Whether you call it pop, soda, or coke, there’s a new way to get it in A.J.’s Café.
A new Coca-Cola Freestyle soda fountain installed during winter break offers more than 100 options of beverages to students. The new machine, the first of its style in the area, raises the price of soda by 11 cents, though customers can still get free refills.
“You can add flavors, so there’s cherry coke, vanilla coke,” said senior Anna Goodwin, student manager at A.J.’s. “Every flavor you could imagine.”
Although the machine increased the price of soda, the A.J.’s management team is thinking of ideas to keep the drinks inexpensive. One idea is to offer a souvenir cup students can purchase to use for refills all semester long.
“We’re still talking about that,” Bon Appétit Management Company Service Supervisor Lisa Beasley said. “We still need to do some research. There’s a good possibility that will happen. We just don’t know how soon.”
A.J.’s employees said that in addition to increasing the options, they hope the machine will make their jobs easier.
“We don’t have to get the soda ourselves, which gives us a lot more time to do other things,” Goodwin said. “The drawbacks are, right now, that it took over our entire soda machine, meaning that we don’t have an ice dispenser or water dispenser on our side of the counter.”
The update from the eight-option soda fountain brings other bubbly perks, too, such as the Coke Freestyle smartphone app, which allows users to save customized drinks and make them again later by scanning a QR code on the machine.
The fountain also displays calorie information on the touchscreen.
“Just in general, it’s nice to have more options,” sophomore Abigail Allen said. “I think [students] want to be able to have choices on campus and like to see those sort of innovations. I like to see those innovations, personally.”
