admin At U.S. stores in April, twelve-ounce cans of Pepsi Cafe will arrive, but will be available only for a limited time.
Pepsi’s vice president of marketing, Todd Kaplan stated, “We want to be first to market, and launch this really in the right way.” Pepsi Cafe will come in two flavors: original and vanilla. The coffee-infused cola beverage has nearly twice as much caffeine as regular Pepsi. as U.S. soda consumption continues to decline annually
With U.S. soda consumption continues to decline annually, the reintroduction of coffee-cola drinks comes. But Pepsi and Coke are staking that consumers would still like an afternoon pick-me-up that combines the taste and carbonation of soda with coffee flavors.
Pepsi and Coke, the two beverage giants have tried coffee-cola drinks earlier too; whereas in 1996 Pepsi introduced the short-lived Pepsi Kona and in 2004, Pepsi tried another variant internationally, a creamier version meant to taste more like cappuccino, called the Pepsiccino and both iterations inspired the taste of Pepsi Cafe, which took more than a year and half to develop.
Director of research and development of Pepsi, Danielle Barbaro said, “We leveraged both of those learnings and then went to the consumer groups and said, ‘OK, what is the right space?’ And it’s somewhere right in the middle.”
Coke’s first attempt in the category, Coca-Cola Blak, came to market in 2006 but was discontinued two years later. In 2017, Coke introduced Coca-Cola Plus Coffee in Australia. A year later, the company brought it to Asia for more tests after tweaking the formula.
“We know they have a product as well, but we feel great about the product that we developed,” Kaplan said. Shares of Pepsi, valued at $191 billion, are up about 24% this year, as of Wednesday’s close. Coke’s stock, which has a market value of $231 billion, has risen nearly 14%.
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