Brian Hwu
Staff Photographer, Graphic Designer
Video by Davis DeLoach
KCBY
The Wendy’s in Coppell has recently replaced its old soda fountain with the new Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. Wendy’s is one of the few fast food chains in the United States testing the machine for Coca-Cola.
The Freestyle is a self-serving touch screen soda fountain introduced by Coca-Cola in 2009. The unique soda fountain offers over 100 different flavors for customers, meaning endless choices of drinks.
The Freestyle at Wendy’s is fairly new, running in Coppell for about five weeks. This high-tech soda fountain is unlike any other machine or service in Coppell.
“[The Coca-Cola Freestyle] has different flavors for each customer,” Wendy’s manager Melissa Salinas said. “It is [different] from [other beverage based restaurants] as it is a visual experience for customers. Customers can physically see the different flavors that you can mix and match.”
The previous soda fountain dispenser soft drinks were made from large, five-gallon bags of pre-mixed syrup. The new Freestyle has each different flavor stored in ultra-concentrated 46-ounce cartridges to mix drinks and provide and multitude of flavors.
“It is easier to maintain [than the old soda fountain dispenser],” Salinas said. “It’s self cleaning and it makes the freshest drinks you can get out there now.”
This new addition at Wendy’s makes it a place for Coppell students to come and enjoy endless possibilities of flavors and unlimited refills.
“It has a drink for every thirst, [my favorite] flavor is vanilla Coke,” senior Drew Hull said.
The Freestyle is essentially a beverage dispenser with more variety than any other restaurants in Coppell. Some of the brands of drinks customers can choose from include Diet Coke, Dr Pepper, Dasani, Fanta, Sprite, Powerade, and Minute Maid. Varieties of waters, juices, teas, and beverages have become available through the Freestyle that have never been sold previously in the United States.
“I come to Wendy’s more than [other restaurants] for drinks. With [any other restaurant] it’s just vanilla and Coke, but at Wendy’s you can get [the actual] vanilla Coke,” Hull said.
“My favorite part of [the Coke Freestyle] is that it’s got 106 flavors,” senior Dmitri Potemkin said. “Each flavor could seem delicious by itself or in a combination.”
As of now, the Freestyle is only available in the dining room. But it has attracted a number of customers to the restaurant, boosting Wendy’s business.
“I only came to Wendy’s [today] because of the Coke Freestyle machine,” Potemkin said.
Currently, customers will not be able to have access to it through Wendy’s drive-thru. Testing for Coca-Cola ends this March. Depending on how testing goes, the Freestyle could be available in every restaurant as well as drive-thrus. Based on its current attraction, the Freestyle will most definitely be something to expect everywhere in the future.
