McDonald’s Is Getting Rid of Self-Serve Soda Fountains?!

When you were a kid, did you ever go to the soda fountain and mix a bunch of flavors together to create a “suicide,” or swamp water, a graveyard, sewage, a pop bomb, or a hurricane?  Well, those days may be over!

McDonald’s will be getting rid of their self-serve drink stations  and transitioning to a system where the employees will fill all cups.

They aren’t taking away free refills or anything, but they do think this system will cut back on theft, AND be a more hygienic option, especially in a post-Covid world.

But the biggest factor is:  they’re not as necessary.

Fewer people are eating inside fast food restaurants, and more people are ordering for pick-up through the app, or for delivery through a third-party service.  In both of those cases, employees already fill the cups as they do for drive-thru orders.

The change won’t happen overnight.  In fact, the shift will happen VERY slowly over the next 10 years as the restaurants get updated.

I actually still make my soda fountain cocktails, but I’m not sure I have the self-confidence to actually order a mix from a restaurant employee! I’d feel to juvenile…I need my self-serve fountains to get my favorite mixes. My go-tos are a 50/50 mix of raspberry ice tea and sprite, or pink lemonade and sprite. If I can’t get those, then it’s usually a root beer for me.

You can dive deeper in this article from Restaurant Business Online.