PepsiCo brought together executives from its US bottling system in August to review new product and marketing plans for 2020. The company hosted the meeting at its Purchase, New York headquarters. Attendees included company-owned and independent franchise bottling executives. The gathering came six months after PepsiCo reorganized its North America beverage business into five divisions, four in the US and one in Canada. The meeting’s theme was...

The past year has been good for Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (CCSWB). The Dallas-based bottler, controlled by Mexico’s Arca Continental, took home the 2019 Candler Cup as Coca-Cola’s best bottler of the year globally. Before that, CCSWB was named Coke North America’s 2018 Market Street Challenge winner as the most improved bottler. And Southwest’s McAllen, Texas production plant earned a President’s Quality Award as CCNA’s No. 1 facility. The accolades rolled in just two years after Arca entered the US market as part of Coke’s massive refranchising of company-owned bottling assets in the US and Canada. In its first year, CCSWB faced Hurricane Harvey, which caused extensive flooding and damage in Houston, a key market. The bottler also faced soaring commodity costs. BD visited Houston recently for a curated market tour that served as a victory lap of sorts. The day was hosted by Coke Southwest executives including COO Jean Claude Tissot, a 21-year veteran of the Coca- Cola system in Latin America. The following recap includes images from the tour and commentary...

Coca-Cola-owned Honest Tea began rolling out a new ready-to-drink organic cold brew coffee last month at select West Coast food service accounts. Honest will expand US distribution in 2020 nationally to other food service outlets and large-format retail stores. The product was sampled last week at Expo East in Boston. Cold Brew is Honest’s first US coffee launch. More launch details...

A 100% stevia-sweetened variant of Coca-Cola first launched in New Zealand has moved closer to the US. The product, called Coca-Cola Stevia, gets prominent billing on...

Two Roots Brewing, owned by Lighthouse Strategies (BD 2/1/19), has acquired US-based Rochester Mills Production Brewery … The Alkaline Water Company, producer of Alkaline 88, has acquired premium water brand AQUAhydrate, which was previously run by former Coke executive...

Coca-Cola Korea has named Choi Su-chong as CEO; she succeeds Lee Chang Yeob, who held the job for more than a decade; Choi joined...

Pepsi NFL. Brand Pepsi has kicked off a new marketing campaign called “Always Be Celebrating” with the National Football League. The program includes national TV commercials, point-of-sale retail campaigns, charity tie-ins, and local customer and consumer events. The brand is now in its