Freestyle (Coca Cola)
Encyclopedia
Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch screen soda fountain
Soda fountain
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores...

 introduced by The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

 in 2009. The machine features over 100 different Coca-Cola drink products, and custom flavors.

Design

Technologies involved include microdispensing
Microdispensing
Microdispensing is the technique of producing liquid media dosages in volumes of less than one microlitre.The continuing miniaturization in almost all technical areas creates constant challenges for industry, development and research facilities. Microdispensing is one of those challenges...

 technology and proprietary PurePour technology. Both technologies were originally developed to deliver extremely precise doses of drugs. One Freestyle unit with a similar footprint to current vending machine can dispense 126 kinds of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages from one freestanding unit. Microdosing blends one or more concentrate
Concentrate
A concentrate is a form of substance which has had the majority of its base component removed. Typically this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension such as the removal of water from fruit juice...

d ingredients in 46-ounce packets with water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 and sweetener
Sweetener
Sweetener is a sugar substitute.Sweetener may also refer to:* Sugar alcohol* Honey* Syrup...

 at the point where the beverage is dispensed, thus avoiding the use of traditional 5-gallon boxes of syrup
Syrup
In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...

 (also known as a bag-in-a-box). Cartridges store concentrated ingredients in the dispenser cabinet and are RFID enabled. The machine uses RFID chips to detect its supplies and to radio resupplying needs to other units. The traditional ice cube
Ice cube
Ice cubes are small, roughly cube-shaped pieces of ice, conventionally used to cool beverages. Ice cubes are often preferred over crushed ice because they melt more slowly; they are standard in mixed drinks that call for ice, in which case the drink is said to be "on the rocks."Ice cubes are...

 dispenser remains. The maximum rate of output is 95 drinks per hour.

History

Testing began in Utah, Southern California, and Georgia in July 2009 with 60+ locations around America planned by the end of that summer. Currently, test locations around Coca-Cola's home city of Atlanta include the World of Coca-Cola
World of Coca-Cola
The World of Coca-Cola is a permanent exhibition featuring the history of The Coca-Cola Company and its well-known advertising as well as a host of entertainment areas and attractions...

, AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...

 Southlake Pavilion 24 and Parkway Point 15, and area food chains including Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

, Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs, is a US-based, fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in hot subs. Founded in 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida by former firefighter brothers Robin and Chris Sorensen, Firehouse Subs serves sandwiches with meats and cheeses, "steamed" hot and placed on produce on a toasted sub...

  Pei Wei Asian Diner
Pei Wei Asian Diner
Pei Wei Asian Diner is a restaurant chain in the United States. Owned by P. F. Chang's China Bistro , it offers a modest selection of freshly prepared Asian items influenced by the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand...

 (including the Newport Beach, California
Newport Beach, California
Newport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...

 location), Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, Sam's Club
Sam's Club
Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...

 (including the Fountain Valley, California
Fountain Valley, California
Fountain Valley is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 55,313 at the 2010 census. A classic bedroom community, Fountain Valley is a middle-class residential area.- History :...

 and Irvine, California
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...

 locations), Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...

, Wendy's
Wendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...

, Taco Time
Taco Time
Taco Time is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in a limited menu of Mexican foods. The chain offers dine-in, take away, and drive through at about 300 locations....

 (including Seattle-area locations) and Willy's Mexicana Grill. Three machines are available at the Richter's Burgers restaurant in the Universal Studios Orlando theme park as well as the AMC movie theater at Downtown Disney  shopping complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....

. One of the countries largest movie theatre chains, Carmike Cinemas has begun to install these machines in several markets including the Beverly 18 in Champaign, IL and the Crossroads 16 in Conyers, GA. These machines include flavors not previously available to the American market including Orange Coke
Coca-Cola Orange
Coca-Cola Orange was a variation of Coca-Cola available for a limited time that was flavoured with orange. It was introduced in June 2007 in the UK and Gibraltar only, following the success of the previous year's Coke with Lime, for which 40% of the launch sales represented new customers and...

 which was previously sold only in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and the Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

s, and flavored Dasani
Dasani
Dasani is a brand of bottled water from the Coca-Cola company, launched in 1999, after the success of Aquafina . It is one of many brands of Coca-Cola bottled water sold around the world....

 waters. The machines transmit supply and demand
Supply and demand
Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers will equal the quantity supplied by producers , resulting in an...

 data to both Coca-Cola and the owner including brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

s sold, times of the day of sales, troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes. It is a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem so that it can be solved, and so the product or process can be made operational again. Troubleshooting is needed to develop and...

 information, and service data.

Contractors

Contractors for its development include:
  • DEKA Research: microdosing
    Microdosing
    Microdosing is a technique for studying the behaviour of drugs in humans through the administration of doses so low they are unlikely to produce whole-body effects, but high enough to allow the cellular response to be studied...

  • BSQUARE Corporation
    Bsquare corporation
    BSQUARE Corporation is a technology distributor and system integrator headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that supports OEMs, ODMs and Enterprises with services and solutions to create smart, connected devices. BSQUARE is listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the symbol BSQR...

    :http://www.bsquare.com/retail--point-of-service.aspx: software
  • Impinj
    Impinj
    Impinj, Inc. is a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification technology. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company was started based on the research done at the California Institute of Technology by Carver Mead and Chris Diorio...

