I made some more progress on the capris today, getting the pattern pieces cut out and several pieces cut out of the fabric cut out as well. I'm loving this fabric; it's a stretch twill in a baby blue, with a lovely sateen finish. I'll have to see if I can get any good pictures of the fabric. I'm going to work on some capris for the Scientist out of this material too.
Had breakfast this morning with my sisters-in-law, their husbands, and my nephew. They were passing through, driving the nephew up to college. It's his first year. Sniffle! I bet the Presbytera and her husband would have liked the omelet-with-feta-cheese-and-gyro-meat that my husband and his brother-in-law had. Might not have liked it with tabasco sauce as brother-in-law had it, though.
The food was good, but we did get into a discussion about silly ways restaurants cut costs, based in part on my nephew's recent experience working at one. One thing that came up was a restaurant by us that serves some off-brand soda, neither Coca-Cola nor Pepsi. Bleah. I'm afraid the restaurant we had breakfast at is prey to the same thing. Does this kind of thing bother anyone else? I'm one of those people who can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi, and I can definitely tell if you accidentally give me a diet soda. Actually, among some at church, I've acquired the nickname "The Pepsi Snob" because I can't drink canned Coke. Just can't stand it. So we always stick a few cans of Pepsi in the car when we go to a social function, just in case. Hope it's not seen as rude. But then my other favorite beverage is milk, and that's getting to be on the expensive side, so...
8 comments:
I also can't stand generic soda. You are not alone in bringing soda with you, I do the same thing but my drink of choice is Diet Pepsi. I've never had anyone who was offended but it has sparked some laughter at my pickiness.
My drink of choice is COKE. So next time we're all together, we'll each have to remember to bring our own! :-)
Down here, you don't call it soda or pop, it's COKE. People will say, "Wanna Coke?", and when you say "yes", they'll respond with "What kind?" My kind was Dr. Pepper for years, and I was the same way - I always had a DP with me in case someone didn't have it. But I quit drinking caffeine a few years ago, so now my answer is Sprite or Sierra Mist.
I had no idea places did that until we were talking about where to go for lunch and we were at a crowded place beforehand. Someone's criteria for a decision was "do they serve Coke or Pepsi products?" A guy standing near us said, "Neither, I used to work there, and they serve generic cola and call it Coke. They don't have Dr. Pepper either." Yay for eavesdroppers.
Personally, at the moment - well, since I was pregnant with the twins - I'm a chocolate milk addict. Mmmm, Nesquik. And yes, it's an expensive habit.
Funny to read about this because I've been noticing that many of the restaurants by me have stopped offering Coke, only Pepsi. Like you, Barb, I can totally tell the difference (although my preference is Diet Coke) and it makes me crazy that I can't get it much. My son thinks I'm being a conspiracy theorist nut-job when I say "something is going on" so I'm enthralled that you're finding something going on, too. Do you suppose Coke and Pepsi have raised their rates and/or are requiring exclusivity deals??
You know, I always thought Coke or Pepsi required exclusivity deals, especially for big accounts like sports stadiums or amusement parks. At least, I don't remember ever being someplace where both Coca-Cola and Pepsi products were offered.
I don't know if the soft drink companies have raised their rates, but my husband spent most of his childhood working at concession stands at fairgrounds, and he tells me that the cup is the most expensive part of a soft drink, that the mix is dirt cheap. Restaurants that I have seen go to generic soda also seem to cut costs by using off-brands of other items like ketchup or butter (or non-butter) so I'd say it's probably due more to wanting to save every last penny.
The following is a good 15-20 years out of date, but I suspect the details haven't changed much.
Generally there is no real contract between a small restaurant/store and a soft drink provider. Each purchase is an independent transaction. However, the route driver will develop relationships with his customers and has some small latitude to negotiate. This is usually in the form of perks though; branded signage and such. Sometimes coolers and other, similar, display/presentation materials. Pretty much any fixture you see in a store with the soda brand on it was provided by the soda distributer. All of those items are available for a price. But, most of them are given as perks to keep a customer happy. I believe that most beer-related materials in a bar (those neon signs) are similar. However, I've gotten the impression that more of those are paid for. Not sure of the details though.
Most "fountain" drinks are post-mix. This means that a concentrated syrup (all the flavor and sugar) are mixed with soda-water in the dispensing nozzle. If you watch one closely, you can see that two streams are coming out. One clear, one dark. The soda water is produced in the machine from CO2 and tap water (usually filtered). The CO2 is provided in pressurized canisters by the soda distributor or the machine extracts it from the air. The steel containers of CO2 are called bottles.
BTW, most flavor problems with fountain drinks are because the mix of soda to syrup is not right for that nozzle or because the container of syrup is nearly empty.
Small curiosity, back in the day, syrup always came in steel canisters. They were round, about 8" diameter and close to 30" tall. With a distinctive black, rubber top. Now, everyone uses plastic bladders in cardboard boxes. I think the canisters were easier to handle. But, I'm sure the disposable bladders are cheaper. Curiously, I couldn't find any online photos of those old canisters.
The other type of "fountain" soda is pre-mix. This was the same sort of steel canister. But, it was filled with ready-to-drink soda. Sort of like a keg of soda. The big advantage of pre-mix is that you don't need electricity or water pressure to operate a tap. The pressure to dispense the soda is provided by a CO2 bottle and the soda is cooled by being routed through hoses buried in ice. The body of the dispensing thingie is basically a cooler with these hoses running through it. These were mainly used for things like outdoor parties were running hoses and electricity would be an issue.
As to costing, if I remember correctly, the breakdown (for post-mix) was something like 5-7¢ for the cup, 1-2¢ for the syrup, 1-3¢ for the ice and the water and CO2 was negligible.
Pre-mix was a good bit more expensive. In fact, in the late 80's we tended to dump all fountain drinks because canned soda was becoming more cost-competitive with fountain and was MUCH easier to transport and handle. No finicky machines to handle. No worrying about making sure someone in the stand knew how to deal with them. Just ice-down the cans and sell. The per-drink profit was lower. But, the labor costs were a lot lower and the portion sizes were fixed. And fixed small. That meant one customer was more likely to buy another soda. The profit on two cans is probably better than the profit on one 16-20oz cup.
This page has some nice pictures of the parts of a post-mix system and some current pricing info.
The pictured CO2 bottle is about half the height of the ones we used.
I don't drink pop any more, so I haven't noticed that, but I have noticed that two restaurants near us have gone to only non-dairy creamer on the table. And one downgraded from Dickinson's preserves to some off brand of jelly.
When we went our for breakfast last week I had to buy milk for my coffee. Since I don't drink it, most of it went to waste.
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