How not to confuse the syrups

Syrup bottles at Starbucks

My daughter has a hot chocolate habit, and Starbucks has a great deal ($1.25) on kid's hot chocolates.

While we were at the counter one of the staff was washing the syrup bottles. With all of the demand for syrups in the various beverages, the bottles get sticky and every day they need to wash them down.

I think that just keeping your eyes open exposes you to a wealth of learning opportunities. And asking questions about everything sure helps. (One of the advantages of being with a young child is people expect lots of questions.) So, why are the plungers on some bottles white, while the middle bottle has a black plunger?

There is actually a very good reason, and it makes a lot of sense. The white plungers are for the syrups sweetened with sugar, and the black plungers are for the sugar-free syrups. Makes sense, white is the colour of sugar.

It is little things like this that can prevent mistakes in drink preparation. And as every mistake costs money and eats into the profits, there is no reason not to do something as simple and basic as this to reduce the likelihood of errors.

Can this sort of colour coding be used in other restaurants and other industries? Anytime two things look similar but are functionally different it would make sense to use some for of cue to alert users. Two bolts, one in stainless and one in regular steel. Milk and soy. Men's and women's. The choices are endless. But providing some for of cue to users will reduce if not eliminate errors. So, if there any reason to do do something like this?