When mulling over appropriate food pairings, they're most often for wine, beer, or cocktails—not soft drinks. But as part of its new "Eat Tastefully" campaign, Diet Coke is focusing on healthy food to eat with its ubiquitous carbonated beverage and has built a pop-up kitchen at 3 West 57th Street that is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Sunday.
Anyone who watches Top Chef is probably already acquainted with the new campaign. Series judge and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio is the new Diet Coke poster boy, and his commercials have run repeatedly throughout the reality competition's current season. To complement the advertising campaign, Diet Coke global brand director William White conceptualized a pop-up kitchen to give consumers in New York a taste of the kinds of foods the brand sees fitting well with its drink.
Diet Coke turned to MKG Productions to design a space that could easily showcase and dispense food—and soft drink bottles—to as many consumers as possible, so producers focused the pop-up on an automat. Though there is also a lounge area, a photo booth for branded portraits, several computing stations, and a Diet Coke bar, the crux of the plan was the food.
With five rows of six individual compartments, the old-timey vending machine backs up to a kitchen where Taste Caterers prepares small bites that servers slip into the automat every time a guest takes one out to eat, so the giant vending machine stays full throughout the hours of operation.
The project also incorporates several of Coca-Cola's corporate partners, with brands like Delta Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and Nike showcased at different times throughout the 10-day run. Hilton even served as a guest caterer on the kitchen's opening day, sending chefs to dole out Diet Coke sorbet after guests had their fill of the automat.
The kitchen isn't a part of a large tour, but it isn't just for New York either. A similar incarnation of the pop-up will arrive in Boston later in October.