Forecasting Diet Coke Consumption at the B-School

Last year, after we moved into the new building, the new cafeteria management people had a lot of difficulty with their demand planning ... especially when it came to the diet coke. We were always running out. This year they have improved their forecast and ordering levels and I have only noticed a handful of out of stock situations. I took this picture during Fall A finals week. What I love about this picture is that they increased the facings from the normal 3-4 to 11. This speaks volumes about the consumption patterns and the positive correlation between stress, time pressure and diet coke.

Now if only they could get the whole restocking thing right. There's lots of warm diet coke going around. Not that I mind. I'm not temperature sensitive.