Jibes with what I learned in the restaurant biz. Circa 1993, 12 oz. of fountain Coke (syrup + carbonated water) cost the restaurant about 3 cents.
Here’s all you could wanna know about Brix calibration and mixing (with pix of the brix) (it does look like my memory was correct about the syrup coming straight down.)
When I was a kid, my mom’s work place had a countertop soda machine that had it’s canisters off to the side in a seperate container. It was always breaking down. One day I got a drink, only to find it was almost pure syrup. It thought I would sufficate.
Sounds about right. A normal bag of post-mix syrup will run about $50, but you sell way more than that in soda. The cup itself is the most expensive, but even that is not all that expensive, and I’ve never worked for anyone that kept really close inventory on the physical cups. Basically, once in a while inventory would be taken to square it with the computer inventory and any missing cups were just written off as an expense.
Actually, in most places, the major expense is their investment in buying the dispenser machine itself, the accompanying ice machine, and the labor costs to install & maintain them. They have to depreciate this investment over several years, but then it’s usually time to upgrade or replace the machines.
After that investment cost, the operating costs are (in approximate order):
- cup (and cover) – about 1-2¢
- syrup – about 0.75 to 1¢
- straw
- ice (water, and electricity to freeze it)
- electricity to operate the dispenser machine
- rent for the floor space used by the machine
- water bill for the city water used
- labor costs for employee time to add more syrup, refill the cups/covers/straws, and to clean around the machine.
Most of these costs are well under a penny per drink. But the employee costs (wages, benefits, taxes & unemployment) are much higher than these supply costs. So by having the customer do the work of dispensing their own drinks, the owners savings on reduced employee cost more than covers the costs of people refilling their drink multiple times.
You don’t want pure syrup- it’s is just that- syrup, and very strong and as Joe K said- tastes medicinal. What you likely want is changing the mixture to about 4-1 instead of 5-1. Some cheap small time stores will try and change the mix to 6-1 to skimp on a few pennies, too!
There’s a deli in the town I moved from a few years back that has an old-fashioned soda dispenser. They squirt in syrup & carbonated water separately, one at a time, and they’ll mix your drink to your specs if you ask. Plus, the Dr. Pepper syrup they use comes from the bottler that still uses 100% cane sugar for sweetener. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm …
Does anyone know where I can get the components AND the machine? I want to get this for someone as a gift. Can individuals get Coke machines in their houses? Can I form a shell corporation whose sole mission is to provide us Coke?
It’s funny, but I’m serious.
Remember the table top model I mention in post 23? Well, here you go.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67115&item=7506699198&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=57075&item=7506363867&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38&item=7147570704&rd=1
The problem being that, in Texas at least, Sam’s Club will not sell you the syrup unless you have a certificate proving you’re in food service.
I am sure that there are entrepreneurial dopers who own food related businesses. Own of my relatives does, they simply made a employee card saying I saw staff, and then it isn’t a problem, at least for me. Sure, it isn’t a “certificate”, but is close enough for the local restaurant wholesaler.
That picture doesn’t quite match up with my experiences at McDonald’s, but I never analyzed them that closely. We had a red thing that we put on the fountain (after removing the nozzle) that had a spigot off to the side. (sorry, no picture.) Anyway, the coke guys calibrated it for us usually. I just used the little red thing to get syrup out of the machines. (If you want to drink pure syrup, the only 2 tolerable ones are Sprite and Hi-C Orange, but they’re both really sweet and really tart.)
Oh yeah, remember those Arctic Orange shakes a few years back? They were made with Hi-C syrup, so now I can use that cute nozzle to make them for myself. 
Ahh, I never tried to buy it while I was there. I guess that also throws out the idea for nekkid wrestling in a pool with it.
Oddly. I’m the opposite: I enjoy moreso the cabonated water without the syrup.
Yeah Me too, i always thank the workers (and owner if available) when the soda machines have a Soda Water button… wish they all did, 25% soda water to the normal coke, makes it a nice less sweet (lower calorie) refreshing beverage.
The syrup is mostly sugar. So if your drink has too much carbonated water, pick up a pack of sugar from the condimeht bar, and add that to your drink.
I want to know how to prevent zombies from messing with my fountain drink machine!
You can buy the machines and the syrups. And they are in consumer sizes.
It’s called SodaStream. And I believe it has competitors now.
Then you can adjust the ratio of syrup/water/carbonation to your guts content and distention.
Coke is going to sell a consumer machine (and syrup) of their own, but that isn’t on the market yet.
I looked into a soda machine; I want less syrup and carbonation - the SodaStream is made so you HAVE to buy the bottles and CO2 (carbonation) from them at prices that don’t make it worthwhile.
Tweaking a self-serve dispenser would be vandalism and theft.
I don’t have many fountain sodas any more, having moved on to prefer seltzer/Soda Stream/sparkling water. But there is a noticeable difference to me in Cokes bought at McDonald’s and those from other places. Does McDonald’s have their own special additive, like the sugar coating they put on fries, or are they just much more attentive to the brix mixture than the barbecue place down the street?
I want to know the difference between fountain sodas and the bottled kind. Bottled soda is okay. Canned is better. But fountain sodas are awesome and cheaper than the bottled kind. I suspect it has more to do with the cups and the ice than the beverage mixture itself, though I also suspect there’s less syrup and more carbonated water in fountain soda, which I think I prefer.
Also, I read (maybe here on the Dope) that you can make a better, more durable version of a Sodastream machine with ~$15 worth of stuff from Lowe’s. Anybody got a link to instructions? I’m sure I can make my own syrup easily.