Article

Burger King adds Coca-Cola Freestyle

December 6, 2011 by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Burger King Corporation's company-owned restaurants across the U.S. now feature the Coca-Cola Freestyle fountains.

Coca-Cola Freestyle provides more than 100 sparkling and still beverage brands from a single freestanding unit. The dispenser is touchscreen operated and serves regular and low-calorie beverage brands, flavored waters, sports drinks, lemonades and other options, many exclusive to Coca-Cola Freestyle. It also allows guests to choose drinks that have not yet been available in the U.S., including caffeine-free Diet Coke with Lime, Fanta Peach and Minute Maid Light Orange Lemonade.

"The ability to customize your own beverages combined with the quality that Coca-Cola Freestyle delivers to our guests is a perfect addition to our most recent new menu offerings," said Steve Wiborg, president North America, Burger King Corp. "Adding Coca-Cola Freestyle further enhances our guests' experience when they visit Burger King restaurants."

Wiborg said that with the rollout, Burger King becomes the largest franchise system in the U.S. to launch the technology in all company-owned units. The deployment comes after extensive market testing and is expected to help the chain grow its beverage business.

"With the nationwide expansion of Coca-Cola Freestyle, more people than ever will be able to select the ideal beverage to accompany their meal at Burger King," said Dagmar Boggs, vice president, Burger King Global Customer Team, Coca-Cola Refreshments. "Coca-Cola Freestyle offers people something they've never experienced before and helps our partners like Burger King Corporation grow both their beverage business and their total business."

Good timing?

The timing for Freestyle's installation comes just as recent research from the NPD Group shows that revenue-generating beverages have been on the decline.

Within the past five years, total beverage servings, excluding tap water, have witnessed a 6 percent drop. This is a decline of 2.7 billion servings, according to NPD's report "Beverages at Foodservice: Satisfying Our Thirst for Beverages."

One of the many reasons consumers gave for not ordering carbonated soft drinks and other non-growth beverages was the cost of these drinks.

"Some declining beverages will fare better as the economy recovers, but beverage providers will need to address consumers' concerns and poor value perceptions to stem further losses," said Bonnie Riggs, NPD restaurant industry analyst and author of the report.

One factor that may play a big part in turning around the carbonated beverage downswing is the increased deployment of the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. In addition to the debut at Burger King, other chains including Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Firehouse Subs, McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway, CiCi's Pizza, Qdoba, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and El Pollo Loco have either rolled out the equipment or tested it in select markets.

"If anything can turn (the downward trend) around, it will be Coke. Consumers like new and, if they like the Freestyle machine, they will continue to use it, which could soften carbonated soft drink declines," Riggs said. "However, it will still come down to consumers' perception of the price/value relationship."

Read more about food and beverage trends. 

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