Free Drink Refills - Common or Not?

[figment_jii]

I just got back from a vacation in New York City (primarily in the Time Square area). I was surprised to find out that many of the restaurants (not talking about the chains like Olive Garden or Applebee's) do not offer free drink refills for fountain beverages. I asked a server about it and he said that only the chains offer drink refills. I can kind of see it for fine dining establishments, but pizza places really surprised me. I was wondering if this is something common only to Manhattan restaurants or how wide spread it is? I live on the West Coast and free refills on fountain beverages is the norm, so I was wonder if free refill is a West Coast thing or is not offering free refills a Manhattan thing?

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

I just got back from a vacation in New York City (primarily in the Time Square area). I was surprised to find out that many of the restaurants (not talking about the chains like Olive Garden or Applebee's) do not offer free drink refills for fountain beverages. I asked a server about it and he said that only the chains offer drink refills. I can kind of see it for fine dining establishments, but pizza places really surprised me. I was wondering if this is something common only to Manhattan restaurants or how wide spread it is? I live on the West Coast and free refills on fountain beverages is the norm, so I was wonder if free refill is a West Coast thing or is not offering free refills a Manhattan thing?

Speaking from a Wisconsin and Illinois perspective, free drink refills on fountain drinks are pretty much the norm!

 

[Uncle Remus]

Free refills and a lot of the non-chain restaurants here in TX offer a drink for the road, to go.

 

[disney world dreamer]

each restaurant can choose to do what they want.
i live in the niagara falls/buffalo area which is at the complete opposite end of the state and some locally owned restaurants do give free refills but most do not.
and this is why at most local restaurants i just get water.

 

[LBIJim]

Yeah, extremely rare in Manhattan for free fountain soda refills. It's always been that way. Has nothing to do with the former mayor's war on large sized sodas. Rents are high in Manhattan, the pizza places need to keep their food at a reasonable price point to remain competitive, so they make most of their profit on fountain drinks.

It's the same at many Jersey Shore seasonal mom & pop quick serve places. They only have 4 to 5 months to make a profit for the year, so free refills are out.

Once you get a few miles away from the coast, free refills are a fairly standard practice.

 

[JanaDee]

Speaking from a Wisconsin and Illinois perspective, free drink refills on fountain drinks are pretty much the norm!

 

[ashley0139]

It's very common in Manhattan to not offer free refills.

 

[disney212]

I have been to every state south of the Mason Dixon line coast to coast plus OH, IN, MO and all gave free refills.

 

[dawnhaze]

No free refills is a pretty common NYC-area thing. It was mildly surprising when I moved there, now I'm just used to it.

 

[bcla]

I don't know of many restaurants that don't - at least for any kind of fountain drinks, coffee, or ice tea. Some of the upscale places don't serve fountain drinks though. Maybe pricey bottled sodas or mineral water, and it's pretty clear that you don't get refills if it came in a bottle or can.

However, I remember going to a semi-fancy place in San Francisco once, where I got a Coke in a tiny glass. When the server asked if I wanted another, I later found that I was charged again. I've gone back to that place several times and was never charged for drink refills. I wasn't sure what to make of it, other than that server made a mistake.

I've seen variations on drink refills. One independent place I used to frequent a lot would serve what they called "cafe au lait". It was really a cafe latte in a bowl. You could drink that down, and once that was gone they would refill it with drip coffee. If I was careful, the "crema" was still on top even after they filled it with drip coffee. One chain I occasionally dine at has a strawberry lemonade that's made by mixing in some real strawberry puree. Once I asked for a second refill and I got it, although the server said they were told to cut it off after the first refill and then only refill with regular lemonade.

I'm not a Starbucks fan, but one time I was in Manhattan and needed some coffee. I found a Starbucks on the Upper East Side and I was asked if I wanted it to go. I wanted it for inside, so it was served in a glass handled cup. When I was done some approached me and asked if I wanted a refill. I think I could have gotten this indefinitely. I don't think they do that any more. This was like 20 years ago when they weren't quite full force into their expansion and the coffee was still somewhat drinkable.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Good to know! We're planning a trip to NYC for spring break. My teen boys can drink quite a bit with a meal. I'll be sure to understand the restaurant's policy going in so there are no surprises.

