Just about the only thing better than a nice cold soda is a nice cold free soda. It’s even better when it’s a nice, cold, custom-selected, free soda from one of the new Coke Freestyle vending machines.
A Coke Freestyle machine. (Click for larger.)
But perhaps I should explain about the “free” part.
Since I worked an earlier-than-usual schedule today, I was able to make a Geek Pilgrimage to Moe’s Southwestern Grill in Suburban Station. I’m not usually one for authentic Tex-Mex (I’m sure it’s very good quality, but the spices would kill me). This particular Moe’s, though, had one of those new Coke Freestyle custom soda vending machines. I’d seen it through the store window while passing by after hours and had meant to try it. I researched it online and found that it custom-mixes each drink — not only from syrup, CO2 and water like normal soda fountains, but from an inkjet-printer-like assortment of dozens of flavors that it can mix in over a hundred combinations.
I stopped by Moe’s today and ordered a drink. When I got to the machine, though, most of the selections were grayed out — empty. This was unusual; I wouldn’t have been surprised if one or two were sold out, but it seemed that every good drink was out of stock.
This is the part where it pays to be a geek. I’d read about these machines online and found a video describing an Easter egg in the “Water” menu — a secret way to pull up the maintenance menu. I tried it, and it worked.
Surprisingly, the machine seemed to have enough syrup for Dr. Pepper, Coke, Barq’s, and several other good drinks. What it didn’t have, according to the supply screen, was “HFCS” (High Fructose Corn Syrup.) AHA. No sweet stuff == no way to make any of the good drinks!
The "secret" maintenance screen, showing a lack of HFCS. (Click for larger.)
The shift manager who was looking at the machine with me checked in the back, and said that it had a full box of HFCS. Apparently nobody had told the machine this, though. I poked around a bit more and found a resupply menu. A quick reset later, and the consumer menu was lit up correctly once again. The manager, grateful for the help, let me have my drink on the house. I’ve never enjoyed a Fanta Lime soda this much before. Maybe that’s because I’ve never had a Fanta Lime soda before.
It’s good to be a geek.
I liked your article; I’m certain you helped the manager.
It does seem to take people longer to operate this new machine.
But, as one who does not tolerate caffeine, doesn’t some of the caffeine mix in with my plain water through the tubing?
Very little, I would think. As I understand it, the flavoring is added to the water right at the nozzle. This would be a good question for the Coca-Cola company, though.