I'm working on opening a BBQ restuarant shortly and have a question about fountain drink dispensers.  At many places I see people filling up the ice dispensors with ice.  Do the machines furnished by Coke have ice makers built in so you don't need to dump ice into them?  Seems silly to continually dump ice into them.

They furnish both. For accounts with lower soda sales volumes, they push the fountains without ice makers. They're cheaper for them to provide. Make it an issue up front to get a machine with an ice maker. Be prepared to go to Pepsi too. If the Coke or Pepsi distributor feels you aren't willing to go to the other, they'll know they're in a better negotiating position than you and you won't get everything you want.

Brandon O'Dell
O'Dell Consulting
phone: (888) 571-9068
email: brandon@bodellconsulting.com
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Quote (original post by: Brandon94275)

Pepsi is not even a consideration for me.  Too much Coke stock near us not to mention everyone I know drinks Coke products.  Coke is basically quoting me $.01 per ounce right now.  They have also told me they do not charge for equipment if I buy product from them.

And your point is?

IME People who drink coke will drink pepsi if that is what is offered and vice versa.

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Quote (original post by: kaffeenjunkie)

Nice welcoming constructive reply.  I didn't mention anything in my orignal post about Pepsi so I'd appreciate it if this discussion didn't turn into a Coke vs Pepsi debate.  Not all decisions are financially driven and you cannot assume people who drink coke drink pepsi.  I can tell you with 100% certainty that is not the case in the south where there is a strong allegiance to Coke.  If Pepsi was 50 cents cheaper per cup, I still wouldn't use it as I'd be insulting consumers in my community who have trust funds with millions of dollars of Coke stock.  In our community, for the most part the only people who serve Pepsi are the chains, people who are not from here or people who assume anyone who drinks Coke will drink Pepsi.

Um, point well taken, but

If the coke distributor knows that you will pick him, you lose all of your negotiation power.  Let him know that Pepsi is wooing you....and you might get the machine you want.

SOmetimes it pays to play hard to get........

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The Responsible Serving of Alcoholic Beverages

Welcome Browe!

I couldn't tell you how Coke works as we use Pepsi in my hotel.  I will tell you that we recently had to replace a fountain system in our banquet serving area and Pepsi installed the system that we have to add ice to.  The old system ran with a compressor which was what broke, and  Pepsi must have figured the new system with the ice bin was less expensive for them.  Keep in mind that fountain machines with an ice bin have to have ice in them at all times during use.  The ice helps keep the soda carbonated.  If you let the ice run out, eventually the soda will go flat.  I'd try to get Coke to install the machine with the automatic ice maker attached.  And I agree with a previous post - even if Pepsi isn't in the picture, there's no reason your Coke rep needs to know that - tell them that Pepsi's working hard to get your business.

Good Luck!

Mark

Browe you must be from around Atlanta-Rome, GA area??

If you are you have little choice, I know those people support Coke and nothing else, but I would include Pepsi in the discussion as everyone said.

I use a fountain machine/ ice dispenser from Coke.  It's really that big a deal to have to add your own ice.  The bin holds quite abit.  Plus keep in mind, a dispenser with the ice maker on top is noisy and dumps heat into the area where the machine is.

 

Ray

http://www.dallasfamouschicken.com/

I don't want to get into the Coke vs Pepsi debate either BUT I will add this.  I sold a major fast food restaurant a few years ago that I had owned for 26 years.  And yes it was in the Atlanta area.  In the mid 90's Coke got to where you could get no service, no equipment, etc.  Pepsi had a very aggressive program in our area at that time.  I spent many sleepless nights worrying about switching, even after giving Coke the chance to meet Pepsi's deal, they didn't even take the time to get back with me.  We were moving about 50-60 gallons of concentrate per week at the time.  Sure it was a hassle to have to tell every customer, but our gallonage didn't drop one bit.  In fact it increased the same amount as the sales increased.  (% wise)  One positive is you get access to Mountan Dew, which is a big seller in the youth market.  Oh, you will get an occasional butthole that will get water instead of a soft drink, but in our case I think Mountain Dew way overcame that.  BTW, that store is still selling Pepsi as is the 4 other stores in our County.