Coca-Cola on tap at home?

March 19, 2001 6:01 AM

Coca-Cola on tap at home? New recipies that include "2 cups of Coca-Cola"? Taking this a step further makes it interesting, with all manner of juices being available on-call.
posted by pnevares (36 comments total)

Mr Daft told the newspaper that he does not see Pepsi as a rival and will only be happy when customers are turning on their taps to drink Coke rather than water.

drink Coke rather than water.

That's disturbing. Don't they know Coke is bad for you?

I remember having the system at our restaurant, it was very cheap, under a hundred bucks a month, you rent the equipment and all.
posted by tiaka at 6:12 AM on March 19, 2001

While I'm not super big on Coke, it would be rather interesting to have a soda fountain in one's home.
posted by hijinx at 6:18 AM on March 19, 2001

Donald Daft, chief executive...

Along with Sam Stupid and Fred Feeble, the other board members.
posted by holgate at 6:23 AM on March 19, 2001

Yeah, but soda from a fountain isn't nearly as good as the stuff from a bottle...Something about the fizzzzzzzzzz.....
posted by jpoulos at 6:46 AM on March 19, 2001

Oh no no NO, jpoulos. Imagine a hot summer day, sitting on the beach, reaching for a freshly fizzed soda from your own fountain? Not the fizzed-months-ago-and-sitting-warm-on-a-shelf bottled soda.

Mmm. Fountains.
posted by annathea at 7:55 AM on March 19, 2001

Screw Coke. I'm going to set up my own tap system for homemade beer. That should be far more healthy, and beer kicks cola ass on hot summer days.
Mmm. Homebrew.
posted by norm at 8:15 AM on March 19, 2001

All I can say is that I want one. Now.

Please?
posted by lia at 8:36 AM on March 19, 2001

Whether Mr. Daft is willing to admit it or not, Pepsi is a rival. That's just ludicrous, as is any thought that people will substitute his empty-calorie garbage as a replacement for water. It's chilling to see such a clear demonstration of just how little these people care about the negative impact their products have on public health.
posted by Dreama at 8:37 AM on March 19, 2001

dreama: i seem to remember a quote from Election where reese witherspoon's character said that coca-cola was 10 times larger than pepsi. don't know how true that is, though.
posted by pnevares at 8:50 AM on March 19, 2001

Dreama - Oh yes. I've also wondered why soft drink companies don't do more to improve the nutritional value of soda pop. It wouldn't really be all that hard. All they'd have to do is take out all the sugar, remove the artificial color and flavor, add more vitamins and minerals, put in some fiber, maybe some quality protein and complex carbs.

Clearly most people have no idea that soda pop is really junk food. If everyone knew that Coke and Pepsi weren't nutritious they'd probably be outlawed. Or maybe they should have a label that says they contain high levels of sugar and artificial flavor and color. It should say clearly on the label that the main ingredients are water and sweetener.

Such products that have a "negative impact ... on public health" clearly have no place in our modern world. Same with candy, chips, burgers, and pizza. The sooner companies stop selling this crap the better off we'll all be.
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:04 AM on March 19, 2001

Actually I think Coca Cola has 44% of the market, whereas Pepsi is 30%. Coca cola is evil, remember that school article a week back?
posted by tiaka at 9:05 AM on March 19, 2001

y6y6y6, that's ridiculous. Anything that people will buy has a place "in our modern world."
It's not hurting you any.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:06 AM on March 19, 2001

I don't really see pepsi as a rival. Maybe coke has market dominance here in the deep south, so I don't see people drinking pepsi. When I was a kid in the 80's, coke was how you referred to all soft drinks. "You want a coke?" would be answered by "What kind?" This may be due to the Coke education camps we call public schools. It still creeps me out when people from the north say "pop" and "soda"...
posted by mblandi at 9:08 AM on March 19, 2001

sonofsamiam, I think you're Sarcasto-Meter (tm) may be a mite off.

I know plenty of people who drink pop like I drink water, and would probably save themselves a ton of money by installing fountains into their desks, rather than the cases and cases they keep readily accessible.

I've always wanted to have a bar in my place with the spigot thingy that shoots rye, rum, vodka, ginger ale, Coke and cranberry juice, as well as Guiness tap. And probably some kind of lager tap for my girlfriend and visitors who don't like Guiness.

(mblandi: sorry, didn't mean to creep you out in that first sentance. But actually, Coke has faught long and hard to get people to stop saying "coke" to refer to soft drinks. They have to enforce their trademark, which is why restaurants have to ask "Is Pepsi okay?" if that's what they serve.)
posted by cCranium at 9:30 AM on March 19, 2001

me too, mblandi. The pop thing grated my last nerve but last week I saw where the earliest bottles were actually "popped" open (pre-bottle cap days even).

