patrick.net

Regarding this company, the syrup might have more potential than the fizz. In America, supermarkets stock whole shelves of fruit juice "from concentrate" (mostly H2O), but they don't sell the concentrate (except FCOJ in the freezer section). In other countries, supermarkets sell the concentrate, which customers can store at room temperature. Better brands specify the brix or the fruit % (e.g., "97% fruit"). That's a much more efficient system compared to packaging and selling mostly H2O on American shelves, but the American system allows for more hidden markups: I've noticed American calorie counts dropping slowly, and labels saying "Lite", meaning they're reducing the % of fruit and increasing the % of H2O. The SODA people have a distribution chain that they could use to sell the concentrate that retails in other countries but not here.

Otherwise, making the H2O fizzy doesn't really add value IMO. Kids within a narrow age range might enjoy the increased flatulence (and apparently in Reseda even some of the adults can't think of anything better to do), but the acidity and increased carbon footprint tend usually to become less popular with adults. In beer and hard cider, CO2 is a byproduct of the fermentation process, but not the point; wine usually sells for more.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ymORCbgSyEA

you can buy 12 pack of coke or pepsi for 2 $. 16 cent/ can with exact flavor. they also use purified water.

Making your soda sounds fun but not cost effective yet.

I am trying to find any upcoming technologies that have growth of ^ 20 % /yr, for next 3 yrs. 3D printing was dud. lost some money on it.

curious2 says

making the H2O fizzy doesn't really add value IMO

it does add value for us though. we like plain fizzy water, and don't want to buy it or carry it home. sodastream also makes it more cheaply than buying it, about 25c / liter.

15.77 Down 0.06(0.38%) 9:48AM EDT - Nasdaq Real Time Price

What's BDS??

SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) -NasdaqGS
13.43 Down 1.60(10.62%) 9:53AM EDT - Nasdaq Real Time Price

Nobody wants that wildly overpriced appliance!

SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) -NasdaqGS
15.25 Down 1.37(8.22%) 10:20AM EST - Nasdaq Real Time Price

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sodastream-earnings-line-fx-hits-142002790.html
SodaStream International Ltd. SODA reported adjusted earnings (excluding restructuring costs) of 22 cents per share in the third quarter of 2015 which were in-line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Earnings, however, plunged 51% year over year due to lower sales and margins.

Adjusted earnings of the Israel-based manufacturer of household soda machines exclude restructuring costs related to the growth plan. Including the costs, earnings came in at 11 cents, much less than 45 cents a year ago.

Total revenue was $110.0 million which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $114 million by 3.5% and declined 13% year over year.

Now they are shrinking their syrup bottles:

zzyzzx says

Now they are shrinking their syrup bottles:

geez, as if that stuff costs anything at all to make. prolly 2 cents per bottle.

anonymous says

Want to make your own fresh Coca-Cola at home?

yep, nothing quite so refreshing as a fresh coca cola. Sounds healthy too.Win-win!

Obligatory:

zzyzzx says

What's BDS??

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: an anti-Israel campaign to punish Israeli companies, e.g. SODA. It has the vehement support of Muslim and some Christian groups.

the appropriate response might be a counter-bds campaign.

i guess everyone would lose, but the richest people/organizations/countries would lose the least.

bds is really about imposing political correctness via economics.

We actually own some stock, couple of thousand not much. However, we also bought their machine, I think it's awesome. Their flavors are terrible though, have to make your own right now. But if they figure that part out, they'll make a killing.

Attention Soda Stream:

A new bill in the Illinois Senate is taking aim at soda drinkers.

Senate Bill 9, proposed as the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Act, would place a penny-per-ounce tax on bottled sugar-sweetened beverages, syrups or powders sold or offered for sale to a retailer for sale to a consumer.

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-senate-proposes-statewide-tax-on-soda/

#SODA

Finally back in the black with SODA!

I read that they are going back to their fizzy water roots and giving up on sweetened drinks, and that's what's driving the uptick.

I don't see them ever doing better than what they have done. They will be like the millions of Ronco As Seen On TV deals. Seem to good to be true, and some can justify the purchase. But in the end the lack of universal standards will ultimately doom it to fail. Not to say they wont find a new batch of people to buy it. It's more a curiosity that one must buy and buy the stuff to make the sodas about thrice, then put it in the closet to never be seen again until its sold in a garage sale.

My oldest daughter bought our youngest one for Christmas it has already lost its fizz. Neither of them were impressed upon opeing and discovering the process and what is involved.
They did try a different syrup but in the end both gave it the tumbs down and plan on selling it the next garbage sale they host to raise money for some cause.
Personally I don't drink Soda, I'll drink soda water, but not sweetented carbonated beverages.

T L Lipsovich says

Attention Soda Stream:

A new bill in the Illinois Senate is taking aim at soda drinkers.

Senate Bill 9, proposed as the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Act, would place a penny-per-ounce tax on bottled sugar-sweetened beverages, syrups or powders sold or offered for sale to a retailer for sale to a consumer.

Sounds like I need to buy me a shit load of strawberries and sugar and make me some Strawberry Soda Syrup. Figger I can run it boot leg up through Illinois in my Fastback.

Now I'm significantly in the black with SODA. Nice.

And it seems to be a legit rise:

http://finance.yahoo.com/m/9bb1ed23-c235-38ac-8f1f-6685c03a4bcd/ss_sodastream-shares-pop-like-a.html

SodaStream's (SODA) profit tripled in the fourth quarter as the carbonated-beverage device maker easily bested expectations on Wall Street. Diluted earnings rocketed to 71 cents a share from a prior-year profit of 24 cents on 17% revenue growth to $131.8 million, well above analyst views for EPS of 30 cents and revenue of $124.8 million.

