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Topic: Coca-Cola FREESTYLE...the future of bad soda

Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-06-2013 06:14 PM

From what I've read in this thread is that those machines need more care and love than any ordinary post-mix system, since there are far more components that can fail and those cartridges need regular replacements.

Also, producing and distributing those cartridges looks more labor intensive to me.

For all it does, it doesn't reduce labor costs in any part of the chain if you ask me [Wink]

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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-07-2013 07:34 AM

Changing a cartridge takes just a few seconds. The machine automatically sends in a request for service or supplies when needed. When an item runs out, it is automatically removed or dimmed on the selection screen.

One other thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that the machine has a special interface for those in wheelchairs.

I really like the machine, but I understand how some might not like the selections. Coke from Mexico is still my favorite, but I have to watch sugar and carbonation.

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Mark Strube
Master Film Handler

Posts: 322
From: Milwaukee, WI, United States
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 11-07-2013 12:19 PM

I recently experienced a Freestyle machine that, when choosing a regular 'ol soda (no special flavor added), it quickly spritzed whatever flavoring was last used when I first started pouring, affecting the overall taste of the drink. I poured all of my soda out and refilled.

Do they all do this or was it malfunctioning? What crap.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-07-2013 05:39 PM

What they should do is, program it so that it squirts 100% of the flavor into the drink during 90% of the pour. The last 10% of pouring time would just be carbonated water or the "base," thereby cleaning the flavor out of the nozzle for the next pour.

Probably had 200 "MBAs" designing this machine and nobody thought of that idea.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-07-2013 07:18 PM

Well, I'm not an MBA, but I must silently admit that I do have an engineering degree. Still, I do not consider myself extremely bright, but a page or 5 back I came up with the same ingenious idea. Actually not really my idea, because all coffee machines that offer multiple flavours I know off are already doing it that way...

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 11-07-2013 08:22 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
What they should do is, program it so that it squirts 100% of the flavor into the drink during 90% of the pour. The last 10% of pouring time would just be carbonated water or the "base," thereby cleaning the flavor out of the nozzle for the next pour.

Good idea but the current form of the machine doesn't know how much 100% is. You just hold the button until you are done pouring.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-07-2013 09:35 PM

Hold on a minute there guys. Your idea may sound good on paper, but does nobody remember the early 90s "mix-in-the-cup" fountains? They tasted just as awful as these stupid Freestyle machines.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-07-2013 10:52 PM

quote: Lyle Romer
You just hold the button until you are done pouring.

Well then, just modify the idea a bit. The flavor stuff pours with the plain water base stuff, whatever it is, and when you let off the button, the plain stuff flows just a half-second longer to rinse the nozzle.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-07-2013 11:55 PM

No Mike, people are stupid. (This is news?)

If the machine is set to run the "clear stuff" for a certain amount of time (even if it is only half a second) when the button is released, there is no way to ensure a proper brix when you get those idiots pushing the button repeatedly because they can't calculate when to let go.

Then again Freestyle machine know nothing of this "brix" thing anyway.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-10-2013 07:15 PM

quote: Lyle Romer
Good idea but the current form of the machine doesn't know how much 100% is. You just hold the button until you are done pouring.

Handling it like a self-serve coffee machine was probably too much? Just put your EMPTY cup under it and wait until the machine is finished pouring? With modern sensors, you could probably even detect the size of the cup and prevent it from overflowing if somebody puts a different size or a half filled cup under it.

No matter how I look at this, I can only conclude that the current design is just flawed.

Nobody would accept a coffee machine that also serves hot chocolate and hot water (for e.g. tea or instant soup) that would put a human-detectable residue of either coffee or hot chocolate into the hot water. So why should somebody accept a soda machine that essentially does the same?

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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 11-30-2013 04:39 PM

Things must really be good in this world if this is what we have to complain about.

I tried this machine once and frankly, did not really notice any difference, but I didn't do any kind of blind A-B test and I did mix flavors.

But if you have a self-service fountain machine with multiple nozzles, I don't get why Freestyle is necessary anyway. I can mix flavors on the fountain machine just as well.

I remember when New Coke came out and everyone bitched and moaned. There was a guy who led an organization to get Coca-Cola to switch back to the old formula. Then a TV news reporter made him take a blind test and he couldn't tell the difference. You could see him come to the realization that he had been a fool. He disappeared after that. Of course, Coca-Cola did switch back, although many thought the whole thing had been a publicity stunt all along.

Early in this thread, someone mentioned Royal Crown. Back around 1986-1990, RC came out with Royal Crown Premium Cola. Dark glass bottles, cane sugar, no corn syrup, real cola beans, etc. I loved the stuff. Tasted so rich it tasted like it had chocolate in it. It failed and they stopped making it. I was told by a retailer that one of the problems is that people thought it was beer. (At a Fairway, I was carded for buying root beer once. Funny because it was root beer and the cashier didn't know the difference and funny because I was at least 50 at the time.)

