Diet drinks in bars and restaurants

[mikep1979]

The issue is for young and non-diabetic drinkers there is so much they can mix with lemonade, lime, orange, blackcurrent and wham four drinks are availabe - lemonade is on tap, cordials by the bottle and they use enough of it all to get by.

Tea and coffee, well, the base materials, equipment and you're in business, you don't need whole amounts of real estate to stock it in.

I am stumped on how it changes - unless they go diet lemonade (I dont' think there is any taste difference between diet and non-diet lemonade, cordials the same gives us the same options and choices as the non-diabetic drinker.

agreed it dont take a lot to set it up, but as with all business why for out for something that might take a few months even a year to pay for itself????

most bars are in a tough place as it is at the minute and need to cost cut so are looking to shelve the expansion plans.

 

[Einstein]

agreed it dont take a lot to set it up, but as with all business why for out for something that might take a few months even a year to pay for itself????

most bars are in a tough place as it is at the minute and need to cost cut so are looking to shelve the expansion plans.

And the cost of buying diet or low/no sugar lemonade and cordials over regular is how much now? There isn't a premium on diet products.

Given the cost of a bottle of squash, how many half pint glasses you'll get from it a ?1.50 a glass, there is how much profit? Even if they use lemonade (80p a 2l bottle)!

Most publicans would rather flog you a pint of coke than a pint of beer today - more profit.

 

[mikep1979]

And the cost of buying diet or low/no sugar lemonade and cordials over regular is how much now? There isn't a premium on diet products.

Given the cost of a bottle of squash, how many half pint glasses you'll get from it a ?1.50 a glass, there is how much profit? Even if they use lemonade (80p a 2l bottle)!

Most publicans would rather flog you a pint of coke than a pint of beer today - more profit.

lol i was on the tea and coffee side of it hehehehehehehe

lol i do agree that a lot are pushing soft drinks now and cordial to. heck my grandads old local always charge you for a full price cordial drink even if you just want a shot in your drink!!!! shocker!!!!!

 

[insulinaddict09]

Mines a triple neat smirnoff , with a diet coke chaser 😱

 

[aymes]

And the cost of buying diet or low/no sugar lemonade and cordials over regular is how much now? There isn't a premium on diet products.

Given the cost of a bottle of squash, how many half pint glasses you'll get from it a ?1.50 a glass, there is how much profit? Even if they use lemonade (80p a 2l bottle)!

Most publicans would rather flog you a pint of coke than a pint of beer today - more profit.

Very true, in most places it is the soft drinks that give the best profit margins. It's going back a few years now to my student days when I worked in a bar but the post mix (fizzy drinks on tap) then cost the bar around 8p to serve, and they sold them for, I think it was, about ?1.20!

 

[hellbell84]

this thread is an issue so very dear to my heart!!!

im sick and tired of going out with mates and being stuck having diet coke or water

i dont understand why they cant have things like COKE ZERO or FANTA SUGAR FREE on tap, as not only are we ALL trying to do something with our waist bands but it also helps people with diabetes out by not making us feel like hermits as at least then, we will have a choice, just like everyone else

what also annoys me is when you ask for a DIET coke and they give you normal, but i feel like such a nob going back saying "sorry this isnt diet" that i just drink it anyways

A WHOLE NEW BRANDING SYSTEM NEEDS TO HAPPEN throughout the bar and nightclub industry to enlighten, not just diabetics but those who are watching their waistlines

something needs to be done about this and to be honest, im surprised programmes such as Dragons Den havent picked up on this niche on the market

rant over

*sips sugar free squash for the rest of the day*

Enjoy xxxx

 

[Steff]

hi hellbell im totally with you on the asking for diet coke and gettin normal coke about 4 weeks ago i was in the pub having sunday lunch and sipped my coke realising it was normal coke i took it back , the bar attendant looked at me like i was reading him his lasts right or something , i'm not usually one that maes a fuss but on that occasion i did

 

[Lizzie]

The issue is for young and non-diabetic drinkers there is so much they can mix with lemonade, lime, orange, blackcurrent and wham four drinks are availabe - lemonade is on tap, cordials by the bottle and they use enough of it all to get by.

Tea and coffee, well, the base materials, equipment and you're in business, you don't need whole amounts of real estate to stock it in.

