"The problem is the ice-" Me who never gets ice: HA

If MatPat told me that I wasn’t real, I would believe him

Another factor (one that is a company secret.) is what’s the soda water to syrup ratio. Most restaurants just have a large bottle of soda water that the dispenser mixes with syrup to make the soda and the ratio can be adjusted.

Well two years later after this video McDonald's does not have large drinks for a buck anymore

I’m pretty sure Diet Coke hasn’t sponsored you yet because they realized “why pay him when he’s already doing enough promoting for us for free”

Everyone: Refills their cup once Matpat: Refills his cup once, drinks 1/10 of it, then refills again

For the USA - McDonald’s should be updated now because the $1.00 was a “limited time” deal that they did for like 5 years. It sure was a long limited time!

I also think the mcd strategy is that instead of people getting water cups and filling it with soda instead, they offer the soda cheaper just because of how profitable it is. In any case, it doesn't solve people bringing in old cups.

"If you're not getting at least three refills before you leave the restaurant, then what are you doing with yourself?" -Matpat

“I can write off all this Diet Coke as a business expense.” This video is the reason MatPat created Food Theory. The rest has all been a ploy.

This is why you either get the drink yourself (inside) or in some cases, ask for no ice. Whether the volumes are different, sometimes if you ask for no ice, if they're nice enough they'll fill it up to the top with just soda and you may be getting anextra 4-6 oz of sode as some will put excessive amounts of ice in the larger cups to make up for it. The advantage of in-door dining where you get it yourself though is you can refill as much as you want (at least in the US in many chains, I heard that in other countries, this is not allowed).

I honestly love how much work matpat puts into his videos on film theory game theory style theory and food theory!

one burger king cashier be like: "Oh god, what have I done to the company."

Plot twist: He started the food theory channel just so he could buy all the Diet Coke he would ever need just for soda videos

“Feel free to run these calculations on your own” me dunking my hand directly into my drink in the drive through at the 5th McDonald’s in my area

Would love an updated list

Mat Pat proceeded to buy a lifetime supply of Diet Coke and mark it all as “business expenses”

Ok. But now I need a “What’s the best burger to get for the most amount of meat” video to complete the fast food trifecta.

Would love to see this now that mcD no longer prices everything at a dollar. They’ve gotten quit expensive in their soft drink price.

never order a medium at Wendy’s unless u want a Home Depot bucket full

"The problem is the ice" Me who never gets ice: they called me a madman

"One large coke, no ice" And just like that, BK is now bankrupt.

I've always ordered light ice. Especially when you get like a tea at McDs and 80% of the cup is ice then end up finishing the thing in like 12 sips.

I wish there was more fast food optimization videos like this one the fries, the chicken sandwiches, and the pizza

In Germany, Restaurants have to fill up the amount of drink that’s written on the cup first, then add ice. It’s that simple ^^

never thought this channel might help me on a school project. you are now officially an education channel

The way Mat feels about diet coke is the same to me about many cherri soda. ITS JUST SO GOOOD

I nearly always ask for no ice when i get drinks. Cuz every drink u get from a soda fountain is already ice cold when it comes out anyways (this does not apply to those iced tea dispensers some places have fwi cuz those are always warm without ice) and i usually finish the drinks before theyd even have a chance to warm up anyways

*up next: Never Order Anything From Anywhere!*

"A 1000% markup" Ps5 Scalpers: finally, a worthy opponent!

im all ready subbed my guy

Ive always order my drinks from any restaurant with no ice and if i fill it myself as much as possible to maximize drink even at the speedway gas station where a XXL is less than 2$ where as a 20 oz is roughly 25 cent more, yet half the size of a XXL

"If I wanted to Drink a watered down Diet Coke I would have ordered a Diet Pepsi" MatPat 2020

Mattpatt: “you’ll need to refill 17x to get your money’s worth” Me: “guess it’s time to say goodbye to my teeth”

Notoriously the McDonald’s in my area PACK the drinks with ice so I was shocked by your results. Granted I am very picky and don’t go to many other fast food restaurants but it was surprising to me by your results and makes me wonder about the rest of my fast foods in my area

i feel like a lot of people don't know this, but some mcdonalds (such as the one i work at) use soda machines that automatically dispense the soda and ice we don't fill it ourselves

Friends and Family: "Why do you not like a lot of ice in your drink?" Me: This vid.

“If I wanted watered down Diet Coke I would’ve ordered Diet Pepsi” *Good thing there’s so much ice for that 3rd degree burn*

I would like to point out that if you want to avoid getting tricked by fast food restaurants and movie theaters, don't get the medium regardless. Companies like this want to price the medium and large sizes very close to each other making you think "Well the medium is almost as much as the large, I should just get the large since it's a better bang for your buck." I say if you want to not be tricked into getting a larger cup without spending more money, go with the small because with the rate that's going right now the "small" might actually be as big as a "large" in some places.

