# Is soda water a complimentary water or a paid fountain drink? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [October 22, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443 "2015-10-22T10:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/21 "2015-10-23T05:03:32Z")
I’ve never seen soda water offered at a restaurant soda fountain ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/22 "2015-10-23T05:57:31Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I’ve never seen soda water offered at a restaurant soda fountain Look closer next time. There’s two tiny tabs on two of the spigots next to the main buttons, one which says water and the other says soda. It’s very easy to miss if you’re unaware of the options. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/23 "2015-10-23T12:55:14Z")
They’re not always there. A lot of times the water tab will be on the lemonade/fruit drink dispenser and the soda tab will on the Sprite/7-Up dispenser. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/24 "2015-10-23T18:17:07Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Look closer next time. There’s two tiny tabs on two of the spigots next to the main buttons, one which says water and the other says soda. It’s very easy to miss if you’re unaware of the options. I’ve never seen it either. I think you’re generalizing. To be honest, I was shocked when I learned that people actually drink it. I thought it was for spraying people in the face or mixing. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/25 "2015-10-23T18:23:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In almost all fast food or fast casual joints where you pour your own soda, the dispenser machine has dispenser heads for 6 or 8 flavors of soda+syrup. These machines usually have an ice dispenser between the centermost two dispenser heads. Example: [http://www.sodadispenserdepot.com/pics/soda-dispenser-136p.jpg](http://www.sodadispenserdepot.com/pics/soda-dispenser-136p.jpg) Around here they are going to fancier machines. example > **[Coca-Cola Freestyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Freestyle)** > > Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch screen soda fountain introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 2009. The machine features 165 different Coca-Cola drink products, as well as custom flavors. The machine allows users to select from mixtures of flavors of Coca-Cola branded products which are then individually dispensed. The machines are currently located in major Coca-Cola partners and retail locations as a part of a gradual and ongoing deployment. > In 2014, Pepsi launched a competing, similar machine, t... One Big push button and a touch interface for details. It’s kind of cool because they have 10 or 12 base pops, and cherry or cherry vanilla etc.can be added to any of them. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/26 "2015-10-23T19:38:17Z")
Those machines are definitely the future. And they have plain soda water as an option. A hard to find option, but an option nevertheless. The person I was replying to had apparently not seen modern installations; I didn’t want to future shock him too badly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/27 "2015-10-23T21:14:33Z")
Moving over to CS. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/28 "2015-10-24T00:08:04Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > The highest part of the cost of a fountain drink is the cup. No it isn’t. I’m using prices from [WebRestaurantStore](http://www.webstaurantstore.com/), a restaurant supply company. 5 gallons of off-brand soda syrup costs a bit over $30. Soda syrup is mixed 5:1, so that means that a gallon of soda costs about $1. The average soda cup is around 16 oz, so the syrup costs about $0.12 (and that’s assuming no refills). There’s probably some volume discounts for major chains, but even bulk corn syrup isn’t _that_ much cheaper. In contrast, 16-oz paper or plastic cups can be gotten for about $0.03 in bulk. You can buy CO2 for about $1/lb, and a pound of CO2 will carbonate about 15 gallons of soda. So the CO2 in a 16-oz cup costs less than $0.01. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/29 "2015-10-24T04:02:21Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Is that 15 percent of restaurants consistently charge you for soda water and the rest never do or is it a crapshoot wherever you go? I very seldom eat at the same restaurant more than once, so it would be 15 percent of establishments, based on a one-time sample. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/30 "2015-10-24T04:04:35Z")
Just ask, it’s pretty reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/31 "2015-10-24T08:00:39Z")
I just remembered, in Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor and Food Emporium, there is, prominently displayed, a sign offering a glass of soda water for the paltry sum of 2 cents. So, it’s a thing you pay for, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443/32 "2015-10-24T08:35:49Z")
It varies. My nearby sports bar/billiard parlor/restaurant charges nothing for soda water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-soda-water-a-complimentary-water-or-a-paid-fountain-drink/735443.md?page=1)