Fanta, Ginger Ale, Ginger-Lime Coke, and Cherry Ginger Ale.
Dear God, please don’t take this woman to a place with one of those.
No, the fries would be cold. Never fails.