But we're the crazy ones for saying greed is fueling the affordability crisis.
Most of the cost tied up in a drink is in all the overhead, infrastructure, and service. The actual liquid is inexpensive. That's why you can get a 2-liter at the grocery cheaper than a 20 fluid ounce (about a half-liter) at the gas station: the inexpensiveness of the liquid means they can shift prices where they charge more for the 20 fluid ounce version because people are willing to pay more for it due to its greater portability compared to the 2-liter even though from a materials perspective the 2-liter being cheaper is ludicrous. And that's part of why Coca Cola and PepsiCo are filthy rich.
I've always thought from an environmental perspective the best thing you could do is sell the syrup directly to customers as they do to restaurants and gas stations and everyone makes their own soda with their water (be a higher-quality version of Kool-Aid, do kids still make Kool-Aid anymore?). You would get rid of the bottling plant expense and it would also get rid of all these single-use plastics. However, the reason that doesn't happen is it would probably kill these companies' profit margins.
I think this is more about general health of the restaurant business being poor instead of sodas. I feel like restaurants have never really recovered from Covid, and food price inflation for what they buy has hardly been great for them. Red Lobster for example are on the verge of bankruptcy and unexpectedly closed 80 franchise locations nationally on Monday with no warning.
