The fountain illustrated herewith is located in a city of 25,000 population on a good corner in the shopping district. It is really made up of two apparatuses-the first a twenty-foot double unit, and the second a ten-foot iceless. The two bars are onyx, trimmed with Vermont marble, with the back bar of mahogany and plenty of mirror surface. The outfit cost approximately $9000, and to say that it has proved the wisdom of the expenditure would be putting it mildly.

There are thirty syrup pumps, three each for the more popular syrups. Chocolate syrup is dispensed from silver pitchers, as in this way it is kept in better condition and is always a uniform product. Less commonly called for syrups are kept in dispensing bottles in one of the refrigerators. There are four five-gallon ice-cream cans, six soda draughts, and plenty of refrigeration for bottled goods.

We use silver dishes in every possible way in dispensing, as they are far cheaper in the long run than glass, more easily handled, and

better appreciated by patrons. Their economy is marked-actual trial proves that we are able to buy a new set of silver sundae dishes every season and still operate cheaper than if we had used glass dishes. Our glasses are the thinnest consistent with the use they get, and care is taken that none with chipped edges are served

to customers.

The back bar is largely taken up with shelves for silver dishes, fruit bowls for bananas, eggs, etc., and smaller dishes for sundae dressings. Every dish that we serve from is covered in order that the good art of cleanliness may be impressed on both dispensers and public.

The fountain is iced twice a day, the first thing in the morning and at 6 P.M. All ice is put into the cellar by means of a shoot under the sidewalk. It is then ground in an electric chopper and sent up to the fountain on a dumb waiter in the middle of the back bar. The soda room in the cellar is located directly under the fountain, with the freezer, carbonator, and ice

boxes handily arranged. All the plumbing is carefully watched, and it is of the highest type in regard to sanitation and service.

We are able to pack 60 gallons of ice cream, and this is all frozen in the morning to be ready for the afternoon trade. The filling of the fountain with syrups is also attended to in the morning, so that by noon it is understood that the apparatus is equipped to take care of all the business it is normal to do in the afternoon and evening.

All holders, metal parts, back bar counters. etc., are cleansed at night before closing, and in the morning all glasses, dishes, scoops, etc., are cleansed in hot water. Mirrors and display stands are washed every morning and all purchases for the day made.

QUALITY OF FOUNTAIN PRODUCTS.

Quality is the one big word about our soda fountain, for upon it depends whether ours is to be just an ordinary one or one that people will walk blocks to reach. Everything that we use is the best we can possibly get, and to that fact we lay our remarkable yearly increase in gross sales.

We freeze our own ice cream because we are not able to purchase one as good. It costs us more to produce than the average store pays its wholesaler. Our milk is always sweet and we buy it from the dairyman who can show us the highest test for butter-fat contents and cleanliness. Our coffee syrup is made from the best coffee we can buy in place of the usual extract. All syrup containers are kept as clean as possible, so that they will be worthy of their

contents.

Every dish is first washed in hot water saturated with borax soap chips, rinsed in clean water, and wiped. Every spoon used at our fountain is first washed in the hot soap solution, then sterilized for an hour or more, taken from the sterilizer, wiped with a clean towel and put into a covered spoon holder.

Quality means to us that everything about our fountain must be better than the customer expects, for they are our judges and sentence us to success or failure.

SERVICE.

Service, next to quality, is necessary to make a fountain successful, and by that I mean the unusual services that cost but little and

still are most effective. Every glass served to a lady at our fountain is set in a holder with a quarter-size paper napkin under it to catch the drip. It is a pleasing touch, and many expressions of pleasure over the idea are heard every day. This also keeps the holder cleanthere is nothing more unsightly on a fountain than silver holders caked in syrup.

Spring water is used exclusively, as our city water has a peculiar taste and people are afraid of it. This adds quite a sum to our operating expense in the run of a year, but it has helped build up our business.

All sundaes and plain ice creams are 10 cents, except in cases where a mother asks to have a 5-cent portion served to her child, and we are equally happy to please with a cone or dish as desired. All drinks, as orange phosphate, lemon and lime, etc., are served in 12ounce glasses. In especially warm weather the glass is well filled with chipped ice. We think it better for the guest to have plenty and be satisfied, than to have a man's size thirst aggravated by a child's size drink.

Our soda straws are kept in metal-topped glass jars, and these are always placed in front of the customer and opened when the soda is served.

