Problems With Freestyle

 On a recent trip to Wendy’s I made a realization. I’m a huge fan of Freestyle soda machines, however there is one giant flaw. For those unfamiliar with Freestyle soda machines it’s basically the ultimate in choose your own drinks at a fast food restaurant. The way it works is both simple (and slightly complicated). You simply walk up to the Freestyle machine which is a large box that has a screen and an area to fill up a cup. The area to fill up your cup is a hole cut into the machine with a spigot and an ice dispensing mechanism.

The ice dispensing mechanism is the simplest part of this machine as it works like most ice dispensing mechanisms, you simply push on a bar and ice comes out. Often it’s too much ice at once, but that’s easy enough to deal with provided you started your process with the ice. The drink part of this machine is where the magic or where the problem starts depending on your point of view.

Mounted on the front of the Freestyle machine is a touch screen. On the touch screen are a bunch of little circles with brand names/logos of different sodas. The number of choices at this point can vary, but I’ve never seen less than eight. I’ve also seen at least a dozen on some machines as well. Basically these are your choices of sodas that dispense from this machine. What you have to do is choose a soda and push the logo of choice.

Once you’ve pushed the soda of choice, you’re then given another series of bubbles to choose from, flavour syrups. These will allow you to add any number of additional flavours to the soda you’ve already selected. It’s not impossible for you to enjoy a nice orange and vanilla Fanta, or grape Coke. I’ve been told that because of this syrup option, a Freestyle machine can have hundreds of different flavour combinations at any given time.

The final step after choosing your additional syrup (if you want it) is to push a dispense button until your cup is full. I imagine that there are two different reactions to the text above. I think that some of you are delighted with the ability to customize your beverage and explore all of the tasting options. I also imagine that there are some of you that find this entire process way too complicated. Both of these reactions is the problem with the Freestyle machines.

When I visited this Wendy’s I had to wait a good 10 or 15 minutes to get my drink. The line was filled with people either having a great time exploring all of the combinations as well as people confused/frustrated trying to just get a cup of Coke 0. This isn’t the only time I’ve seen this kind of log jam either. Honestly, I’ve often been responsible for the log jam as well. Since each machine can be different, I’m often exploring what kind of flavour combinations are possible.

While I don’t work at a fast food restaurant, I think that lines at the Freestyle machines is not uncommon. I should also mention that it’s not uncommon for the touch screen to be a bit slow/unresponsive as well, which doesn’t help things.

It’s weird, I really love walking into a fast food place and seeing a Freestyle machine, but I also suffer from the over abundance of choice. Too much choice is a real problem for just about everyone, but I think I have a couple of solutions that just might work.

The first solution is to offer taps of just plain soda. Have a Freestyle machine for those that want to explore fun flavours, but make sure that plain Coke 0 is easy to get for everyone.  Secondly, why not put a list of the soda choices and syrup flavours somewhere else in the restaurant. Maybe a menu at the tables or a chart on the walls. This way the soda potion wizards in the restaurant can build a recipe before going to the machine.