Coke Freestyle has arrived in Kansas City
A couple of my co-workers have been so eager to see the newest innovation in soda vending machines — the Coke Freestyle dispenses more than 100 Coca-Cola brand beverages — that you might think it was the Second Coming. Or maybe something that hearkens back to an old-fashioned soda fountain. Before technologically superior machines made fountain drinks accessible to anyone who could press a button, a soda jerk (like Walt Bodine, about seven decades ago) could concoct customized beverages with carbonated water or seltzer, a variety of flavored syrups — including Coca-Cola — and crushed ice. If you wanted a vanilla Coke back in the Jurassic age, you had to have the soda jerk make it. Thanks to Coke Freestyle, you are the soda jerk — sort of.
Last night, a shiny red, brand-new Coke Freestyle machine — enfolded in black plastic, like a sarcophagus, to avoid trauma during shipment — was carefully wheeled off a truck and installed at the Mr. Goodcents restaurant in Brookside, at 6304 Brookside Plaza. There are already Freestyle machines in the Mr. Goodcents shops in Olathe, Overland Park, Blue Springs and Prairie Village. September is the big rollout for the machines in area Mr. Goodcents stores. And customers, according to the store manager at the store at 9067 Metcalf, are crazy about it.