To be fair, if you're going by "How many refills does it take to break even." Ice isn't really a factor after the first fill. After that, you're in control of how much ice you want when you fill it at the soda dispenser.

Matt is a versatile man: he cries both for charity and for diet coke

Starbucks lucked out on being left out on this one, considering all the iced drinks are about half ice. -A Starbucks Barista

The thing about McDonalds, is that (at least at the drive-thru) they have a robot that handles the drink. This means that regardless of the other factors, it's going to be consistent & not dependent on the staff. In the dining room, about half the time, they will give you the large cup - regardless of what size you order, unless you specifically say "Small". (in which case, you'll often still get a medium cup)

Post-mix drinks are the same theory as a soda stream. In New Zealand, the soft drink at KFC they give you a can of drink. I'm pretty sure that when you ask for a small, medium, or large, the machine only fills up the cup to what size button you press ( eg, small for the small sized cup). Sometimes, the drink flavor to the soda water hasn't mixed, and your drink ended up tasting more like soda water than the drink flavor you had chosen. I do prefer the to get my drink in either a can or bottle, then Post-mix drinks.

“If I wanted a watered down Diet Coke I would’ve ordered Diet Pepsi” *bruh*

I've noticed this since I was like 13 this is why I ask for no ice. I am so happy you made this video!

now that its 3 years later and everything is open again, would you consider doing the experiment again with all of the fast foods?

you’re my second favorite channel 1st being film theory

Employee: sees matpat immediately separating the ice from the soda *chuckles* "We're in danger..."

I'm curious, why would anyone choose to buy a $1 small when there's a $1 large at McDonalds? [ btw. Wendy's fries are my favorites ]

That 1 dollar drink pricing from McDonalds is only in the summer menu. Big secret of McDonalds drinks is that they already water down the drink by reducing the amount of syrup from the box the machine is allowed to give out vs water in the syrup. Its downstairs in the drink station dispenser with all the coke boxes that the syrup comes from and this machine makes a lot of compressor noises and each restaurant has this drink machine. I used to do maintenance on this drink dispenser machines.

2:13 I used to work as a shift manager at a pizzeria, and while we sold large fountain drinks for $1.99 back then, the actual food cost was a mere 10¢. This includes the cost for the paper goods - the single-color 32oz paper cup, plastic lid and straw, as well as the syrup, water, carbon dioxide, and ice. Hence, we managers were given a LOT of leeway to offer drinks to guests on the house while they wait for their take-out orders. Even when someone showed up very early for their pizza, and even said "Sorry I'm here so early, I know I just called it in 5 minutes ago", we would still just practically hand them out free soda, because the now-increased potential for their return business was absolutely worth more to us than a 10¢ soda! 10¢ was our food cost for a single soda, and the majority of that cost actually goes into the paper goods. For comparison, a kid's drink comes in a small 12oz cup, but because it has quite a few different colors on it, it costs a lot more to produce. Therefore, the food cost of a kid's drink was actually 39¢! Which is also why when people asked for just a cup for water, and started instinctively reaching for the kid's cup, we stopped them and instead either offered them an 8oz plastic up, or a 32oz medium cup. Also, for the reasons mentioned above, I absolutely do NOT respect places which do not offer free refills, especially ones which charge more than $2.50, even $3+ for a fountain drink. And even worse is when this happens at a sit-down restaurant which uses reusable cups, because there is NO paper goods cost other than the straw!

MatPat: writes off Diet Coke as a business expense The IRS: uhh...

Food Theory: Soda or pop? Half of the south: It's all coke.

As someone who worked at Sonic for about a month, we’re told to fill our cups with ice to the halfway point in most, if not all of our sizes, including the Route 44, which is the largest sized drink you can get there

Well, atleast for Burger King here in Brazil, customers are given free access to the soda fountain which resides outside the kitchen( you just need to have the cup and the receipt in your hands), so we are always getting our medium cups filled properly

“If you’re not getting out at least three free refills before you leave the restaurant, then what are you doing with yourself?” Good point.

I love how most of this channel is basically the most efficient way to get diabetes.

many burger king around where i live do they have the soft drink fountain accessible to customers to self-fill, however burger king does not have the fountain drink machine out for self serve in a city as their suburban franchisee stores

This is why I order my drinks with no ice because it's already really cold when it comes out of the fountain and I hate drinking water down drinks because ice itself flattens it out and you don't get much drink in the cup

Finally, a full-on study that I can show to my friends and family that proves why you always should refill before leaving the store!

