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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

Traveller family? Might be possible. I was in secret garden a few years back and heard one of the dads in the group complaining they had spent nearly £10k on rooms, tickets, extras etc (think he had booked quite a few rooms)
 
dave___ said:
They will get the grumbles from Coke for that with them having Freestyle machines present. That's assuming Coke get wind of it ..
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TS tagged coke in the twitter post 😂

Yeah given the Freestyle machines give lots more choice compared to anything Pepsi offer then I’d assume it’s not going to happen 😢

Subway just ditched Pepsi for coke in the UK but swapped the other way in the US randomly
 
AT86 said:
Freestyle cups are run by Alton Towers retail (so Merlin) whereas F&B is Aramark - could both be available if they go for different deals?

Does KFC at Thorpe serve Pepsi? If so then there is already both available within one park, so not too out of the question.
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I don't think serving both is something that would necessarily be an issue other than a bit of customer confusion. Serving one brand in the leading competitor's cup though is probably something absolutely forbidden in the brand contracts.
 
AT86 said:
Freestyle cups are run by Alton Towers retail (so Merlin) whereas F&B is Aramark - could both be available if they go for different deals?

Does KFC at Thorpe serve Pepsi? If so then there is already both available within one park, so not too out of the question.
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Burger King are Coke, KFC are Pepsi, at any park they are at, so at BPB (Pepsi park) you can get Coke from the Burger King.

However, yes I'd expect that selling coke in a Pepsi branded cup is breaking some sort of contract they have.
 
Yeah, this is a bad move. Anyone who's worked in a place that has a contract with Pepsi will know the pain of being legally obligated to respond to a customer asking for "coke" with, "is Pepsi OK?"
... Every. Single. Order.
(It never happens the other way round though).
 
dave___ said:
They will get the grumbles from Coke for that with them having Freestyle machines present. That's assuming Coke get wind of it ..
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It's more than grumbles from Coke, it's yet another breach of their alcohol licence and falls foul of trade descriptions too.
Have you checked that your drinks are accurately described? If you advertise the brand name of a drink then you must supply that brand of drink. Brand names can appear on bottles, optic stands, beer pump clips, price lists, menus etc. If a customer asks for a drink by the brand name, (for instance 'Pernod' or 'Coca-cola') and you have not got that brand, tell the customer if you offer an alternative. Substituting one brand of drink for another is a serious offence, whether it is a mistake or a deliberate action. Ensure that any promotional material around the bar is consistent with the brands you are currently selling.
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Anyone who's ever encountered a Coca Cola Company or PepsiCo rep (same with Mars Wrigley vs Mondoleze), will know how much of a no no that is! It's not just illegal in the way @GooseOnTheLoose has described either.

The law changed after the Tesco accounting scandal around supplier payments, rebates, and marketing etc. Those Coke and Pepsi branded cups are as such for a reason. It'll be part of a supplier agreement, which means that both organisations are effectively paying, as part of the contract, to have their brand displayed. These kinds of practices have an effect on "fines" and rebates, so it's actually also an accounting issue.

I know this sounds rather silly, but you'd be surprised how complicated supplier and marketing agreements are with the likes of The Coca Cola Company, PepsiCo, Mars Wrigley, Mondoleze, Unilever, Muller Wiseman, and the Tobacco companies. It's not just as simple as buying off a supplier and selling it.
 
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AT86 said:
I think we all know by now that Aramark simply don’t give a crap.

Packaging, licensing requirements, food hygiene ratings. They just have zero standards. Profit above everything.
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Maybe I'm just being too nice and a bit naïve here but this could've been down to an employee that when faced with the wrong cups being delivered and having no others, had no choice but to use them and doesn't even know about the rules about using them (of course that could be down to lack of training or the employee not taking any notice). I know that reason wouldn't stand up in a court of law but this could be all we're seeing here.
 
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