I am stumped on how it changes - unless they go diet lemonade (I dont' think there is any taste difference between diet and non-diet lemonade, cordials the same gives us the same options and choices as the non-diabetic drinker.

But aren't cordials jam packed with sugar? I always thought they were like a super-sugary version of fruit squash.

I don't really like to have tea and coffee in pubs, they don't have much choice available.

If lemonade is available it tends to be in the form of full sugar Sprite.

I don't really like pubs personally, I don't see the point of paying extra for your drink to cover their overheads, to sit in somewhere loud and noisy or even stand outside on the pavement if too crowded. If I get alcohol it tends to be from a supermarket to drink at home where its cheaper and more comfortable. But sometimes you can't avoid it, if out with friends or family and they want to go in, or if you have a work do. And it isn't just pubs, many shops are the same with the 500ml drinks in the fridge.

 

[mikep1979]

But aren't cordials jam packed with sugar? I always thought they were like a super-sugary version of fruit squash.

I don't really like to have tea and coffee in pubs, they don't have much choice available.

If lemonade is available it tends to be in the form of full sugar Sprite.

I don't really like pubs personally, I don't see the point of paying extra for your drink to cover their overheads, to sit in somewhere loud and noisy or even stand outside on the pavement if too crowded. If I get alcohol it tends to be from a supermarket to drink at home where its cheaper and more comfortable. But sometimes you can't avoid it, if out with friends or family and they want to go in, or if you have a work do. And it isn't just pubs, many shops are the same with the 500ml drinks in the fridge.

it would be great to see a whole range of sugar free drinks in bars and the likes. i would be more than happy to see them lol

as for cordial in not sure what the individual bar stocks as it is usually the cheapest stuff they can get hold of.

 

[Einstein]

But aren't cordials jam packed with sugar? I always thought they were like a super-sugary version of fruit squash.

I don't really like to have tea and coffee in pubs, they don't have much choice available.

If lemonade is available it tends to be in the form of full sugar Sprite.

I don't really like pubs personally, I don't see the point of paying extra for your drink to cover their overheads, to sit in somewhere loud and noisy or even stand outside on the pavement if too crowded. If I get alcohol it tends to be from a supermarket to drink at home where its cheaper and more comfortable. But sometimes you can't avoid it, if out with friends or family and they want to go in, or if you have a work do. And it isn't just pubs, many shops are the same with the 500ml drinks in the fridge.

Yes, cordials have sugar in them, but in half a pint of lemonade a splash of cordial isn't likely to cause too much harm, granted 5 pints later and more than a splash does add up.

Some pubs where dining is a reasonable part of their business will have a half decent coffee machine - someone to use it is another matter.

If pubs switched to leading brand diet lemonade and had low sugar cordials only ONLY those options then everyone would be getting the same and cordials and lemonade don't taste differently if they are diet or normal, unlike coke and pepsi.

Perhaps the issue with draft drinks is just what options are available from the suppliers of the syrup thats mixed with the water and gas to make the drink at the tap. If diet lemonade can't be bought that way, then there isn't much the publican can do about it. Other than having bottles on the counter.

 

[mikep1979]

Yes, cordials have sugar in them, but in half a pint of lemonade a splash of cordial isn't likely to cause too much harm, granted 5 pints later and more than a splash does add up.

Some pubs where dining is a reasonable part of their business will have a half decent coffee machine - someone to use it is another matter.

If pubs switched to leading brand diet lemonade and had low sugar cordials only ONLY those options then everyone would be getting the same and cordials and lemonade don't taste differently if they are diet or normal, unlike coke and pepsi.

Perhaps the issue with draft drinks is just what options are available from the suppliers of the syrup thats mixed with the water and gas to make the drink at the tap. If diet lemonade can't be bought that way, then there isn't much the publican can do about it. Other than having bottles on the counter.

diet lemo and sprite zero and the likes all can be bought as a post mix (i.e from the tap draft) same as normal coke lemo and the likes. the big difference is in price. also the fact that some people wont drink diet at all and the costs for having a new line pulled so you have diets and zero's on one and regulars on the other is astronomical!!!!! it is somewhere in the ?2500 bracket for a single beer line to be pulled and that is for one drink not 3/4/5 drinks. the companies who make it hgarder for the publicans are the breweries and coca cola schwepps as they price the landlords out of doing this.

