Submitted 9 hours ago by TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/03c74007-3a8f-439b-b278-0fdc7f6b8f0c.jpeg
Kinda dumb question but I figured it fits the sub lol
so these boxes are at my work and they’re a syrupy hyper sweet mixture that when combined with carbonated water make soda and it got me thinking:
is it because of the costs, or kids accessing it, or some law?
A regional gas station near me has their brand of energy drinks in soda dispensers like this one.
Panera bread basically did and a few people died, so that probably didn’t help.
damn press always ruining fun, if mildly dangerous, foods.
I miss the old Panera, with the Lemonade That Kills You™
A major truck stop chain in Finland just recently started doing exactly that.
Costs. These types of machines are generally free refills. You take a 32oz coke, and say actual cost to the store for you getting that coke is about 15 cents. You paid $2.30. Most people get 1 refill. But even if you get multiple, they still make profit.
I don’t know wholesale costs of monster, but I know a 20oz bottle in stores here costs about $2. While a 24oz can of monster costs about $9.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a 32oz fountain of monster cost the store like $0.70 wholesale. So there’s no way they could make profit if people got multiple refills.
Plus, if you try to sell the monster at a higher cost than coke, what would stop someone from dumping the coke, and refilling with monster? Paying the lower innitial price, and now getting refills.
That’s because monster overcharges, caffiene powder is cheap and you could add it to soda for cheap
WTF? Monster costs $9? That’s insane.
But you’re right it’s cost. I had a Soda Stream and I had the red bull syrup for it so the ability is there and the materials exist.
where the fuck you live that a monster costs nine dollars
Plus, if you try to sell the monster at a higher cost than coke, what would stop someone from dumping the coke, and refilling with monster? Paying the lower innitial price, and now getting refills.
People have been doing that for years with buying water, and then filling it with fountain drinks.
I suppose you could counter it the same way that some stores handled the soda refill issue. Have the energy drink refills behind the counter, where only employees can refill it. Have a special cup so employees can tell which customers actually bought an energy drink. Also gives employees a chance to intervene if someone tries to get too much and kill themselves (like with the Panera Bread lemonade/
Bars usually have redbull dispensers around here. But as others have mentioned, caffeine in bulk can do damage. I once went to a gas station and they had energy drinks on tap. I’m had a 48oz energy drink with energy shots. I TALKED WITH CAPS LOCK ON FOR 4 DAYS NON-STOP.
It’s usually sold as red bull, I.e. Someone orders a vodka red bull and they will give them vodka and that, but it’s some off brand shit in the guns, and they still charge like it’s a red bull. Pro tip, don’t order that shit if it comes out of a gun.
The inevitable howling from Karens when their children get ahold of a 64 ounce Big Gulp of the stuff notwithstanding, the main issue is that fountain availability would pull back the curtain on the supposed value of energy drinks. These are no more expensive than Coke or Pepsi or Sprite for their bottlers to produce, but they’ve successfully bamboozled the public into believing that a Monster or a Red Bull or whatever is “worth” 4-6x more per ounce than a normal soda. This is obviously bullshit, but if you were able to dispense it at the same rate and the same price as normal soda the jig would be up and the energy store brands would have an absolute cow.
they’ve successfully bamboozled the public into believing that a Monster or a Red Bull or whatever is “worth” 4-6x more per ounce than a normal soda
Christ is this actually true? I’ve never had them…
God people are stupid
God people are stupid
And, we have a winner!
Words to live by: Don’t step in the marketing.
Go to AM/PM, bruh. They got energy drinks on the fountain. Mostly their own brands, but sometimes they have monster or rockstar.
QT has Rooster Booster
sounds like a boner pill
There’s no technical reason why you couldn’t. It’s probably just some stupid marketing reason like:
QuikTrip has RoosterBooster
Didn’t Panera kill someone with one of those?
I still maintain that someone with that level of caffeine sensitivity should have either:
1 - Read the fucking sign that said it was caffeinated, or
2 - Not drank a mystery liquid in lieu of signage
“but why would you think lemonade would be caffeinated?” People with severe food allergies don’t just shove random food in their mouths, why would this person?
Probably liability and insurance.
What do you think would happen if you offered huge drinks, unlimited amounts or large capacity drinks of caffeinated, or energy supplements in a machine. What do you think a bored teenager with a bunch of his friends on a Friday night would do? They’d try to drink five gallons of Monster Energy just to see what would happen.
Someone would suffer a heart attack or some medical emergency and lawyers would have a field day milking concerned parents and restaurants with access to millions in insurance.
Does Starbucks have the same liability and limit the number of coffees someone can buy?
Not on the same scale obviously, but this exists.
My guess has a few factors to it (in no particular order):
Cost soda syrup is likely a lot cheaper than the chemical concoction for energy drinks.
Safety Energy drinks pose a much greater health risk if the concentrations are off. Companies would have to prevent young children from accessing the machines (if they are used in restaurants). They would also have to prevent customers from drinking too much. I can also imagine chugging a bunch of the syrup would likely kill you (it’s bound to happen).
Flavor Control soda companies already accept and plan for the difference in fountain vs bottled sodas. I feel energy drink companies want as much control as possible to keep their brand image perfect.
Don’t know about where you live, but in the EU, there’s a hard upper limit on the caffeine concentration in drinks you can legally sell.
Any syrup designed to be watered down before you drink it would be above the limit and therefore illegal.
I’ve had postmix based soda in the Netherlands, so that’s not true. Ingredients are not held to the same standards as premixed drinks.
To answer op’s question, I think it’s more of a supply/demand case, and a postmix doesn’t display the brand as well as a can of an energy drink does (which is also marketing).
I haven’t done the math but I can’t imagine that’s the case or most sodas would also be illegal in their concentrated form.
Didn’t they do that at Panera Bread and a dew people died?
As much as i do consume energy drinks with a meal i do think we shouldn’t normalize it to much.
Especially in a “restaurant” the strong flavor can be said to ruin the taste of the food. Though of course in practice we aren’t going to these placed for fine dinning and often precisely to get a chemical fix the places themselves still like to uphold some perception of being cullinary.
If I were to guess… it’s probably because the chemical makeup of energy drinks would damage the machine? Maybe it’s more acidic or something?
TBH I am 100% guessing here, talking out my ass, having done ZERO research on the topic.
Those machines are usually all plastic, acid doesn’t hurt them. And a lot of the acidity in energy drinks comes from the carbonic acid in the carbonated water and the citrus acid that’s added. But those are present in a lot of sodas as well. They all have the carbonated water and a lot of them have citrus acid as well. Something like Fanta is probably more acidic than most energy drinks.
The whole energy drinks are super bad because they are so acidic is mostly nonsense. The same was said about coke as far back as I can remember (and I’m an old man). Sure it’s very acidic, but lots of things we eat and drink are acidic, that’s something most of us can handle just fine. A lot of people think orange juice is a healthy drink, but it’s usually more acidic than soda and unless you squeeze the fruit yourself usually contains just as much if not more sugar.
Not to say energy drinks are good for you, the combination of sugar and stimulants such as caffeine and taurine is most definitely not good. But the same can be said of many things we consume. Our bodies like a lot of the things that aren’t exactly good for you. I’ve seen old folk complain about young folk drinking energy drink, whilst they themselves are drinking coffee with two sugars. When consumed in moderation energy drinks are totally fine.
Thrawne@lemmy.world 29 minutes ago
I just want them to make a flavor with ibuprofin already mixed in