“A Tradition of Heritage”
My preference for Coke over Pepsi is well-known. But, if I had to guess, I would say that Coke is now losing the Cola Wars, or will be soon.
My first indication that the tide was turning came when Satchel’s switched from Coke to Pepsi. Old Man Satchel put a notice on the back of the menu saying that he didn’t have a preference one way or the other, but that the Pepsi people made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. A short time later, the University of Florida announced that it had signed a new exclusive contract with Pepsi, and before long all the Coke machines on campus disappeared. Last year, I walked into Big Lou’s to find them serving drinks in all new glasses printed with the Pepsi logo. They, too, had switched.
Meanwhile, Pepsi is substantially underselling Coke. I have noticed that both Wal-Mart and Publix have priced two-liter bottles of Pepsi at just a dollar, while Coke, when not on sale, is $1.79. (The exception is at Major League Baseball parks, where I paid $8 for a Pepsi a week ago.)
Finally, Pepsi has introduced some new, old products that have soda fans excited. Pepsi Throwback, which I first had last summer, is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It tastes noticeably better. I had assumed it was a limited-time-only sort of thing, but around the New Year, my friend Harris, a soda fan, told me it was back, along with Mountain Dew Throwback. Both are still available, and both have wonderful retro packaging, with the Pepsi cans, in particular, especially evocative. And though it isn’t a Pepsi product, per se, I recently discovered Dr. Pepper Heritage, also made with real sugar. Dr. Pepper is an odd drink, but I enjoyed this reissue.
Now, it may be that sugar is once again less expensive than corn, and Pepsi is simply taking advantage of that. Or Pepsi might have taken the pulse of the soda buying public, and realized that fans have a taste for real sugar. Coke needs to do the same.
And, unless Coke is really doing as well as they’d like, they need to look out: Pepsi appears to be taking over. Coke still has McDonald’s and Walt Disney World, but for how long?
Filed under: Food, Gainesville, Musings on April 20th, 2010
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