Coca-Cola spreads Freestyle machine around the country

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Coca-Cola Co. plans to roll out its Freestyle fountain machines to 80 cities around the country by the end of the year, up from 40 now.

The Freestyle machine, which dispenses 125 different beverages in flavor combinations that users can choose, has been in various stages of development and introduction for six years. Businesses in the United Kingdom are expressing interest, and Coca-Cola hopes the machine can be used to serve drive-through customers at fast-food restaurants.

The machines send usage data to C0ca-Cola headquarters each night, yielding detailed information about which drinks people are mixing. Coca-Cola could use that information in product development.

Freestyle was the result of collaborations with experts from Microsoft and Pininfarina, which designs bodies for Ferrari. Previous technology had become a barrier to growth for Coca-Cola, which had more than 3,000 beverages but only eight spigots at traditional soda fountains, executives said.

Consumers "really wanted a lot more variety than what we were giving them," said vice president Gene Farrell.

In honor of its 125th anniversary, Coca-Cola added 19 flavors to the Freestyle fountain, bringing the total to 125. The approximately 400 outlets that have Freestyle dispensers will get the new flavors. They can be mixed and matched into combinations that users have dubbed "gummy bear" (a mix of various Sprite flavors) and "Creamsicle" (orange and vanilla Coke).

The additions didn't require new ingredient cartridges. "We did it all through a software update," said Farrell.