The history of free refills in Oklahoma City?

[Joe Kimball]

That is to ask: were free refills on soft drinks a staple among restaurants (exempting a few holdouts scattered through the metro) in Oklahoma City for a long time? Travelers to other locales will know that free refills are a spreading, yet not universal phenomenon, almost not existent on the East Coast according to friends.

[Martin]

to the best of my recollection... up through the mid-to-late 80's many places in the okc area didn't offer free refills on soft drinks. as far as i can remember, one could almost universally get free refills on tea and coffee.

-M

[bluedogok]

to the best of my recollection... up through the mid-to-late 80's many places in the okc area didn't offer free refills on soft drinks. as far as i can remember, one could almost universally get free refills on tea and coffee.

-M

Pretty much how I remember it.

[PennyQuilts]

Pretty much how I remember it.

Me too.

But we usually get free refills on the east coast at this point, at least in the DC area and points south. And we pay a fortune for a soft drink, I might add. Remember when they were about .50? Now, they are closer to 1.75.

[metro]

That's about average most places in OKC now are $1.75-$2.50.

[John1744]

I remember Coits/Del Rancho being .25 for refills in the early 90's. Cause my dad would get pissed when I downed my root beer so fast.

[metro]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[kevinpate]

With limited exceptions, going back to the 70's the only time I recall paying for soda refills is at non-fountain settings, where they bring you another can or bottle out, or at church camps.

Then again, I've forgotten way more important things, so maybe there are other instances as well. There is a place or two in Norman that have a small refill surcharge, like a quarter on a large glass. Greek House comes to mind. O'Connell's, at least on Lindsey, and indeed most places, have no surcharge, even if you are knocking back a pitcher at a time.

[Steve]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Why do you do this?

[Bigrayok]

I noticed free refills at the fast food chains on a trip to Orlando, Florida in 1986. Burger King and McDonalds started giving them around this time. People kind of expect them now.

Bigray in Ok

[icemncmth]

in the 70's and 80's you didn't get free refils. Most pizza places like Ken's you would buy a pitcher of soda. Even the 7-11's made your drinks for you. It wasn't till the mid to late 80's when a few places like U-Totems and Git-n-Go's started placing their machines out so that customers could make the drinks themselves. What this did was allowed a place to have one person running registers vs two.

After that you started seeing the fast food chains doing the same thing. Even then they had signs that said "no free refills". The only problem is how do you inforce that! I think it was easier and cheeper in the long run to have the customers fill their own drinks. Once the fast food places started doing this the sit down resturants would soon have to follow.

One of the few places where I do remember free refils was Casa Bonita in Tulsa. You just raised your flag and they would refil you drink.

If you really think back I seem to recall that Sirloin Stockade having free refills but I'm not sure of it. It would make sense since it was a buffet style resturant.

[bluedogok]

One of the few places where I do remember free refils was Casa Bonita in Tulsa. You just raised your flag and they would refil you drink.

BTW - I saw a Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver last weekend.

[oneforone]

What's really crazy is the fact that drinks are pure profit in any operation. The cup is the most expensive part of the drink. The syrup and the CO2 cost pennies on the dollar. Most businesses usually make about 75-80% profit on a fountain beverage.

7-11 started the trend of cheap/free refills when they ran their promotion with the sport bottles. I remember when I was a kid I bought one every summer. The bottle cost $2.00 and you get 39 cent refills all summer.

[icemncmth]

I just miss the 32oz bottles!

[metro]

Why do you do this?

just dozed off because we're talking about "the history of free refills.........."

[kevinpate]

just dozed huh? guess there's little need for that quiet zone after all then if sleep comes so easily.
8^)

[Joe Kimball]

*tosses a rubber band glider with a misplaced posting attached to it*

Interesting input, y'all. It certainly gives weight that it's a relatively new thing across the country. I recall a scene (in a movie from the early 80s) involving the successive ordering of Cokes to kill time; the context was that quite a bill was being rung up.

Full service at 7-Eleven...I can't imagine.