In a time where selections seem to decrease across different industries, Coca-Cola is making a move to continue to offer that personal customer service to its faithful following. Over the last few years due to pandemic challenges, staffing, rising costs, and inventory issues, many companies have reduced menu offerings to try and streamline getting the end product to its customers.
Coca-Cola (KO) has faced many challenges before in its near 140 years of operations. While the soda company has a vast array of different beverages in its massive brand collection, it remains true to its fans by continuing to offer the same great Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke and Sprite generations have grown to love and crave. These three brands have been at the top of their markets and the soda industry as a whole. Being the ‘best’ brand does make any new ideas harder to pass, because of consumer expectations.
That’s not to say it hasn’t branched out to try new things, and whenever an industry leader tries anything new, nothing but the absolute best is acceptable, hence some decent failures. The launch of Diet Coke skyrocketed to the top of the market, so when Coca-Cola introduced Coke Blak in 2006 its quick failure in the market was best to be forgotten. Coke Blak was the company’s attempt to blend coffee and cola together, which it decided to discontinue in 2007, Beverage Digest reported at the time.
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Coca-Cola is Enhancing its Customers Cola Experiences
Restaurants are faced with unique challenges as the labor shortage continues to affect the industry. They are definitely struggling in certain aspects. It’s not uncommon to see signs on drive-thrus of shorter hours of operations, or that a dining room is closed and only the drive-thru is available. Restaurants are making these hard choices to sustain themselves through periods with low staffing. In addition to closing early and not taking orders in dining rooms, restaurants have had to create smaller menus to be able to serve customers and help the staff that did show up get their jobs done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Coca-Cola enters the equation; this isn’t its first run at creating a way for customers to take some of the slack from restaurant employees. Coca-Cola Freestyle dispenser is a large customizable fountain drink dispenser that allows customers busy themselves by selecting their favorite combination coke, cherry and vanilla flavors among many others.
Now Coca-Cola is bringing it to the next level, a new dispenser with enhanced customer experience but in a smaller package for restaurants and other vendors. The Coca-Cola Freestyle had a larger footprint and the new Coca-Cola Flex has the same footprint as the standard six-valve fountain dispensers, but offers more than 40 beverage choices, according to QSR.
Coca-Cola offering a smaller version of its Freestyle dispenser will help restaurants and other vendors with being able to bring in the new machine if they had space constraints before, and will be able to offer more than the six different drinks in the fountain dispensers.
“Beverages are accelerating in importance as a trip driver within the foodservice channel, and consumers are increasingly searching for more variety, especially Gen Z,” says Group Director Megan Tallman with Coca-Cola Freestyle and Foodservice Innovation. “By offering more beverage variety, Coca-Cola Flex enables operators to capture previously untapped revenue from 30 percent of consumers who would add a beverage to their order if their desired category were available.”
Coca-Cola Advances its Industry
The advances of better, smaller, and more efficient is the way of the world and Coca-Cola is on top of it. With its PurePour Technology, the Coca-Cola Flex is using micro-dosing pumps and proprietary PurePour technology. The on-the-spot combination of the different flavors gives a fresh drink in every beverage poured.
The touchscreen of the Coca-Cola Flex is a large 15-inch display to help customers use the Flex. The use of the large display enables users to mix and blend their own beverage of choice, while restaurant workers prepare the meals, giving a needed break to staff on filling drinks for all orders. The new Flex also works to help diagnose its own issues, when supplies are running low keeping workers from guessing which syrups are running low and getting new cartridges in fast.
Coca-Cola’s new Flex dispenser offers nine of its world-famous brands with over 40 different combinations including low and no-calorie options as well as caffeine-free choices. This new dispenser is set to hit the commercial market in the beginning of 2024, according to Coca-Cola.