Here in NC we just say "a drink" and we know it's Coke : ) If you say soda you get the strangest looks.

or it could be the birkies
posted by auntbunny at 9:36 AM on March 19, 2001

My gramma sez "soda-water." No lie.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:38 AM on March 19, 2001

Oh, c'mon people, it was hyperbole. There are people who would buy such a system if it were cheap enough. It's not really going to replace water, and the Coke exec knows that. Geez.

coca-cola was 10 times larger than pepsi. don't know how true that is

Well, based on their FY2000 balance sheets and income statements, I'd say they're about the same size: about $20 billion each in revenues with $2.2 billion net profit; Pepsi has about $18.5 billion worth of assets, Coke has a little over $20 billion. Market share may be a different story, but market capitalization certainly is. Coke's market cap is about $120 billion, twice that of PepsiCo's $61 billion.

But ten times larger? I doubt it.

New recipies that include "2 cups of Coca-Cola"?

Actually, yes, although Coca-Cola cake is not a new thing. Poor southern families (maybe northern families, too) in the early 20th century often used Coke to sweeten their cake because it was so much cheaper than pure sugar. You can still get a good piece of Coca-Cola chocolate cake at your local Cracker Barrel restaurant.

coke, soda, pop, drink

Obviously, "coke" is the superior generic term for a carbonated beverage. Of course, that may be because I'm from Arkansas.

cCranium, I know we discussed this before, but I find your explanation of why servers ask "is Pepsi all right?" slightly unbelievable (not that it couldn't be true...). Do you have any reference for that?
posted by daveadams at 9:58 AM on March 19, 2001

I had a friend who worked at Pizza Hut (owned by Pepsi), and he said Pepsi people would call up fake orders and ask for Coke - checking to see if they would properly advise that they only had Pepsi.
posted by owillis at 10:06 AM on March 19, 2001

I am from the North and currently reside in the South, and made the mistake of saying, "Oh let me move my soda" in a meeting and was immediately teased mercilessly for about ten minutes by my coworkers, who say "coke" for everything.

They also gave me hell for my assumed (and true) habit of referring to sneakers as "sneakers" instead of, in their estimation, the more correct "tennis shoes."

I wonder why Southern folk insist on using specific terms to refer to general categories of shoes and beverages? But when in Rome... slip on your tennis shoes to run to the store for a coke, for which you require a sack.
posted by jennyb at 10:13 AM on March 19, 2001

Yep, it's all trademark law. If your product name becomes the generic name for an item (e.g. tinfoil, aspirin -- both were originally trademarks) then you lose all rights to exclusive use of that trademark. If Coke becomes the generic term for a soft drink then Coca-Cola wouldn't be able to stop Pepsi from calling its drinks Coke, and Coca-Cola surely doesn't want that to happen. Sort of like, "Congratulations, your product is so successful its name has become the standard way people refer to all products of its type, so you lose!" Other trademarks that are on the verge of becoming generic (and are thus being zealously defended by their owners) include Xerox, Day-Glo, Q-Tips, and Kleenex.
posted by kindall at 10:14 AM on March 19, 2001

Some people call any candy bar a "hershey." Now that's crazy!
Well, I'm gonna make me a sammitch w/ some Wonder, Kraft, mebbe a little Oscar Meyer, and a big glob of Hellman's!!
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:16 AM on March 19, 2001

y6y6y6 - I never questioned whether or not people recognise that soda is nutritionally useless, nor why the companies continue to ignore the health ramifications of mass consumption of it. I merely pointed out that it is disturbing to me to see someone push this stuff so brazenly, suggesting (even jokingly) that is should replace water. It bothers me. That's all I was saying.
posted by Dreama at 10:29 AM on March 19, 2001

I got many, many blank stares on a trip to New York City when I requested "pop." Just like an Easterner would be greeted with guffaws over here asking for "soda."

And hey, this is kind of off-topic, but what the hell, it outraged me. This is a sentence from the latest Harper's Index:

"Federal income taxes paid by PepsiCo in 1999: 0"

Whafuck? I guess I'm still naive enough to be horrified.
posted by Skot at 10:33 AM on March 19, 2001

kindall, add "dumpster" to that list - that's apparently a trademark, which is why the AP wire reports always capitalise the D. I had no idea, until a few weeks ago when I read someone's essay on the copyediting process for a book they'd written.

In general, the idea of calling a class of object by a specific brand name rubs me wrong. It suggests that the marketers did their job too well. The generic terms maintain the illusion of competition.

When I was a kid, we had a SodaStream machine [warning: evil noisy javascripted website]with which we manufactured carbonated beverages. If you wanted a Coke, you stuck a bottle of water in the gadget, hit the button, then added a squirt of Coke-syrup. Every few weeks a Schwan's truck would stop by and drop off more syrup bottles.

