soda cost breakdown

good lord that is a major difference!!!!!!!!!
guess it proves the old saying if you mind the pennies the dollars take care of themselves.
jack
ps. will send you the info on candy's smoke stix. got caught in a few custom orders and right now i am taking a break from fixing the house plumbing

Jack, are you using the smoke stix? I've tried it a couple of times and haven't found it making a difference.

smokinokie,
caugth me taking a plunger break
yes i am using them in the sm's.
i was having an undersmoking problem in those units but zeb let me in on how he solved his problem in his sm260.
they have really made a difference both laborwise (i don't have to make foil pouches) and product consistancy (i use the same ratio of oak to pecan as what the pellets are) when using both the fec and sm's.
i like them a lot!!!!!
but as you know i did a lot of fiddling to get both units to match. on a weekly basis i am using the sm i would say about 75% and fec around 25% and that is mostly using it as holding oven as we have found that by leaving that on smoke setting our sales go up.
keep in mind that is for commercial sales but it sure works good for us and the beef gets one big ole smoke ring and my customers have come to expect that. as a point of referrence our brisket sales now equal our pork on a straight wieght volume and florida sure aint a beef state.
jack

Hey, let's take the discussion of the stix over to the FE forum. It's new and not many know about it.

And I don't want to "thread jack" the soda thread.

works for me
and i think i got my old lead plumbing working again.
but like i said these things rule in an sm150 for sure
jack
ps. i am sure you will love this. had a tourist ask if my house (built 1895 by a fisherman and his cigar rolling wife) had lead paint. i laughed so hard i cried and then told them hey bet its got asbestos insullation!!!! man did they run lol

coffeebluff,
We've been buying the cans of soda, chilling them to sell at the market. I find 12 packs at $3.00 or less and sell them for $1.00 a can. Of course, we don't have the volume of customers that you have, and don't have the ice machines and such. We sell bottles of water, our biggest seller in the summer for the same amount. I can buy 24 bottles for a little less than $5.00 and sell them for $1.00 a bottle.
Now that its cold, folks come around wanting coffee, but that entails buying creamers, sugars, etc. I'm thinking that would be a great job for another vendor.
I'd like to offer iced tea in the summer. But I can't figure out a good way to do it.
I told Jack I'd rather offer hot chocolate in the winter than get into the coffee hassle. Any ideas on hot chocolate costs? And could I fix it up in a crockpot or something?
Best to you and Crystal!
Peggy

we serve hot chocolate alot in the winter. i buy the big can of instant powder and add hot water and sometimes marshmellows. i like the bulk canister because it reseals and i can add more mix than those wimpy packages. spruce up the cup by adding dry coffee creamer(french vanilla works well).
friend of mine runs a corp. restaurant, told me they pay 35 bucks for a bib coke. thats a huge difference to our $50 !
your can soda and water prices look more profitable than my fountain! have you crunched the cost percentages?

coffeebluff,

Thanks for the breakdown. I am always interested in others' businesses. I feel if we can all share info, good a bad, it would help everyone out.

Are you saying 42% is bad? Or are you just letting us know what your breakdown is?

I ask, becuase I dont think 42.4% is all that bad for a drink. I dont know how you are set up, but drinks are usually "easy" compared to making other items. Although, I dont do fountain drinks, I have considered it. Your breakdown will help me to decide to switch from serving bottles or not.

Right now, I have a beverage fridge that I have 1/2 liter (16.9oz) soda bottles in. I get them for around $0.35 each and sell them for $1.00-1.50 depending on event and location. For opening a door, grabbing a bottle, and setting it on the counter, without taking a step is worth $0.65 per bottle for me, but that is my situation.

I used to sell the cans like 2greyhounds mentioned, but in my situation I didnt sell too many for $1.00
Having a bottle which is more soda, and the ability to close when walking around seemed to be better for the customers. I can sell more bottles for $1.50 than I can 12oz cans for $1.00. The crazy thing is, I was getting the cans for 23.5c each. Selling the bottles for 1.50 is the same food cost percentage as the cans at $1.00! 23%!

But that is what works for me. I am interested to see what others' situations are like.

coffeebluff,
peg's break out looks like this;
canned soda she is paying .25 and selling at 1.00
water she is paying .21 and selling at 1.00
no cups
no ice
bag of ice for the cooler is 1.89
dividing that into a load of 48 drinks adds .0393 to each above cost.
nice thing as you know is no added inventory but more importantly to us no added weight in the rig
jack
ps. will give you a call around 10 am friday morning on the stix thing. ez'r to explain than type

thanks, i better git to work, then..heehee
hcncb... 42% is bad, for beverages. most restaurants try to reclaim lost food cost in the beverage part of customer checks. it used to be, 7-12% for pop, tea, or coffee. but each one has since tripled in price, one at a time(course of 20 years) end result is putting a squeeze on the food percent. its harder to maintain numbers with the rising costs. just this month, we raised our prices. but only on the side dishes. we raised the side dishes .25c, which changed the dinner prices, but left the 'meat by the pound' price along. end result is 500 extra bucks in a month! that will help cover some of the extra utilities as well as food increases. my utilities went up 200 a month!(gas and electricity) even though, my statements show a decrease in usage from last year.
i think after knowing these prices, if i had it to do over again, i would not have a soda fountain. brewed tea, is still the way to go. also, lemonaid is very cheap to make, if you use 'real lemon juice' which in a taste tast, maybe one out of a hundred could actually tell the difference.(real lemons are outrageously priced)

The mix ratio is 5:1. The ratio you used is 4:1. Therefore, to make 15oz. of soda you need 2.5 oz, not 3 oz.

The assumption that the average number of refills is 1 is too high, imho. My guess is .75 or less.

That being said, $1.25 is too low of a price for a 22oz. soda. Just my humble opinion.

coffee,
I'm usually embarassed to ask for a refill. A lot of people will keep after the freebies and not say anything to help you, sometimes the more you give them, they complain more to other people. It's like when I was giving out samples once at the market. I felt like a needy orphan or something. People were giving me a definite snub.
Try offering a standard size soda, no refills, at a fixed price. You know I'm not an expert, it's just my opinion. Crystal gives them the extra, she's so sweet and keeps them in line!
I've noticed a lot of the fast food restaurants here that had the drink refill stations have changed that. I think the customer has to ask for a refill.
Peggy

thanks smoke master, for correcting my math.
its still a bad percentage for beverages.
hopefully some folks are brought to light on this ever-rising cost.some of my northern friends just reported that they pay as much as $83 for a bib coke syrup. ouch! i guess there is always someone else in a worse situation....