Is making fresh-brewed iced tea at a restaurant really that hard? Yes, you have to have employees that know how to make it and re-make it throughout the day. True story - I recently ate at [nameless] restaurant and poured myself a cup of their fresh-brewed iced tea. I put in my sugar and tasted it - yuck! It tasted... skunky. I was convinced they had actually used a mix and put it in the "fresh-brewed" canister for unsuspecting consumers. So I asked - "hey, is this really fresh-brewed iced tea?" The answer, and I swear I am not making this up, "yeah, why? We made it fresh last night." I wrinkled my nose and asked if they could make a fresh batch. They did and it tasted 100 times better - wow, I wonder how many people had drank the skunky tea before I got there?I also can't stand iced tea from the fountain such as Nestea - it just tastes fake. I can't imagine that it is more expensive for the tea bags than syrup for the soda fountain. Tea should make pretty good margins. But, again, you have to have employees that make it fresh (see example above) and I've found very few fast-food restaurants that bother.
I, for one, will choose to eat elsewhere if a restaurant doesn't offer fresh-brewed iced tea (well, unless the restaurant has a really great menu that has entrees I can't find anywhere else - which is rare). And, here in the South, I really love my sweet tea. I recently tried McDonald's (yes, a fast-food restaurant!) sweet tea which comes in a huge cup for only $1. Niiiiice. See? If McDonald's can do it, anybody can do it!
3 comments:
Boy, Aint that the truth! It's like you wrote this right out of my brain.
~~Beaver
You are absolutely correct about that fountain/syrup stuff that they call Iced Tea. I am with you, if places change from brewed to fountain tea, I generally go there a lot less often and when I do, I will drink water instead. As you said, aside from the employee making the tea, profits should be high. I don't know what the costs are for concentrate in the fountain, but I make my own tea at home and it sure is inexpensive compared to coke or bottled water or any other beverage. If I go somewhere and they charge $1.50 for the drink and make at least $1 profit. Now they make $0.00 profit on the drink and may have lost a customer.
You are absolutely correct about that fountain/syrup stuff that they call Iced Tea. I am with you, if places change from brewed to fountain tea, I generally go there a lot less often and when I do, I will drink water instead. As you said, aside from the employee making the tea, profits should be high. I don't know what the costs are for concentrate in the fountain, but I make my own tea at home and it sure is inexpensive compared to coke or bottled water or any other beverage. If I go somewhere and they charge $1.50 for the drink and make at least $1 profit. Now they make $0.00 profit on the drink and may have lost a customer.
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