MickeyDees starts peddlin' Red Bull

Fountain giant McDonald's is testing the sale of bottled and canned drinks in about 150 locations, though options vary by location and it might take years for the plan to finally be realized. So far, a variety of colas, teas, energy drinks and waters, including Red Bull and Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater are being tested, along with some beverages from PepsiCo.

The idea is to offer more options to consumers who are going elsewhere for their beverage fixes. Larry Light, founder of Arcature and former global chief marketer of McDonald's, said the company realized several years ago that it wasn't meeting consumers' needs in that regard. "We were seeing [customers] buy food at McDonald's and then go buy their beverages at 7-Eleven, or they'd go through a drive-through with the beverage already in their car," he said.

"It's a great opportunity for [McDonald's] to get incremental sales,"said Darren Tristano, exec VP at Technomic.