Funny taste in soda, workers don't care.

[icmedia]

Usually a high-traffic place will clean the dispenser nozzles nightly, but some restaurants can get by with a few times a week. It does break down the seals in the nozzles, so I understand trying to save them. However...

I once managed a restaurant where, upon starting, I asked the longest-tenured employee how often they cleaned the soda nozzles. I was met with a blank stare, then, "Clean them? How?"

Yes, this employee had never seen the nozzles cleaned in the entire 5 years she had worked there. I took them off, and they were SLIMY with build-up and mold. I was honestly surprised that nobody had ever complained about the taste, or gotten sick.

[otakuneko]

Because it's cheap and can be automated. A conveyer belt carries a cup under the nozzle and the computer checks what the order is for, dispenses the appropriate soda, moves the cup, and preps the next in the order. The worker can then be busy prepping the remainder of the meal while the machine takes care of the drinks. It also takes up less space than your standard six-nozzle set up and allows the store to carry more flavors of soda since the space to run extra syrup tubes to the machine is negligible.

Some places here with self-serve drinks have these extremely annoying machines with a touch-screen interface, dispensing umpteen varieties of soda through a single dispenser. They result in long lines because 1) only one person can use it at a time and 2) it takes longer to use. I hate them.

[mhkohne]

Usually a high-traffic place will clean the dispenser nozzles nightly, but some restaurants can get by with a few times a week. It does break down the seals in the nozzles, so I understand trying to save them. However...

I once managed a restaurant where, upon starting, I asked the longest-tenured employee how often they cleaned the soda nozzles. I was met with a blank stare, then, "Clean them? How?"

Yes, this employee had never seen the nozzles cleaned in the entire 5 years she had worked there. I took them off, and they were SLIMY with build-up and mold. I was honestly surprised that nobody had ever complained about the taste, or gotten sick.

I suspect that both are due to two factors:
1) not much of the buildup was in the actual drink path - any surface that's in the soda path gets pretty flushed out by the soda itself. Anything left on those surfaces (insides of tubing, etc) is crusty and not going in the drink.
2) soda's pretty acidic (CO2 in water is called carbonic acid). Sufficiently acidic stuff is deadly to microorganisms, so it may just be that the little bit ofmstuff that did end up in the drinks was killed immediately.

In other words, dumb luck prevented them from killing someone via their lack of cleaning. Did the relevant health inspectors not check that or what?

[EvilEmpryss]

Usually a high-traffic place will clean the dispenser nozzles nightly, but some restaurants can get by with a few times a week. It does break down the seals in the nozzles, so I understand trying to save them. However....

My fisrt job the soda and coffee machines had to be cleaned at the start of every SHIFT. It was a little mom-and-pop place that prided itself on good food and better service. Mr Metcalf would have had a kaniption (sp?) if he'd found slime in the soda nozzles. Somebody would have been fired.

Some places here with self-serve drinks have these extremely annoying machines with a touch-screen interface, dispensing umpteen varieties of soda through a single dispenser. They result in long lines because 1) only one person can use it at a time and 2) it takes longer to use. I hate them.

I boycott those places. The soda never tastes right and it's stupid to go from being able to serve two or more people at once to only one at a time while people futz with the machine to find the basic Diet Coke. Seriously, how many people actually use the freaky combos that can be made in those machines?

Okay, my 11 year old son likes to mix crazy stuff at the regular machines (Hi-C with Mt Dew, Coke, and Sprite), but he isn't paying the bill for the soda, so he gets what's available and is happy with it.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Mr Metcalf would have had a kaniption (sp?) if he'd found slime in the soda nozzles. Somebody would have been fired.

"Conniption."

[BrenDAnn]

The newly rebuilt red-haired girl burger place nearest me has one of those machines. I thought it was odd when I saw the photo in the paper accompanying the article about the new building. As for the OP's experience, contact with corporate and the health department is definitely in order. Perhaps the employees weren't trained to fix whatever problem there was, but management certainly should've been.

[sms001]

Perhaps the employees weren't trained to fix whatever problem there was....

But they should have been trained to at least pretend to care.

Seriously, I agree. The things that can make soda taste funky are probably a health hazard; narc 'em out.

[greensinestro]

Maybe they water it down there? I once ordered a cherry Fanta at BK where there was more red syrup than liquid. I probably could have poured it on my pancakes.

[Silent-Hunter]

Some places here with self-serve drinks have these extremely annoying machines with a touch-screen interface, dispensing umpteen varieties of soda through a single dispenser. They result in long lines because 1) only one person can use it at a time and 2) it takes longer to use. I hate them.

I love those things! The soda never tastes funny to me, and I can get flavors I can't even find in stores, like lime Fanta. Five Guys Burgers has them.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Some places here with self-serve drinks have these extremely annoying machines with a touch-screen interface, dispensing umpteen varieties of soda through a single dispenser. They result in long lines because 1) only one person can use it at a time and 2) it takes longer to use. I hate them.

BK has these in their restaurants and I think they're a PITA just because of the fact only one person can use them at a time.

Also, I'm concerned about the cross contamination thing as well . . . 100 (or so) different flavors in a single machine? Seems as if they're asking for health issues down the road IMO.

[Barracuda]

Ok, I got a call from corporate (filed a complaint via the website yesterday.) The district manager told me after I left, they called Coke and had the machine thoroughly checked. (I suspect others complained....) They found nothing wrong, so they're assuming it was just a bag of flavor syrup that went off. The DM was rather upset to find out I felt they hadn't taken me seriously at the window, though, and will be talking to them about their attitude. She also assures me that Coke came out and thoroughly checked the machine, and they don't use chemicals to clean it, so there is a very small chance it was actually contaminated and was most likely just old syrup or possibly something with the carbonated water feed (stale water.) She thanked me for my concern and seemed very eager to assure me that there was nothing unsafe. If they had just told me at the window that they heard my concern and would check into it, instead of acting like they were brushing me off and didn't give a crap, that could have been avoided.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Ok, I got a call from corporate (snip)

Sounds like it all had a bit of a happy ending, then, more or less. Your concerns were listened to (eventually) and the machine was checked/cleaned.

[EmiOfBrie]

If it was Diet, likely the aspartame went off due to sitting around in warm areas for too long.

And actually, that's why you NEVER cook with aspartame. When it's heated, the chemicals that make it up break down into... wait for it... formaldehyde. Granted, not enough to kill you, but it will make the soda taste funny, and probably make you mildly sick afterward. That happened to me with a bad bottle of Diet Dew once.

This issue does not exist with sucralose or stevia pop.

[Barracuda]

THAT'S what that taste was! I knew it was familiar! I smelled it in junior high in science class when we were doing dissections!