, 1888-09-20

Money in the Business-How Good
Syrups Are Made-The 'Foam"-Float-
ing Island.
he was a pleasant looking young man,
with a well trained bang and a set of stock
smiles-sympathetic, questioning, confden-
tial and deprecatory-that would have done
credit to an emotional actress. Taken alto
gether, a superior person. He is the presid-
ing genius of a 5000 soda fountain, and
what he does not know about soft drinks is
as yet undiscovered.
1.-THE soda water business is better than a
gold mine this year, said he. "Never be-
fore have carbonated beverages been so pop
ular. See that man there filling up on
Vichy wateri That's his tenth glass for to-
day. You see the carbonic acid habit gets
as firm a hold on its victim as does the alco-
hol habit or smoking. Not generally known,
but it's a fact. If we once succeed in Turing
a man within our doors he's gone for the sea-
son. This it is that makes the business good
this year. Heretofore we've only had the
women. They're all right, but speaking can
didly, they don't like to spend much money
on such intangible stuff as froth. It's differ
emit with the men. Take that young fellow
who has just called for a phosphate and egg;
this liquor will cost him So or So daily, so
he regards fifty cents worth of soda water as
a mere bagatelle. His sister now, I'll war;
rant, thinks herself extravaganza If she drinks
one, or expends one-half of that sum on sum-
mer beverages. 1t is peculiar to notice the
way in which a man accustoms himself to
the soda habit. Take the steady consumers
of mineral water for example. They will
on a glass a day, nominally for
the sake of their digestion, and end by co.,
ing into the store every chance they get.
BIG MONEY IN IT.
"Much money in It'll Yes, young man, an
income that would make the owners of some
first class hotel bars turn green with envy.
One of the large drug stores pays its rent and
clerk hire out of the profits from its soda
fountain, and has a large balance left. Ono
thousand two hundred glasses per day is per-
haps the best business lone in this city. This
includes all sorts of soft drinks and half a
dozen semi hard ones, as soda with a dash of
spirits of some kind in it. It's safe to say, /
think, that 100000 people In this city pa
tronize a soda fountain every day of their
lives. This must be so, because there are
over 600 fountains in this city kept busy
during the warm weather months. OF course
the number of the all-the-year-round foun-
tains is much less.
soda water, as you may happen to know,
is nothing but pure water heavily charged
with carbonic acid gas. When properly
made it is the best and healthiest hot weather
uillh hlOWl- 1uLS Is when IL Is taken pain
as it comes from the fount. When mixed
with syrups of greater or lesser degree of
purity its effects on the system is q matter of
doubt.
There is a lot of hocus-pocus about the
business. Watch that blonde junior of rhine
draw the glass of vanilla and ice cream he's
fixing for that 8 o'clock young lady. First
he put in the glass an ounce or so of syrup,
heavy, rich looking stuff, then he dashes in
a thimbleful of cream, then a dab of ice
cream, and now watch him manipulate the
faucet; he's an expert, is that young man;
you observe, the maximum of flzzy and foam
with the minimum of soda. There isn't in
that large glass, that will hold %two-thirds of
a pint, over two gills of soda water. But the
foam is there, rich creamy foam that looks
hard enough to stand alone and thick enough
to eat with a fork.
A RICH, TEAM FOAM.
This effect does not all come from the dis.
pcnsing. Good syrups are made in this ways:
To the mixture Of plain sugar and water,
clarified with sizing of some sort, is added an
antiseptic to keep the stuff from fermenting.
This is usually ~salicylic acid, which is q very
good thing for the purpose. Next the flavor
ing extract is mixed with the syrup. The
other ingredient is a small percentage of a
preparation sold by the dealers called
foam This is nothing more than clarified
gum arabic dissolved in water, clean muci-
lage, in fact. The object of this is to give
body to the mixture OF soda and syrup, so
that bubbles of gas raised on the surface of
the liquid will not subside. This practice is
all right, because the public demand q rich,
creamy foam, and it is to be obtained in no
other way. But it doubles the profit on a
glass of soda water.
ITO satisfy an absurd prejudice crushed
fflyft gNrups hpya cnU,p in NJ, w. t,1,.
n lot of fresh Observation-Disclosures black
berries, raspberries, or Notwithstanding
crush EN- and mix the mass with syrup. A
- modicum of this is ladled into a glass, which
is filed with soda. A moro insipid mixture
cannot be imagined. The flavor of fresh
fruit is too delicate to be retained under such
circumstances and the essential oils used in
making the essences from which regular
syrups are concocted are fully as healthful,
when used, rs they are, in small quantities,
Us are the juices of fresh fruit.
The application of u spoonful of ice cream
TO n glass of soda has pSoved the most sue
cessful innovation of years. Never before,
since 1882, when first used this way, has soda
water with u floating island in the center of
the glass been SO popular. 1t has a sugges-
ton of n hot oyster with every drink about
it that is captivating. 1t seems to be a
bonus and that's taking. Convince the people
that they're getting something for nothing
and you'll have 'em around you in focks.
The ice cream used for this purpose is flavor
less, and as 4 little of 1t goes a great way in
n glass of soda, the chestnut Photographer to
the contrary Notwithstanding, a skinful dis
peuser can sell the mixture for five cents a
glass, although almost all the downtown
places charge either eight or ten cents. ~
Chicago Inter Ocean.