The biggest life hack is that KFC has a hidden soda size: The bucket.

It’s pop when it’s from a can and when you open it it makes the pop sound it’s soda when it comes from a dispenser

used to call it pop cause I'm Canadian but I thought this, why do we call it pop? it's not exploding, it's a carbonated drink, so I nowadays say soda cause more accurate

Fast Food in MatPat's area are probably like: "Oh hey it's that food theory guy." "Yeah, the food theory guy was just here, what did he buy?"

"Taco bell has the least cost effective soft drinks" Movie theaters: Hold my Cola

As a New Englander. Pop sounds weird. But at least we can allll agree that calling every soda Coke is wrong

I noticed at the BK I recently started going to would fill my cup to the top with ice, then pour the coke in. I hardly had any liquid to drink. Of course it pissed me off, so now, every time I go there, I make sure to tell them just a little ice. And they comply to my request.

How about a “theory” about why fountain soda, bottle soda and can soda all taste different.

“Thats how i bankrupted a Pizza Hut” -Homer Simpson

When i worked at mcdonalds they said not to fill an order of a drink for no ice to the top, they have a button that measures the pop and you tell the customer wether they want ice or not policy is to give them the amount of soda the machine spits out. This wasnt universal as ive been to others where they would fill it to the top but that location did do that. A wendys i was at also did the same thing. You get about 2inches of empty space in the top of your cup with no ice.

Me who doesn’t drink soda: “this is valuable information”

As a McDonald’s employee these results make me very happy lol

all of this, just to be destroyed by one request when making an order. "can I get my soda without ice?"

Wait cant you just order without ice? Here in my country they normally ask you if you want ice inside and in most cases if its not flaming hot outside they dont even put ice in

Wendy's employee here, we have different buttons for each size drinks, and we add ice to fill the cups.

Me: rarely eats fast food Food theory: burger kings cups are the same Me: HmMm SoUnDS InteREstInG

Don't ever buy a soda at Subway. They charge $2.49 for a 20 ounce drink. McDonalds only charges $1.29.

My friend was working a solo shift at a mcdonalds one high school summer, so I went there, got a small cup, and then we spent 1.5 hours filling up 2 massive containers with soda. We then brought it to a party.

“If I wanted a watered down Diet Coke I would of ordered Diet Pepsi” dang bro shots fired

The reason this channel exists is so that at the end, we can say, "Wow, I never knew!" Keep up the good work!

Further reinforces my always ordering soda with no ice

Thing is, if you ask for no ice, a lot of restaurants have a mechanically-determined level of ice and a mechanically-determined level of soda which is delivered at the push of a button. If you take out the ice, it will then be on the employee to add the other 2 gallons of soda to make up for the missing ice. You will probably have to prompt them to add more soda.

Can we just take a minute to appreciate the intro? I could rewatch it a million times and still notice something new.

"If I wanted a watered down diet coke I would have ordered a diet Pepsi okay?" SHOTS FIREEDDD

The Refill Challenge bg music was nice.

Here in Belgium you just get an empty cup, and you may refill as much as you want at BK.

Food theory: the ice is screwing you over for you money Anyone with common sense: asks for no ice

Matt: “and to all of you in the comment section who say pop, you have my full support” Me: “what about bubbly syrup juice?”

My wife likes the ice most eating out. Our town has hard water which makes lousy ice. Therefore she drinks mainly McDonald’s unsweetened iced tea, with as much ice as possible (even customizing for extra ice).

When I was a teen the mcdonalds in town would NOT provide a drink without. It didn't matter how much you complained or begged they ALWAYS added ice no matter what.

The real food theory: MatPat made this whole channel so he could have Diet Coke be a business expense write off.

"if I wanted a watered-down diet coke I would've bought a diet Pepsi" Pepsi: I was murdered

There is another variable. Afaik, fountain drinks are mixing some concentrate soda with water. So its not only the ice melting that lessens the flavor.

as someone who used to work in the food industry, the amount of ice i add in a cup is fully just based on my mood at that particular second

*Thousands of people fighting over if its Pop or Soda Me, an Intellectual: Nectar of the gods

Plot twist: Matpat created this channel just to get massive amounts of diet coke, so he can write them off as expense repots.

My Burger King has a fountain so I decided how much ice is in it. If ordering at the drive through you can ask any place for light ice.

when im actively drinking it during a conversation where i refer to my drink i say pop but if im just talking about it in general i tend to say soda. dont know why, probably cause ive lived with 2 families one said pop one said soda

«Soda» people: «Pop» people: «Soda pop» people: Texans: "...coke"