Add me to the boycott list.
And the list is growing...

https://www.thenation.com/article/open-letter-to-nfl-players-traveling-to-israel-on-a-trip-organized-by-netanyahus-government/

I would be careful where price is currently....

Sure, there's danger, but that makes it exciting!

And just look at that rollercoaster ride. The changes in momentum are so pretty.

Wow, blowout earnings and a suitable pop in stock price:

Well, it popped up another 9.5% today because Pepsi is buying them.

I guess that's a good outcome, though I won't get to enjoy being right about SODA anymore. I'll just be another Pepsi shareholder, which is not as exciting.

Also nice that it's a no-tax exit.

Oops, maybe it's not a no-tax exit:

PepsiCo will pay $144 per share in cash, representing a 10.9 percent premium to Friday's closing price of SodaStream's U.S.-listed stock and a 32 percent premium to its 30-day average.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pepsico-buy-israels-sodastream-3-062811088.html

On the third hand, I bought it in a 401k rollover, so no tax! At least not until I retire.

#BDSFail

This is a hold for me till coke or Pepsi buys them.

I finally have at least a workable alternative to the very expensive little SodaStream CO2 refill bottles.

I bought a carbonation kit from kegoutlet.com for $246 including shipping. That got me a big canister, pressure regulator, and some tubing. No instructions, but not that hard to figure out. Then I filled the canister at a restaurant supply place around here for $20. That CO2 should last at least a year.

Didn't work well at first, just shooting big bubbles into the water, but after a couple of tweaks it is working well enough. I bought a "diffusion stone" from a brew place in Berkeley for $10 and put it on the end of a hose that goes into the bottle. Now it makes many tiny bubbles which dissolve much better than big bubbles.

So now my process is:
- fill small Perrier bottles with filtered water (I got the small ones because they fit under my kitchen sink tap)
- refrigerate five of those until chilled and keep in the bottle slots in the fridge door (cold water is way easier to carbonate)
- when I want fizzy water, I take one out, put the hose with diffusion stone in, and turn on the CO2 at about 50 psi
- shake the bottle for 30s to one minute to get more fizz going into the water (without that, not good enough)



The shaking part is the only downside. I wish I had a mechanical agitator that could do it for me.

Wife is nervous about the CO2 canister in an earthquake, since it is at 800 psi. So I put it in a box with a bungee cord holding it upright. Should be OK unless the earthquake is really severe.

Old plastic bottles leech chemicals into the water. I'd get rid of plastic and go for SS.

What's SS?

Patrick says

What's SS?

, of course!

PS. Just kidding, it's stainless steel.

SodaStream charges a $14 deposit for each container, but then tries hard to evade paying it back if you want to return an empty:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/23/sodastream-recycling-deposit-refund-cartridge

We had to fight to get our cartridge deposit refunded and it’s not worth the hassle

I have had challenges reclaiming deposits from SodaStream. If you pay a £10 deposit for an online order of a gas cartridge they commit you’ll get it back when you return it empty for recycling. However, on four occasions I have had to chase and in three cases they insisted they did not owe me anything. The latest wrangle went on for several weeks. I use SodaStream to avoid using plastic bottles of sparkling water. But all this hassle is leaving a nasty taste. RZ, Arundel, West Sussex

Glad that I escaped from them and now have my own carbonation setup.

Patrick says

Glad that I escaped from them and now have my own carbonation setup.

I just don't get making shit like this at home? Time is money. You're likely not getting it any cheaper in the long run. I drink a lot of beer. I could brew my own. Not worth it. The cheapest place to buy my beer is 1 minute away. I'm not going to spend my time brewing beer. I'm going to drink beer.

I get it can be a hobby, but it's more expensive to make your own stuff. Mass production is exponentially cheaper than what you can do. Save the time and go for a hike, bike ride, walk, whatever, etc. I don't like wasting time. I do like writing so I'm here a lot. But I'm usually doing something.

We drink a lot of fizzy water, so it's well worthwhile. Went from like $1/liter in the stores to 25 cents/liter with SodaStream, to 5 cents/liter now.

And I enjoy escaping from dependencies, so that's a bonus.

Beer is different, being much harder to make and probably not any cheaper when self-made.

Patrick says

Beer is different, being much harder to make and probably not any cheaper when self-made.

Gardening is about the only thing cheaper doing it on your own. Time is money. You're not factoring that in I think. You're likely over $1 in time per liter. Likely more. If you spend 30 minutes with "brewing" it or whatever it is, if your time is worth $50/hr, you're losing money. Hobby fine, making it cheaper, likely no.

Patrick's method increases the acidity of the water, which is hypothetically good for metabolism and immunity.

Canned stuff has that plastic liner in the cans that can be sources of toxins. They find some way to poison the stuff that is mass produced for consumption.

Right, the CO2 makes carbonic acid. I wasn't thinking of any health benefits though, just the pleasant tingle.

Patrick says

Right, the CO2 makes carbonic acid. I wasn't thinking of any health benefits though, just the pleasant tingle.

Bad for the teeth is what I've heard is all. I've looked it up before and too lazy to do so now. But I've read enough to believe it's not great on teeth. You won't be some redneck missing a tooth, but I've heard it erodes enamel.

I have rocks for teeth, so I don't care. But people with sensitive teeth might have issues. No cavities and only dental work was removing a tooth as a child for braces. I also don't do sugar either. This week is the only time all year for me. I'll take some of the kids candy. My oldest will attempt to hit all 800 residential homes in town. We usually put the year old candy out for Halloween and just say grab what you want. I'm pretty strict on candy as dental bills are mucho expensivo. I've currently got a used car in my kids mouth (braces).... fuck that shit.