ATLANTA -- Consumers will soon experience ice-cold fountain drinks in an entirely new way, as a new fountain dispenser from The Coca-Cola Co. begins to make its way to foodservice outlets in the United States. During a presentation at the Consumer Analyst Group New York (CAGNY) conference in Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday, Coca-Cola president and CEO Muhtar Kent will spotlight a prototype of a new proprietary fountain system being piloted this spring.
The new fountain dispenser offers consumers an unprecedented variety of flavors and brands for ice-cold still or sparkling beverages, [image-nocss] the company said.
"Consumers always tell us they want more choice, and we saw a big opportunity to provide that choice while introducing a completely novel brand experience that can help catapult our customers' beverage offerings into the future," said Chris Lowe, president, Coca-Cola North America FoodService and On-Premise.
The device uses higher-concentrate ingredients to dispense up to 120 beverages in the same amount of space as the current eight-valve machine. Consumers will be able to choose from a variety of brandsstill, sparkling, calorie and no-calorie.
"We have begun to eliminate all of the preconceived notions of what a fountain should be," Lowe said. "We built on our leadership and experience in the development and commercialization of new fountain technologyfrom our legacy units to the Bevariety station [pictured] to this advanced technology unit."
The new dispensers will be tested in restaurants in Atlanta and Orange County, Calif., in 2009 before a wider introduction as early as next year. In previous testing, consumers gave the equipment high marks for appearance, product taste, beverage selection and overall experience.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola offers nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. Its portfolio includes 12 other billion-dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, POWERADE, Minute Maid and Georgia Coffee. It also offers juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees.
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