 

[bcla]

A typical 5 gallon box of Coke syrup costs about $40 wholesale. It makes 30 gallons. Then add CO2 (cheaper than the syrup by far), and you're talking about a penny per ounce of a beverage. Even with refills, fountain beverages are the biggest profit center in many restaurants.

However, they don't come in metal cylinders any more. These things were only allowed to be hooked up by distributors and could be tricky. My folks used to operate a restaurant, and the beverages were from Coke. At least until the distributor's delivery guy screwed up and sprayed syrup all over the kitchen. They relabeled the dispenser and switched to a different distributor whose primary product was Pepsi. It was also weird because they replaced Sprite with Bubble-Up, which was the only lemon-lime soda that distributor carried.

 

[wenrob]

Las Vegas, refills on fountain drinks, coffee, ice tea, lemon aid and some places will refill my kids milk. We've actually had to push our glasses out of the way to get them to stop they do it so often.

 

[ICF]

I can't tell you the last place I ate that didnt give free refills....although I've mostly eaten at midwest places.

Any place from fastfood to chains to expensive steakhouses have given free refills.

 

[bfair]

A typical 5 gallon box of Coke syrup costs about $40 wholesale. It makes 30 gallons. Then add CO2 (cheaper than the syrup by far), and you're talking about a penny per ounce of a beverage. Even with refills, fountain beverages are the biggest profit center in many restaurants.

However, they don't come in metal cylinders any more. These things were only allowed to be hooked up by distributors and could be tricky. My folks used to operate a restaurant, and the beverages were from Coke. At least until the distributor's delivery guy screwed up and sprayed syrup all over the kitchen. They relabeled the dispenser and switched to a different distributor whose primary product was Pepsi. It was also weird because they replaced Sprite with Bubble-Up, which was the only lemon-lime soda that distributor carried.

The syrups come in a 5 gallon box and the cost $65. Most cups cost about $.02/each. Add in co2 and ice an you're looking at about $.05/glass.

I own a restaurant am have been in the business my whole life and have never worked anywhere that did not offer free refills. I did eat at a bagel and sandwich shop not that long ago that would not give free refills. He was from Jersey.

I believe that if restaurants are going to charge $2-$2.75 for a soda they should offer some if not all refills for free.

 

[si-am]

Pretty much everywhere around here has free refills. The only exception seems to be small Chinese restaurants; they tend to charge for some reason.

 

[BillSears]

Free fountain refills is the norm around here. Now what surprised me once is I was in west Texas and I ordered a second can of diet coke. When I got the check I told the waitress she forgot to add the second soda to the bill. She told me I had one free refill and there was no charge. No charge for a second can of soda? Wow, that's going above and beyond.

 

[Debkearsch]

Midwest here, Indiana to be specific, and I can't think of anyplace I've been in this area that doesn't offer free refills, and a lot of them will even give you one to go for free. The closest I can remember that didn't offer refills was a fine dining restaurant in Chicago a few years ago.

 

[LBIJim]

A typical 5 gallon box of Coke syrup costs about $40 wholesale. It makes 30 gallons. Then add CO2 (cheaper than the syrup by far), and you're talking about a penny per ounce of a beverage. Even with refills, fountain beverages are the biggest profit center in many restaurants.

However, they don't come in metal cylinders any more. These things were only allowed to be hooked up by distributors and could be tricky. My folks used to operate a restaurant, and the beverages were from Coke. At least until the distributor's delivery guy screwed up and sprayed syrup all over the kitchen. They relabeled the dispenser and switched to a different distributor whose primary product was Pepsi. It was also weird because they replaced Sprite with Bubble-Up, which was the only lemon-lime soda that distributor carried.

Add in ice, paper cups/lids/straws if take-out, depreciation on the equipment, labor costs if not self-serve, wastage, etc. and it's closer to 2 cents per ounce. Yep, still the biggest profit maker by far. I fully understand why Manhattan and some other places don't offer free refills. It's not that they're greedy; it's one of the few places they can make a profit.

You didn't have Teem as Pepsi's alternative to Sprite? How about Slice?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Speaking from a Wisconsin and Illinois perspective, free drink refills on fountain drinks are pretty much the norm!

You betcha, it is like a requirement!