Amtrak & Pepsi

I am curious: does Amtrak still serve only Pepsi products on all trains in cafe/lounge/diner cars? I remember that in 1998 the menu lineup consisted of Pepsi products only. Is the soft drink contract exclusively with Pepsi (or did Amtrak ever serve Coke in the past)?

I've never seen anything but. Generally either Pepsi or Coke (or rarely another vendor) negotiate exclusive pouring rights.

My guess is that Pepsi has done so.

(and as I'm a Pepsi drinker, that's fine by me. :-)

They did serve Coke at one time. Personally I'm a Coke drinkr so I bring my own.

John

I think they load it in bags thru the hatch in the side of the lounge cars - look at you can see a 2 sq foot hatch in lounges.

David Telesha wrote:Ah! Now how is the soda loaded into the diner/cafe cars? (serious question)

I've only seen it served in cans.

Have only seen and had the cans or bottles of soda on Amtrak. In the diner, they may pour the soda in a glass, but it comes from a bottle or can originally.

The Acelas are even more hit or miss. About 50% of the time the sodas are in cans, the rest they're coming out of the soda fountain.

The fountains (what the nozzle dispensers work off of, too) require the concentrated syrup in 2.5 or 5 gallon bags, CO2 cannisters, and water hookup. Not sure if they'd really be easier to do on a train, but at least some of the time they work on the Acelas.

I've only seen it in cans as well. A fountain requires compressed tanks of C02, and carbonation equipment. The standard fountain syrup is "bag in box" which siphons the syrup out to be mixed with carbonated water at the fountain head. It requires lots of hoses, and space for equipment. Its probably easier to just haul cans.

Over the last few years I've seen both Coca-Cola and Pepsico products on trains. One time they had Coke in the sleepers, but Pepsi products in the lounge. Lately, though, its been Pepsi all the way.

Ah - forgot about how they dispense drinks in the Acela Express Cafe. I've seen it done both ways there as well - cans or that nozzle dispenser. Have been trying to use up my Amtrak Guest Reward upgrade coupons to travel First Class on Acela Express lately, so haven't visited the cafe on these trains recently.

Amtrak is one of the few national customers that exclusively serve Pepsi. McDonald's, Burger King and most regional fast food chains serve Coke exclusively. (Wendy's swictched to Coke from Pepsi in 1998.) This leaves KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell the only major national customer serving Pepsi (as they were formerly owned by Pepsi themselves).

Well the Downeastern has Coke.

John

The Downeaster - not the "Downeastern" - is catered under a contract arranged by NNEPRA on behalf of the state of Maine. Therefore, they serve different lines of products than Amtrak proper.

The same is (was) true for North Carolna's Piedmont. North Carolina, from what I inderstand, is still negotiating a new vendor contract for food and beverage service on the Piedmont.

The Cascades (OR, WA) and the Vermonter (VA) - all state supported services - also at one time offered locally-made products that deviated from Amtrak's standard fare. I believe the Cascades still do so.

cbaker wrote:The Cascades (OR, WA) and the Vermonter (VA) - all state supported services - also at one time offered locally-made products that deviated from Amtrak's standard fare. I believe the Cascades still do so.

Unless things have changed in the last half year, that is correct (though they do serve Pepsi products). They have a full dining car operation on the Vancouver (BC) train, and its menu (breakfast northbound, dinner southbound) is not the standard Amtrak dining car menu. Its cafe (I mean...bistro) car also has a completely different offering than your typical Amcafe.

Amtrak has a national contract with Pepsi (I'm glad because I can't stand most anything from Coca-Cola!) I'm almost positive that most airlines serve Coke. I've never seen anything other than Pepsi on any Amtrak Train I've rode on in the past 8 years

On the Vermonter, passengers have the opportunity to buy "Vermonter boxed lunches." I often take the train southbound out of Burlington/Essex Junction and a local vendor meets the train there and loads the lunches aboard the cafe car. Not sure if box lunches are offered northbound or not (haven't taken this train northbound in over a year). I find the boxed lunches more appetizing than the soggy sandwiches and other lunch offerings in the cafe car. Sandwich (turkey or ham), chips, apple, and Vermont cheese is part of the boxed lunch.

The Vermonter also now carries renovated Amfleet I cafe cars, as opposed to the older cafe cars with the brown and red decor that were in tow a year ago. Half of the cafe is table seating, the other half is business class seating. One of the trainsets business class seats needs some new padding in the seats though - hard as a rock! There is an extremely nice lady conductor who helps turn the seats in business class once the train reaches Palmer, Mass. - where the Vermonter changes direction. I stopped riding business class b/c I didn't want to ride backwards for 1/2 the journey. Now it is welcomed bonus due to the seat turns.