Keurig Dr Pepper has agreed to acquire Tucson, Arizona-based Kalil Bottling as KDP continues to bolster its company-owned direct-store-delivery (DSD) operation in the western US. The announcement Friday came weeks after KDP disclosed in a Texas lawsuit that it will not renew a franchise agreement with Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling to distribute Dr Pepper products in California, effective Oct. 27, 2025. Reyes, citing California franchise laws, has asked a California judge to force a renewal unless KDP can show cause for ending the franchise arrangement. That has sent some Dr Pepper bottlers into their contracts to assess termination risk. KDP’s aggressive new stance with Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling has raised industry questions about whether more such moves are planned by KDP as part of a strategy to take back Dr Pepper territory from Coke and Pepsi bottlers. Or, is the Reyes non-renewal simply a special and opportunistic circumstance driven by geography and existing synergies?

PepsiCo Unit Renamed Blue Cloud National.

Hard Mtn Dew Producer Boston Beer, Lipton Hard Iced Tea Maker FIFCO to Retain Roles.

In May, Boston Beer will begin expanding Hard Mtn Dew to 50 states using its beer distribution network, the brewer said last week. As BD reported last week in an exclusive news alert, PepsiCo is shifting its...

PepsiCo is shifting its alcohol business strategy from distribution to brand licensing as the company looks to expand Hard Mtn Dew and Lipton Hard Iced Tea nationally at a faster pace, PepsiCo has confirmed to BD. Blue Cloud Distribution will be renamed...

Coca-Cola’s Red Tree Beverages is planning a spring launch of the US alcohol unit’s first wine-based product, named Minute Maid Spiked. The drink was developed for the large percentage of legal drinking age consumers who regularly mix alcohol into non-alcoholic juice and juice drinks, including Minute Maid products, Red Tree President Jenny Dowdy said in an interview. “We saw this as a ...