Will you change your dining habits now that Applebees and IHOP are switching from Coke to pepsi?

Um – that would be a “no” since those aren’t the kinds of restaurants I frequent anyway.

No.
I do not buy Coke or Pepsi. I also refuse to eat GMOs in my food.

No since I don’t eat at either place.

Well, I almost never eat in either, and if I am at IHOP I would most likely not be ordering a soda anyway, because I don’t for breakfast.

But, I was raised by a cocaholic. If you brought a Pepsi into the house, heads would have rolled. My mom had taped on her cassette’s oldies but goodies and the jingles for coke is it and other songs from coke commercials.

We did not eat in Burger King when I was little, because it had a Pepsi contract.

I am going on a cruise this summer with my parents, and one of the questions I asked is if they have coke or pepsi on board.

I rarely drink soda now, so it is not that big of a deal for me, but if I felt like having a soda, a coke, and they only had Pepsi, I would pass and get so ething else to drink 95% of the time.

I have never been to an Applebees, and the last time I went to IHOP I was 9 years old. I had planned on continuing this trend because those places are disgusting corporate sh*t. But now I’ll continue to not go there because of the Pepsi thing.

Never been there. I also drink neither brand of cola.

I don’t drink either.

If I ate at either place, I’d welcome the Pepsi. I prefer it to Coke. (I actually don’t drink either anymore, but that’s another issue.)

I like both, so the change makes no difference.

I wonder if companies do this purely on a contract negotiation/bid type of decision? Or, if they take into consideration their market demographic?

Usually it boils down to money @JLeslie. Most likely the change occurred after the restaurants were offered major incentive programs from Pepsi co.

This is often the case with school vending machines. Pepsi will come in and offer a certain amount of funds to the football team or the overall sports budget if all Coke products are removed from the premises.

It happens a lot in Nascar, as well. There it’s even more overt. They might offer a significant deal behind the scenes to a chain that is also supporting the team.

I’m not a fan of Applebees and I haven’t been in an IHOP in about 10 years, so a non-issue for me. I’m more concerned about not buying the red bug juice that Starbucks was using to color their strawberry frappacinos.

People base their dining habits on the brand of soft drink available?

@SpatzieLover That’s what I figure, but I wonder if part of the presentation is Pepsi also presenting demographic information? I wonder if my husband knows? He worked for Pepsi for a while.

@GladysMensch It’s similar to people choosing where to dine based on whether they serve alcohol or not. Brand loyalty can be very strong among soda drinkers. But, I do think most people don’t do it, but there is a percentage like my mom, and other people I know. The soda completes the meal, makes it more enjoyable.

@JLeslie I’m sure demographics come into play. However, I’d bet that food products are at hand in these restaurants. Pepsi and Coke have some interesting companies. Pepsi owns Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Aunt Jemima, etc. All of those name brands will most likely be on the menu of at least iHop.

Considering how many tradespeople are MountainDew addicts, and begin their day not with a coffee but with one or two Dews, I can see this being a lucrative deal for iHop.

@SpatzieLover Isn’t Mountain Dew a Pepsi product?

@SpatzieLover As one of those Mountain Dew addicts (Diet Mountain Dew to be specific), I’ve found that few places serve my drug of choice. I fail to understand how these corporate hacks don’t know that Diet Coke is infinitely better than Diet Pepsi, yet Diet Mountain Dew trumps them all.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for DMD #3.

What Applebees and IHOP do doesn’t affect me at all. I plan to never eat there again if I can help it.
That said, people have strong preferences when it comes to Coke and Pepsi. I won’t drink Pepsi. I think changing brands will affect their profits.

@JLeslie Yes, Dew is a Pepsi product. That’s why I think the switch to Pepsi will be lucrative, especially for iHop.

Nope, because I don’t eat at either place and I don’t drink either soda.

@SpatzieLover Oh, I had misread your comment, I thought you were saying they would lose some of the MD drinkers. I agree with you then. Back in the day Pepsi (comparing the dark colas) had a larger market share among minorities, and working class, but that may have changed in the last 20 years. I have no idea how it breaks down now. Pepsi had a history making black sales team back in the late 40’s, which promoted its presence in black communities, and helped Pepsi gain market share.

The change won’t stop us from going to either place because there are many other things we like to drink in addition to diet coke. I usually get iced tea when we are out anyway because I don’t really like fountain sodas much.

Well, I don’t know. Will there be liquor in the Pepsi?

I haven’t been to IHOP in about 25 years. Applebees, I may go to about once every two years if there’s nothing else around, or if I’m with someone who wants to go there. I would never choose Applebee’s on my own, if there were other choices available. So no, it won’t make me go there any less because I already go there “almost never.”

When I order soda, which is rare lately, it’s Coke. But I don’t eat at either of those restaurants so I guess it doesn’t really matter. We make better food at home.

I consider Applebee’s to be “a step above McDonalds.”

@jca I prefer McDonalds. I am dead serious. I have a girlfriend who takes her clients out to lunch, and always lets them choose, and when they pick Applebee’s she always texts me. We both are stunned anyone chooses to eat there. If it is the only game in town I can understand, but that is not the case where she makes her sales calls.

hmmm….I don’t eat at either of those and I don’t drink Coke or Pepsi.
Maybe it’s me, but I just don’t get why some peole run their lives based on their stomachs. (unless it is a medical reason)

Eitherway, it should not matter as you are going their for the food.

Nope I go to IHOP for the pancakes and waffles not the soda!

If I ate at either place, maybe. I’m a Sprite drinker, but will settle for Sierra Mist in a pinch. However, not every place that sells Pepsi products even offers Sierra Mist, and they seem to think that Mountain Dew is an acceptable substitute (Hint: Sprite and Sierra Mist are caffeine-free, while MD is loaded with it). In those cases, I’ve been known to sneak in my own Sprite. Shhhh.

Never been to either of those places. But even if I did, no. Coke and Pepsi taste the same to me, pretty much. And even if those weren’t available, I’d drink something else. I’m really not picky. And fuck those big ass corporations anyways, they’re obviously responsible for terrorism and breast cancer.

I -Hop is expensive as hell for what you get. So we do breakfast elsewhere, and Applebees is just another yuppy hotspot like Outback, Red Lobster, etc. Anyway I drink iced Tea wherever we go out. Golden Coral also blows. It’s not expensive but the overcrowding and noise there will give me a dose of heartburn and a case of the ass.

@Symbeline we have similar tastes in ass, whoda thunk?

Oh god I can’t imagine caring even the slightest.

No, we don’t have IHOPs or Applebees here, and even if we did, I never drink either coke or pepsi, or any other kind of pop so it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

I guess if I was a big soda drinker I might also consider eating at Crapplebees or I Slop, but I’d rather make a PBandJ at home to be honest. I don’t drink much soda so it wouldn’t occur to me to wonder what brand a restaurant would serve. We pick restaurants based on the food. And maybe the martini selection.

Whilst I usually ask for a Coke when at a restaurant I can’t really tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi so it wouldn’t cause me to change my dining habits. That’s not even news worthy in my opinion!

I wish we had IHOP over here, I went to one in San Diego and loved it!

The ihop here has been serving pepsi for a while now. I remember only because I have a friend who always orders diet coke then switches to water when they say “is diet pepsi ok?”

It wouldn’t change my restaurant preferences at all. I choose based on the food. I don’t tend to remember which type of soda each restaurant serves anyway.