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:14 AM on March 19, 2001

All I know is the thought of a Mountain Dew tap in house is scary.... I'd never sleep, weigh nine bijillion pounds, and have no teeth
posted by tj at 11:18 AM on March 19, 2001

Heroin was a trademark of Bayer. As was aspirin.
posted by aaron at 11:19 AM on March 19, 2001

On a rerun of the Simpsons last night, Nelson and his cronies called a frisbee they stole from Bart a "novelty flying disc" or something. I got a kick out of that.
posted by mblandi at 11:21 AM on March 19, 2001

skot, don't believe everything you read. I checked Pepsico's financial statements, and they recorded income tax expense of about $1.6 billion in 1999. Of that, approximately $1.1 billion was current income tax, which means, more or less, the amount that they had to pay in 1999, or in 2000 for 1999. About $700 million of that was Federal income tax.

Looking at their statement of cash flows, I can see that they paid during 1999 only $525 million of income taxes. So it's conceivable that they paid a chunk of their federal taxes for 1999 in 2000. But from what's on the statements, they definitely paid taxes both in and for 1999. I'm not sure what additional info Harper's has, but I think Pepsico pays a lot in taxes.
posted by anapestic at 11:21 AM on March 19, 2001

Dreama - I'm with ya. No offense intended. You just happened to be standing there.

It bothers ME when people try to blame companies for the ignorance, laziness and sloth of consumers. I don't feel that Coke, McDonald's, etc need to try and save people from their obvious desire for sugar and fat. Just my opinion.
posted by y6y6y6 at 11:33 AM on March 19, 2001

anapestic, I don't typically believe everything I read, but thanks for the figures (where did you get them)? Harper's cites their source as the "Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (Washigton)"--which at least sounds respectable and all that. But I will happily admit to being too lazy to actually hunt the web for confirmation.
posted by Skot at 11:59 AM on March 19, 2001

daveadams: admittedly, I've only seen it in an anecdotal context. Lemme see if I can't dig something up...

Snopes.com (the urban legend reference pages) has a great Coke Legends section. It's framed, so click the "cokelore" link in the left frame, and be prepared to hit "stop" quickly - embedded midi's are so not my friend.

It does discuss a trademark issue, but not this one. Hrm. Let's ask Cecil.

Heh. Though not related to this thread, scroll this page to where they talk about packing cigarettes, and cigarette vocabulary. Cecil B. Funny.

The man references "coke" way too much.

Aha! And, finally, the answer I seek. At the bottom of the search list, of course. :-)

From the article:

Coke has won lawsuits against
restaurants who serve another brand of cola when their customers ask for a Coke, although they did lose the proprietary right to the name "cola," because it's descriptive of the product.

And if there's anyone on the Internet I trust, it's Cecil.
posted by cCranium at 12:01 PM on March 19, 2001

Cool, thanks cCranium. It makes sense from a Coke vs. Pepsi or RC Cola or whatever.

But no restaurant would give you a 7-Up if you asked for "a coke." That would be like ordering "a soda" and expecting a certain brand. See, I use the term "coke" to refer to any carbonated beverage, so I might think to myself, "I'd like a coke," and I'll go get some Sprite or Mountain Dew. But if I'm ordering in a restaurant and ask for "a Coke," I mean Coca-Cola. It's simple, really. :) Restaurants should ask if Pepsi's all right out of courtesy, not some effort to protect Coke's trademarks (and avoid a lawsuit).

I don't think the Coca-Cola Company is going to be able to litigate that habit out of use. :)
posted by daveadams at 1:30 PM on March 19, 2001

...when i ask for a pepsi and they only have coke, they say "is coke okay?" so i'd tend to lean towards the courtesy answer.
posted by pikachulolita at 1:52 PM on March 19, 2001

The mixing unit would be sealed to prevent householders discovering Coca-Cola's secret recipe.

oooo sealed!? say it aint so! im sure thats impenetrable.
posted by c at 2:27 PM on March 19, 2001

Hmm, I don't have any factual evidence for this, but I drink a lot of Coke. :) I think the basic thing about Pepsi not being a competitor is that in terms of cola, Pepsi has a significantly lower market share than Coke. However, in terms of actualy size (in other words, money) of each company, they flatten out. Coke really only sells drinks, while Pepsi Co. has a lot of other areas, such as Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc... With all these extras their value probably catches up to that of Coke.

Here in SF, we say soda... when I'm up in Vancouver, everyone says pop. It's scary enough like that, I can't imagine people calling all soda "coke". Anyways, does anyone have the link to that site that maintains a running poll of who says coke, soda, pop, or other? I remember doing it once, you basically just pick the term you use and your location, and it shows you the percentages, as well as a chart of the US with each term represented by dots. It's pretty neat.
posted by swank6 at 4:14 PM on March 19, 2001