Sunday, April 17, 2011

Noodles and Coke


My co-worker friends, Mandy and Jason, came with me to lunch at Noodles and Co. We chose Noodles and Co because of a free birthday meal ticket they give on the week of your birthday. Even though you have to be a member of their club for six months before you get a free birthday email thing (damn you Noodles and Co) I decided that I was really hungry for the Japanese pan noodles they have and we went anyway. Mandy, for the record, did get her free birthday meal, so all was not lost.

When we arrived, we noticed a camera mounted on one of the tables. That's not normally what you see when you eat at Noodles and Co, for those of you who have never been there, so we knew something was up. Sure enough, as soon as we sat down to eat, I see the lady sitting by the camera get up and start asking people if they want to take a survey. I'm always happy to give my opinion and spout about something, so when the people she'd just asked kindly declined I chimed in, "Hey, I'll take a survey."

She proceeded to explain that they were doing marketing research around the new coke machines. If you've never seen them, they're these silver, futuristic machines that have a million flavors of Coke products in them. You use a touch screen to pick your flavor and then fill your cup. It's quite futuristic, but a bit over the top in my opinion.

The new face of Coke products.

Anyway, I had used one of the very machines I just described to get myself some Coke Zero and this lady was very interested in what I thought. I took the survey, she filmed me saying some things, we had a lively conversation about the pros and cons of new soda technology and then, as a highlight to the entire experience, she gave me a ten dollar gift card to Noodles and Co! YEAH! My meal was practically free after all. Or... at least half price (ya know... with the math for my next meal and all.)

Totally great experience. I've also decided that I love that lady's job.

-Barry

3 comments:

  1. i have never been to noodles & co. I should probably try them out someday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i love those coke machines! i get a drink from there when we go to jordan commons! mmmmm

    ReplyDelete