    : RFID Technology
  • Pininfarina
    Pininfarina
    Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...

    : industrial design
  • Invetech Innovation
    Danaher Corporation
    The Danaher Corporation , is a large global company headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its products are concentrated in the fields of design, manufacture, and marketing of industrial and consumer products....

    : product development, custom automation, integration, testing, tps reporting
  • Odyssey Software
    Odyssey Software (Mobile Device Management)
    Odyssey Software provides mobile device management and software development tools to enterprise companies either directly or through partner solutions...

    : remote collection of consumption information, management of embedded software present on the machines, inventory, and alerts
  • Plexus Corporation
    Plexus Corporation
    Plexus Corp , is an Electronics Manufacturing Services provider to the wireline/networking, wireless infrastructure, medical, commercial and defense/security/aerospace industries. With headquarters in Neenah, Wisconsin, Plexus has engineering and manufacturing facilities in China, Malaysia,...

    : carbonation systems, manufacturing

Products

Customers choose a base product, which they can supplement with additional flavoring. Diet and Zero products remain low or no calorie even with flavorings added. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Diet Coca-Cola and Caffeine Free Diet Coca-Cola are all available with vanilla, lime, raspberry, cherry or orange flavoring. Coca-Cola Zero is available with cherry or vanilla flavoring. Sprite
Sprite (soft drink)
Sprite is a transparent, lemon-lime flavored , caffeine free soft drink, produced by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in the United States in 1961. This was Coke's response to the popularity of 7 Up, which had begun as "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" in 1929...

 and Sprite Zero
Sprite Zero
Sprite Zero is a clear, lemon-lime-flavored low-calorie beverage produced by the Coca-Cola Company. This sugar-free drink originally began production as "Sugar Free Sprite" in 1974, and renamed to "Diet Sprite" in 1983. In other countries, it is known as "Sprite Light". In April 2002 the Coca-Cola...

 are available with cherry, vanilla, strawberry, grape, peach and raspberry flavorings. Powerade ION4 and Powerade Zero sports drinks, Fanta
Fanta
Fanta is a global brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks from the Coca-Cola Company. There are over 90 flavors worldwide. The drink debuted in Germany in 1941 and originally sold only in Europe.-History:...

 and Fanta Zero, which already has an orange flavor, as well as Hi-C
Hi-C
Hi-C may refer to:* Hi-C, a beverage brand* Hi-C , a Compton, California rapper* HiC, a C++ Compiler and Integrated Development Environment...

 are available with fruit punch, lime, grape, strawberry, peach, raspberry, or cherry flavoring. Minute Maid Lemonade and Minute Maid Light Lemonade are available with cherry, orange, raspberry, or strawberry flavoring. Dasani
Dasani
Dasani is a brand of bottled water from the Coca-Cola company, launched in 1999, after the success of Aquafina . It is one of many brands of Coca-Cola bottled water sold around the world....

 still water and Dasani Sensations carbonated water is available with lime, peach, orange, grape, strawberry, raspberry, or cherry flavoring. Vault Red Blitz energy drink is available with orange, grape and peach flavoring. Additionally, Pibb Xtra
Pibb Xtra
Pibb Xtra, a variation on previous product Mr Pibb, is a soft drink marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. As of 2011, it is sold in most of the United States.-History:...

, Pibb Zero are available. Barq's
Barq's
-External links:* - Official website* - The History of Root Beer...

 and Diet Barq's root beer are available from the machines with vanilla flavoring.

Deployment

Coca-Cola deployed the machines to 500 more locations in the United States in June 2010, followed by deployment to some universities in the United States. Deployment has continued in select locations of restaurant chains such as Così
Così (restaurant)
Così is an American restaurant chain that primarily offers gourmet sandwiches and salads. It was founded in 1996, and there are currently over 144 locations in the continental United States. The original Così restaurant was based on a cafe in Paris, France....

, Taco Time Northwest
Taco Time Northwest
Taco Time Northwest, or simply Taco Time, is a fast-food restaurant with numerous locations in Western Washington.-History:The Renton, Washington-based company was founded by Frank Tonkin, Sr. in 1962. Frank Tonkin, Sr.'s interest in the fast food industry was well established when he first...

, Roy Rogers, Davanni's and Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...

, Fuddruckers
Fuddruckers
Fuddruckers is an American fast casual, franchised, restaurant chain that specializes in hamburgers. In 2011 Fuddruckers had 56 company-operated restaurants and 129 franchises across the United States with one in Saskatchewan, Canada and four in Puerto Rico...

, Five Guys
Five Guys
Five Guys is a fast casual restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. Originating in Arlington, Virginia, the company's headquarters are now in Lorton, Virginia.-Food:...

, Kelly's Roast Beef
Kelly's Roast Beef
Kelly's Roast Beef is a regional fast food restaurant chain located in Massachusetts. The chain was founded in 1951 in the city of Revere on Revere Beach by two partners, Frank V. McCarthy and Raymond Carey...

, CG Burgers, Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs, is a US-based, fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in hot subs. Founded in 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida by former firefighter brothers Robin and Chris Sorensen, Firehouse Subs serves sandwiches with meats and cheeses, "steamed" hot and placed on produce on a toasted sub...

, and Boloco
Boloco
Boloco is the brand name of an American chain of restaurants that serves burritos, wraps, salads, shakes and smoothies...

.
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