Based in part on both the RC experience and nostalgia, I always thought that soda with sugar instead of corn syrup would taste better. Any my ex went to Belize and said that Coke tasted far better there. I thought about it for awhile and since I knew that all concentrate came out of Atlanta, l realized that the only difference could be water quality or cane sugar vs. corn syrup. But recently, a local supermarket had Mexican Coke and I bought it with great anticipation. Glass bottle, cane sugar…I thought it would taste great. Frankly, I thought it tasted like medicine--I was really disappointed, although I shouldn't be consuming those carbs anyway.

But if you want good soda, you wouldn't be drinking any Coke or Pepsi products anyway.

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Sean Weitzel
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall)
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-30-2013 05:24 PM

I just had my first encounter with a Freestyle machine (I rarely frequent Burger King) and punched up a Diet Coke and holy moley was it bad! It did not resemble Diet Coke whatsoever. Sickeningly sweet with a weird bitter aftertaste. I foolishly neglected to take a sip before I left the store or I would have voiced my opinion.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 11-30-2013 07:16 PM

quote: Martin Brooks
Things must really be good in this world if this is what we have to complain about.

So, if Megacorp X screws brand Y, which has been around for like 100+ years and which millions of people love, we cannot complain about it because somewhere on this planet people are still dying of starvation?

quote: Martin Brooks
But if you have a self-service fountain machine with multiple nozzles, I don't get why Freestyle is necessary anyway. I can mix flavors on the fountain machine just as well.

Does your soda fountain also have a nozzle for cherry, orange, lime and coconut with white chocolate sprinkles flavor?

quote: Martin Brooks
I remember when New Coke came out and everyone bitched and moaned. There was a guy who led an organization to get Coca-Cola to switch back to the old formula. Then a TV news reporter made him take a blind test and he couldn't tell the difference.

New Coke is already a few years behind us now, but I guess there were sufficient people that could take out New Coke in a blind taste test. The problem is, many people seeking the spotlight are just there for the attention and not the cause itself... But what are trying to tell here? We shouldn't bitch around if somebody messes up an otherwise good product?

So, if let's say Fox would be announcing that they're going to switch from 2K or 4K to 720p MPEG2 for all their new release, because now the movie can fit on an USB stick or can even be distributed via the crappiest of DSL lines and 8 out of 10 people won't even bother about the difference, we shouldn't complain? Because, we're just bitching for bitching's sake and we still didn't solve world hunger?

quote: Martin Brooks
Glass bottle, cane sugar…I thought it would taste great. Frankly, I thought it tasted like medicine--I was really disappointed, although I shouldn't be consuming those carbs anyway.

You know what's funny? Coke actually was supposed to be a medicine once...
Also, not all Mexican Coke is made from 100% cane sugar. Most of the stuff that hits American stores although is, even still after Coca-Cola Mexico announced they're switching to corn syrup too...

quote: Martin Brooks
But if you want good soda, you wouldn't be drinking any Coke or Pepsi products anyway.

No, good soda should be preferably brewed at home. So, while you're on it, try some Open-source cola for starters, especially if you've got some nutmeg and coriander oil lying around...

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-30-2013 08:45 PM

Making your own soda = a fine idea, but it'd never catch on for the same reason "making your own beer" isn't all that popular...who's got the time? People barely have time to cook freaking dinner anymore, let alone their recreational beverages.

As for complaining about this when there are more pressing issues in the world....why limit yourself in complaints? After expressing your opinion on this, there are probably plenty of message boards you could write to and gripe about the U.S. Government's handling of [insert crisis name here].

If that's not enough complaining you could then write to the editor of several dozen newspapers and gripe about something.

The outlets for complaints are many, and complaining is fun! Hence its popularity.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 12-01-2013 12:13 AM

I was told a number of years ago by my doctor that everyone is different in terms of nerves, pain thresholds and so forth. I do agree and believe that, but I think in the case of the Freestyle machines, some people just don't have the sensitivity in their taste buds to tell the difference. This isn't putting them down at all, I'm just pointing out that everyone is different and just because some asshat at Coke Corporate can't tell the difference, he is foolishly ASSUMING that nobody else can either. Wrong.

For the record, I have taken the Coke vs. Pepsi taste test many times whenever we ran across a place doing it way back in the day. (I used to come across the tables in malls and various shopping centers back when I was a kid.) I pegged Coke every single time. To me there is a MASSIVE difference in taste, yet I do know many people that just can not tell the difference to save their life. Lucky them...they don't get disgusted when they walk into a restaurant and see a Pepsi sign! Nowadays you can add walking into a fast food place and seeing a Freestyle machine sitting there waiting to pour out carbonated ass water to that.

By the way, even the type of ICE and the CUP used in making the drink, including the AMOUNT of ice makes a difference...but nothing will save the Freestyle.

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