For people dissatisfied with the four or five soda choices at a typical restaurant or convenience store soda fountain, a new Coca-Cola machine is a dream come true.

The new Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers offer more than 100 flavors from a single machine - from Coke to root beer to lemonade - but also allows for unlimited blending of those flavors. Want a raspberry Coke mixed with peach Fanta and grape Vault? Hard to say what that would taste like, but the point is it can be done.

A more predictable choice might be to mix orange Fanta with vanilla Coke. The only drinks excluded are creme sodas.

The machines, now being installed in 29 North Florida Firehouse Subs restaurants owned by the Jacksonville-based chain, contain multiple products from under the Coca-Cola Co. corporate umbrella - some not readily found elsewhere in Jacksonville. It uses customized technology and highly concentrated flavoring ingredients that together blend the beverages inside the machine, on demand, as users press touch-screen logos. The beverage is then dispensed into the customer's waiting cup.

Those machines will be the first in the Jacksonville area, said Firehouse spokeswoman Cecily Sorensen.

Firehouse Subs CEO Don Fox said the chain's experience with the machines began in September 2009 in three restaurants in Atlanta - the corporate home of Coca-Cola.

"We had great success with it," he said. "The restaurants had increased customer traffic."

And the number of people who paid for a drink with their sandwiches went up as well, he said. Before the machines were installed, 68 percent of customers bought a beverage with their sandwiches. The Freestyle machines pushed those numbers up to 75 percent, he said.

Fox said the three Firehouse Subs restaurants in the test were all franchisee-owned, and all three expressed interest in signing a lease with the beverage companies to keep their machines in their stores.

The success was so great in those three restaurants, Fox said, the decision to enter into a $250,000 agreement with Coca-Cola to install the machines in the 25 corporate-owned restaurants in the Jacksonville area and four others in Gainesville and Ocala was an easy one to make.

"We're rolling into all the restaurants this month," he said.

The first three went into Firehouse Subs locations in the chain's Julington Creek, Mandarin, and San Marco restaurants last week; in the coming week 10 more are receiving the new machines, Sorensen said.

Fox said the company will watch the sales numbers after the one-year market test and then decide whether the lease and maintenance agreement should be renewed. He said the company's management expects the business increases to be even better in Jacksonville than in Atlanta.

At least one restaurant manager, Earl Campbell, who manages the Firehouse Subs at 1949-1 San Marco Blvd., said customer response has been great in the early going. Campbell said he thinks there's already been an increase in business.

"I think they should call it 'Choices,'" he said.

Bishop Kenny student Lindsay Self, 16, waited to fill her cup at the machine Friday. This was the third time she'd visited and used the new machine in the week since the machine has been installed, she said.

"It's really cool," she said. "It has so many flavors, you don't always have to drink the same thing."

kevin.turner@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4609

Coca-Cola Freestyle Flavors

Coca-Cola

Coca-ColaCherry CokeCoke with LimeVanilla CokeRaspberry CokeOrange Coke

Diet Coke

Diet CokeDiet Cherry CokeDiet Coke with LimeDiet Vanilla CokeRaspberry Diet CokeOrange Diet Coke

Coca-Cola Zero

Coca-Cola ZeroVanilla Coke ZeroCherry Coke Zero

Caffeine-Free Diet Coke

Caffeine-free Diet Cherry CokeCaffeine-free Diet CokeCaffeine-free Diet Coke with LimeCaffeine-free Diet Coke with OrangeCaffeine-free Diet Raspberry CokeCaffeine-free Diet Vanilla Coke

Sprite

SpriteSprite with CherrySprite with GrapeSprite with PeachSprite with RaspberrySprite with Strawberry

Sprite Zero

Sprite ZeroSprite Zero with CherrySprite Zero with GrapeSprite Zero with PeachSprite Zero with RaspberrySprite Zero with Strawberry

Vault

VaultVault Red BlitzGrape VaultOrange VaultPeach Vault

Barq's

Barq'sDiet Barq's

Pibb

Pibb XtraPibb Zero

Dasani

Dasani with CherryDasani with GrapeDasani with LemonDasani with LimeDasani with OrangeDasani with PeachDasani with RaspberryDasani with Strawberry

Dasani Sensations

Dasani Sensations - CherryDasani Sensations - GrapeDasani Sensations - LemonDasani Sensations - LimeDasani Sensations - OrangeDasani Sensations - PeachDasani Sensations - RaspberryDasani Sensations - Strawberry

Fanta

Fanta CherryFanta Fruit PunchFanta GrapeFanta LimeFanta OrangeFanta PeachFanta RaspberryFanta Strawberry

Fanta Zero

Fanta Zero CherryFanta Zero Fruit PunchFanta Zero GrapeFanta Zero LimeFanta Zero OrangeFanta Zero PeachFanta Zero RaspberryFanta Zero Strawberry

Hi-C

Hi-C CherryHi-C Fruit PunchHi-C GrapeHi-C OrangeHi-C RaspberryHi-C Strawberry

Minute Maid

Minute Maid Cherry LemonadeMinute Maid LemonadeMinute Maid Light Cherry LemonadeMinute Maid Light LemonadeMinute Maid Light Orange LemonadeMinute Maid Light Raspberry LemonadeMinute Maid Light Strawberry LemonadeMinute Maid Orange LemonadeMinute Maid Raspberry LemonadeMinute Maid Strawberry Lemonade

Powerade

Powerade ION4 Fruit PunchPowerade ION4 GrapePowerade ION4 LemonPowerade ION4 LimePowerade ION4 OrangePowerade ION4 RaspberryPowerade ION4 CherryPowerade ION4 Strawberry

Powerade Zero

Powerade Zero CherryPowerade Zero Fruit PunchPowerade Zero GrapePowerade Zero LemonPowerade Zero LimePowerade Zero OrangePowerade Zero RaspberryPowerade Zero Strawberry

Source: Coca-Cola Co. Freestyle Facebook page