Coca-Cola FoodService will spotlight its next generation fountain system at booth No. 2003 – South Hall – during the 2009 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, May 16-19, in Chicago.
The proprietary fountain machine can dispense up to 120 beverages and requires the same amount of space as the eight-valve machine, according to company resources.
Coca-Cola has been working on the fountain machine for more than four years. Last fall, guests at a Willy's Mexicana Grill in metro Atlanta were part of an early pilot project, and later this year, the machine will be tested in more restaurants in Atlanta and Southern California.
The company has called the product the "fountain of the future."
The machine has a computerized brain that would allow foodservice outlets and Coca-Cola executives to track usage, enabling restaurant operators to decide when and how much beverage to order, and reveal trends. Additionally, the fountain would give restaurants more beverages to offer outside of the carbonated variety.
While carbonated soft drinks remain the most popular category on a volume basis, newer drink categories are changing the face of the market, according to Beverage Marketing Corp., a New York-based beverage industry research and consulting firm.
In 2007, the U.S. refreshment beverage market grew primarily because of the introduction of newer beverage categories. Those categories have seen "significant — often astronomical — growth rates," according to the firm's research.
"In recent years, we've seen carbonated soft drinks actually begin to decline in volume, and we've seen products such as sports drinks, energy drinks and enhanced waters grow dramatically over the last four to five years," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.
Coke's new machine will tap into the offering of beverages other than standard Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite. A touchscreen will display a host of brands, including Vault, Powerade, Fanta, Dasani, Minute Maid and Mr. Pibb, and when consumers pick a brand, the screen will move to a set of flavoring options.
