McDonald’s Has Bigger Plans For Fountain Drinks Than We Expected

Earlier this year, the McDonald’s Worldwide Convention took place in Las Vegas. While the main stage was packed with keynote speeches from executives within the McDonald’s ecosystem and beyond, the show floor featured plenty of innovations in contention for nationwide release.

Over the event’s four days, dozens of drink concepts were available for sampling. Thanks to McDonald’s franchise owner @McFranchisee, we got an inside look at the different ways McDonald’s wants to elevate what you get from the soda fountain. Here’s a rundown of every dirty, handcrafted, international, and infused soda variation we could find.

Global Fountain Drinks

In addition to the rotating list of specialty beverages offered at the McCafe booth, Coca-Cola’s booth had their own slate of drinks available at McDonald’s locations around the globe. While most of these are familiar to us here in the States, a few are worth a closer look.

Fanta Zero Sugar: Our franchisee source stated this international version of Fanta Zero Sugar is far preferable to the full-sugar version available to domestic McDonald’s restaurants. If the brand swapped over, this would be the first non-caffeinated sugar-free beverage on tap at the McDonald’s fountain.

Lemon Citron Fuze Iced Tea: Fuze’s citrus iced tea is reportedly doing huge numbers in Canada as a fountain drink offering. (Do they not have standalone iced tea dispensers like we do up there?)

Fanta Draganta: This is something of a mystery. Fanta Draganta is purportedly an international McDonald’s offering, but I can’t find any details on it having been sold before. That said, the similarly named Fanta Dragonata was allegedly based on a mixture of dragon fruit and mango.

Sakura X Sprite Zero Sugar: This fizzy take on the iconic Japanese flavor has reached multiple countries as part of the World Heist Menu promotion, but the Las Vegas event was the stateside debut for Sakura X Sprite Zero Sugar.

Coca-Cola Creamy Strawberry: This Canadian take on Dirty Coca-Cola goes the strawberry route for flavoring, rather than coconut or lime. Place your bets now on whether this concept will replace Coca-Cola Cherry Float in 2027.

Dr Pepper Innovations

Lastly, Dr Pepper also had their own small yet mighty presence at the show. The former underdog showcased two frozen innovations alongside the Dirty Dr Pepper available now at McDonald’s locations nationwide.

Dr Pepper Shake: Per @McFranchisee, the Dr Pepper Shakes were the most talked about beverage at the whole event. Chains like Whataburger have offered Dr Pepper Shakes for years now, but McDonald’s would certainly be a step up in visibility for the idea.

Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut Shake: Last but certainly not least, the Dr Pepper booth also sampled a summery variant of their Dr Pepper shake. I was lucky enough to try this at the National Restaurant Association Expo earlier this year and this tropical coconut treat is truly something special.

Photos: @McFranchisee