To those who think that the issue is a result of poor guest behavior, you would be correct. This is an effort to control F&B costs. Lets do some math.
Lets start with the components that make up these Bev systems.
1) Water. This is pushed through a carbon based filtration system. The filters may or may not cost Disney anything. Generally, Coke will provide the filter replacement for free, and I have no reason to doubt Disney would be any different. But, if not, the cost for a 20" filter (the big boy, they sell smaller) is around $40. In addition, Ice Machines are generally filtered (any good operator would want to, it keeps your ice machine cleaner and in better condition, therefore operating more efficiently and longer). I have no doubt Disney filters their ice machines as well.
These replacement filters cost closer to $60. These filters should be replaced a minimum of once every 6 months (there actually should be a PSI indicator that the manager can look at to see if the system needs a new filter, but most of the time it's just easier to put it on a regular replacement schedule. So, lets assume Disney, due to volume and the incoming (poor) water quality decides to change out the filtration once a month. That means approx $200 a month for filtration for a 4 unit beverage bar, as you'll find at most of the resorts. This comes out to $200 / $30 = ~$7 a day per 4 unit bar. Divide this by the average number of drinks dispensed per day and you come out with a very...very small number. So, we can safely discount these costs from any equation.
Then there is the cost of the water itself. For giggles, lets just assume filtration + water + system maintenance parts and general labor adds 2 cents of cost per drink (this is very high).
2) Carbonation. I have little doubt that Disney is using something like NUCO2's service, with large 750 lb containers. It just makes operational sense. These units add less than 1 cent per drink of cost...but, again, I will round up to be overly generous, and say it's 1 cent. Also note, not all products require infusion of CO2 (like Poweraid, Hi-C, etc.) But, we'll stick with 1 cent.
3) Syrup. BIB (Bag in Box) syrups generally come in 1 gal, 2.5 gal or 5 gal boxes. With an average ratio of 5 oz of water for every 1 oz of syrup, each 5 gal BIB should use 25 gals of water, and therefore 30 gals of mixed product. The 5 to 1 ratio is an average. Some sodas use a 5.0 ratio, some a 5.5 and some a 4.5 ratio. If you've ever seen the little fronts of a soda machine where the flavor is indicated lifted up, behind them you'll find two little dials. These adjust the ratio, one for syrup, one for water. You use a tool called a Brix cup to calibrate your machine for best taste. If you are curious, it looks like this.
Even when it's fully calibrated, it is very rare you'll use all of the syrup in your BIB. I'd estimate 98% usage. So, at 100% usage, that's 30 gallons of product. 128 oz in a gallon, so 30 gal x 128 = 3840 oz. 3840 * .98 = 3763 oz of finished product per BIB.
BIB box costs vary based on various factors (popularity of the product, pricing agreement with Coke, etc...etc...), but lets assume an average cost of around $60 per BIB (this is a bit steep for Disney, I suspect...but it works).
So, with all this information (granted rather dry info) in place, now we can start to estimate cost.
First, lets consider the Disney Mugs, and lets assume (because I don't have one handy) that they hold 12 oz of soda. So, $60 / 3763 = 1.6 cents per oz. $0.016 * 12 oz = $0.192.
So, 19.2 cents per fill is your cost per mug. But, what about ice? If we assume that the average person fills their cup halfway with ice, this means the average mug will contain between 6 and 8 oz of soda. We'll go with 8, for this estimate. So, the initial fill is really closer to $0.016 * 8 oz = $0.128 per initial fill. Add to this the generous 2 cent overhead costs I described above and round and you end up with 15 cents per fill.
Refills, however, are a different story.
People tend not to add more ice to their refill, and the ice melts. Therefore, the actual amount of product distributed is probably closer to 10oz (again being generous) per refill. Using our tried and true cost formula, this means a per refill cost of $0.016 * 10 = $0.16. Add the 2 cent overhead, and you have 18 cents per refill.
So:
Fills with no ice equal ~22 cents
Fills with fresh ice equal ~15 cents
Fills with melted ice or low ice equal ~18 cents
For giggles then, lets say that every drink distributed costs ~19 cents of product.
Now you add in your paper cost (cost of the mug, cost of straws, cost of lids, etc. Generously estimating numbers (especially to account for straw waste), I'd estimate something like this. Cup is around 15 cents, lid is 1 cent, straw (with waste) costs around 2 cents.
Total cost per drink is around 37 cents.
This, if you are every curious, how you can come up with your drink pricing at a restaurant, as you manage a business like that by percents, not by dollar amounts per se.
Anyhow, now lets get creative with the theft issue. Lets take POFQ, which has around 1000 rooms. Lets assume full occupancy and an average occupancy rate of 3 people. So, 3000 people. Now lets assume that 1/5 of them are stealing an average of 4 sodas a day (one for each meal plus one to sip by the pool). So, 2400 sodas are being stolen a day.
These are all very generous numbers, but that's aside the point.
Lets take the highest cost scenario (no ice). 2400 x $0.22 = $528. That's $528 dollars of loss per day, or $192,720 per annum. And, that's only ONE resort, and the smallest one at that.
Disney has what, around 30,000 rooms? Take that same formula with the same assumptions of theft and occupancy rate, and you end up with a very large number.
30,000 rooms * avg. occupancy of 3 people = 90,000 guests
90,000 guests / 5 = 18,000 people who steal drinks daily
18,000 * 4 drinks per day = 72,000 stolen drinks per day
72,000 * $0.22 cents per drink = $15,840 loss per day
Or, $5.78 million dollars of loss per annum.
Note, in every case I skewed the costs up to benefit Disney's mindset. And, that doesn't get into lost potential revenue (say, people reusing the 20oz paper cups or room cups because they don't have mugs. Add this in and not only do you see millions of dollars of cost, but you also see millions in lost revenue.
Lets say each of those people stealing bought an $18 dollar mug, that makes the model a bit more complex as you'd have to factor in average length of stay, etc., to come up with any potential revenue. However, if we just assume they purchased a paper cup for each meal, the math gets easier. For this, we'll assume that of the 4 drinks stolen per day, 2 are refills.
72,000 drinks stolen per day / 2 = 36,000 * $3 per cup = $108,000 in new revenue a DAY. Or $36,420,000 per annum.
Or, likewise, if we assume that they each buy one day allotments on mugs (again, so I don't have to get into average length of stay, etc...). This means that every drink outside of the first would be "free", so we would divide by 4.
72,000 drinks stolen per day / 4 = 18,000 * $9 per mug = $162,000 in new revenue a DAY. Or $59,130,000 per annum.
Now, think like a person being presented this in a meeting room who has never operated a restaurant day to day. It seems like an excellent business decision, don't you think? Current shrink is costing $5.78 million AND we have the potential to make another $36 to $50 million a year in added revenue?
Someone is getting a BONUS this year!
Anyhow, I am deeply against this system, but I wanted to run through some of the numbers and considerations Disney certainly looked at as a matter of information for anyone unaware of the details of F&B costing.
Sorry so long!