 

[Einstein]

diet lemo and sprite zero and the likes all can be bought as a post mix (i.e from the tap draft) same as normal coke lemo and the likes. the big difference is in price. also the fact that some people wont drink diet at all and the costs for having a new line pulled so you have diets and zero's on one and regulars on the other is astronomical!!!!! it is somewhere in the ?2500 bracket for a single beer line to be pulled and that is for one drink not 3/4/5 drinks. the companies who make it hgarder for the publicans are the breweries and coca cola schwepps as they price the landlords out of doing this.

Bottles then! We all complain because they are too fizzy or too cold - solves both problems and saves money!

Win win!

 

[mikep1979]

Bottles then! We all complain because they are too fizzy or too cold - solves both problems and saves money!

Win win!

not really as the landlord of a pub is tied to a certain brewery who will TELL him what bottles he is allowd to stock. if he is found to deviate from this and i mean even with soft drinks he can in some cases loose his tenancey as he is after all only "looking after" the premises for the brewery. not worth the risks for them.

 

[Einstein]

not really as the landlord of a pub is tied to a certain brewery who will TELL him what bottles he is allowd to stock. if he is found to deviate from this and i mean even with soft drinks he can in some cases loose his tenancey as he is after all only "looking after" the premises for the brewery. not worth the risks for them.

So where do you go then Mike? I guess as the house is usually seeing the fat profit from the sale of soft drinks and the manufacturers hardly any then they lines won't be fed free of charge as in the case of new pumps going on the bar, where the distribution of the profit per pint sold is different.

It also comes down to the real size of the market, perhaps out of 10 people drinking only one maybe on soft drinks, and with the uptake of the J20 (and the likes) of fruit juices this is less still for soft drinks.

As such there isn't any commercial pressure or incentive to provide anything other than there already is.

While there are a significant number of diabetics, each walking into a pub and saying to the landlord we want you to stock a wider range of diet drinks isn't really going to hit any saturation.

I wonder if under the DDA there is any obligation? After all they have to provide access and products/services to the disabled, so we can enter, and they provide water and diet coke - is that really offering a true selection and range or is it discriminating against diabetics by restricting their choice to two out of perhaps 50 or 100 drinks that a non-diabetic could consume on the premises?

Maybe a tint of the HRA as well thrown in for good measure?

But then it needs to be taken against every pub in the country! And enforced.

Ho humm. Hip flask me thinks 😉

 

[mikep1979]

So where do you go then Mike? I guess as the house is usually seeing the fat profit from the sale of soft drinks and the manufacturers hardly any then they lines won't be fed free of charge as in the case of new pumps going on the bar, where the distribution of the profit per pint sold is different.

It also comes down to the real size of the market, perhaps out of 10 people drinking only one maybe on soft drinks, and with the uptake of the J20 (and the likes) of fruit juices this is less still for soft drinks.

As such there isn't any commercial pressure or incentive to provide anything other than there already is.

While there are a significant number of diabetics, each walking into a pub and saying to the landlord we want you to stock a wider range of diet drinks isn't really going to hit any saturation.

I wonder if under the DDA there is any obligation? After all they have to provide access and products/services to the disabled, so we can enter, and they provide water and diet coke - is that really offering a true selection and range or is it discriminating against diabetics by restricting their choice to two out of perhaps 50 or 100 drinks that a non-diabetic could consume on the premises?

Maybe a tint of the HRA as well thrown in for good measure?

But then it needs to be taken against every pub in the country! And enforced.

Ho humm. Hip flask me thinks 😉

well as of now i dont have a local (not found one yet) but i used to drink in the jolly miller on queens drive quite a bit.

it is the manafactures who make the tidy profit and not the house. they may buy it in for 8p a small glass and sell it at ?1.20 but if you take into account the rates they pay then it is down to about 10p profit. alll along the brewery is trying to squeeze more from the succesful landlords as they will have rate increases, but may have to pass this on in the shape of an increase in the cost of your pint so customers will go to a pub where the drink is a little cheaper hence the cycle starts again.

it really is a no win situation at all.

a hip flask will be the best choice all around mate hehehehehe