The writer and his head clerk made a special study of these points with the following results: It was found that the crushed-fruit ladles were too large. That for every tencent college ice the ice cream alone cost nearly one-half of the selling price, or about four and one-half cents, the fruit. one and a half cents, the walnuts one cent, and the cherry one-half cent, making seven and one-half cents the cost of a ten-cent college ice. At this rate our soda fountain would only pay twenty-five per cent. on sales. A careful inventory was made and an accurate record of the soda fountain kept in a special book. The first month the profit was thirty-two and one-half per cent. Then the clerks were cautioned about heaping the ice cream scoop and on wasting the ice cream. The next month the profit was thirty-eight and one-half per cent. By further economy the next month, the profit reached forty-two and one-half per cent. The proper balance was finally struck at between forty-five and forty-seven per cent. The customers were even better served, because they don't like things too sickening and sweet.

You can lose money at a soda fountain and not know it, if you don't take the time to study it. So it is no use to try to build up your soda department until you know how much it is paying, and which kind of specialties pay well enough to push, and you certainly don't want to push the ones that there is no money in. It is pretty hard to cater to both the five-cent trade and the high-class trade at the same fountain. Decide whichever your location warrants. There is more money in the five-cent drinks. Phosphates, limeade, orangeade, punch-bowl specialties, appeal to those who are hot and thirsty, and they are the ones you want to reach.

You will have to carry egg drinks and ice cream specialties. Pay a few cents more per dozen for your eggs and your farmer or storekeeper will save out the big brown ones for you. A dish of all brown eggs invites a purchase. Face the customer when you break the egg and after it is well shaken pour the mixed drink into a clear glass. Egg customers

are fussy and some of them have weak stomachs. You can build up a big egg-drink trade by recommending them to store clerks, shop employees, who do not eat much breakfast or who do not go home to dinner. Lemonade in a punch bowl is a great seller on a hot day and it pays big. Buttermilk is another good one. The best way to serve it is in eight ounce milk bottles packed in shaved ice. Then each customer has a whole bottle to himself, and it is ice cold. A sign could be hung on the top or sides of the fountain, reading: "You won't need the beauty doctor if you drink our fresh buttermilk, served ice cold, five cents."

The service to soda customers should be of the best. Don't let a customer pay for any drink that wasn't satisfactory. Have a neat sign over your fountain reading: "If your soda is not satisfactory the clerk will change it upon request.' Have plenty of napkins, shaved ice, ice water for your customers. Serve everything ice cold. Have the carbonated water well charged. A flat, lukewarm glass of soda is an awful mixture to put in one's stomach. Good fruit displays build business. Bananas, oranges, lemons, pineapples, limes, on a soda counter attract attention, because everybody likes fruit. The dainty displays of fruit in some restaurant windows would make a person feel hungry.

The tendency to add light lunches is strong nowadays, so much so as to draw a protest from the proprietors of lunch rooms and restaurants in several cities. Many pharmacists get good results from light lunches served at their fountain. Others claim it savors too much of the bar-room. It depends upon the demands of your location. Some stores would lose all their customers if they attempted such a thing, others would gain by it. Such a step is radical and should be "well shaken before taken."

Menu cards should be used, but don't have too many articles on it. It is confusing. Have blank lines left so you can insert the specials for each day. Give the children special attention. They will be great soda customers when they grow up and they grow like weeds. A punch bowl helps out in

MENU OF THE STANDARD DRUG STORE, DETROIT, MICH., SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE SODA FOUNTAIN LUNCH IDEA.