Banana splits, or banana royals as they are sometimes called, are one of our big numbers, and, in contrast to the usual fountain manner of treating them as a necessary evil, we are always ready to serve them. It is not uncommon for our fountain to use from 100 to 200 bananas a day, and willingness to serve a confection that keeps the people coming to us is simply good business.

A rail, made of two-inch brass pipe standing about 8 inches high and four inches from the counter, acts as a foot-rest for the ladies sitting on the stools. To visitors it is a revelation in fountain comfort.

We try in every way to make it a pleasure for people to come to our fountain, and our little distinctive services help to bring them.

SODA CHECKS.

We do not use any system of checks, as from personal experience most systems are faulty. On each back bar is a cash register, and I know that any losses we may have are negligible when the successful working of our plan of operation is considered. I believe the

system which requires the buying of checks is profit destroying, as the customer might buy a five-cent check, and then decide at the fountain to have a ten-cent drink. Nine times out of ten he will go back to his first choice when shown that he has to buy another check. He is dissatisfied, nevertheless, and dissatisfied patrons are bad.

The system where the check is given after the serving, to be paid at a cashier booth, is better, but if feasible, isn't it best to save the customer all possible bother?

ADVERTISING.

Soda fountain advertising is still in its beginning, and will grow only as stiffer competition opens the eyes of the ordinary soda man to his decreasing sales.

Window strips are very good. The only objection is the similarity of all the strips you see pasted in the different store windows. There is room, in this style of advertising, to show much originality, and perhaps add a touch of distinction to the store. No fountain is so fine that good looking cards calling attention to the wares on sale will disfigure it.

We use at least one full sheet, measuring 25 by 38 inches, four half-sheets, and ten smaller show cards all the time. They all call attention to some particular specialty. With the larger cards we have been very successful in using cut-out pictures pasted on the cards to bring out the reading matter.

If possible, it is well to run a window display several times a year, preferably on occasion when you can reach the most people with spare time on their hands. Circus days, carnival weeks, convention periods, etc., are especially suitable. The displays should be as elaborate as you can afford, with plenty of show cards, calling attention to the salient points of your service.

The best advertising of all, of course, is quality and service the foundations of success in all businesses.

SPECIALTIES.

A soda fountain, particularly in a small field, is known best by its specialties. These should not be changed too often, in my opinion, and one that strikes the popular favor should be kept on indefinitely. They should not be of such formulas as to require special

equipment, but just sensible and tasty mixtures with a good snappy name. The name is the most important part of all, and I've seen any number of good specialties fall flat because of a poor name.

The greater part of our business is built on specialties. We have any number of customers who walk blocks to get one of our specialties under its fancy name, rather than accept it from another fountain by telling what is in it.

We consider it good if we put across three big successes a year, and by successes I mean dishes that will be called for three years later by their names. It is always well to inquire of your patrons, when they are trying a new dish, if it is satisfactory, and if not, to give them something else.

Some of our big winners that are being served all the time, some of them for three years continuously, are:

COFFEE TANGO.

Vanilla ice cream, coffee marshmallow and peanuts.

SUNDAE AFTERNOON.

Vanilla ice cream, plain marshmallow and fresh strawberries.

MOUNT KATAHDIN.

Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, with whipped cream on top to represent snow on the mountain.

CARAMEL DE LUXE.

Caramel ice cream, plain marshmallow and caramel sauce,

nuts.

CHOCO-NUT MARSHMALLOW,

Vanilla ice cream, chocolate marshmallow, walnuts.

MOCHO-MALLOW PARFAIT.

Chocolate ice cream. coffee marshmallow, strawberry ice cream, hot fudge, and three cherries. This is all layered in a 7-ounce glass, served in holder with napkin under glass, and spoon is laid across the top of the glass.

GRAPE MALLOW.

Vanilla ice cream, plain marshmallow, 1 fluidounce of chilled grape juice.

PREPAREDNESS PARFAIT.

Vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, strawberry ice cream, marshmallow, 3 cherries. This is served in the same manner as is the "mocho-mallow parfait."

In introducing any specialty, we always try to have it as simple and as quickly made as an ordinary sundae, so that when we have 15 to 25 to serve, as is often the case, service won't be slowed up.

FRESH FRUIT SUNDAES AS TRADE GETTERS.

Strawberry, for years the joke of soda fountains, is our dearest friend, and it has this season overshadowed any other flavor as a big seller. Ours was the first fountain to serve fresh strawberries in this city.

The first year we started in June as a tryout; the second year in April as an experiment; the third year in February as a foothold against the fountain in a chain drug store