Coke is returning to Costco’s food courts. Pepsi is out
CNN
Coca-Cola lovers for more than a decade were forced to wash down their $1.50 hot dogs at Costco’s food courts with Pepsi. But Costco plans to bring back Coca-Coca at its food court soda fountains this summer and ditch its archrival.
Coca-Cola lovers for more than a decade were forced to wash down their $1.50 hot dogs at Costco’s food courts with Pepsi. But Costco plans to bring back Coca-Coca at its food court soda fountains this summer and ditch its archrival. “We will be converting our food court fountain business back over to Coca-Cola,” Costco CEO Ron Vachris said Thursday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting. Rumors had been swirling that Costco planned to make the switch. A shareholder asked Vachris if the food court was “truly switching back to Coke products.” Costco solicits bids from companies for its fountain drink business at food courts, and Pepsi has been awarded the fountain soda contract since 2013. The deal is not just for the machines and syrup in the sodas, but cups, straws and other products. Coke had been a mainstay of Costco food courts for decades, but Costco switched to Pepsi in 2013. “It’s a big shift,” a Costco executive said in 2013 when the company made the change. Coke is the “only vendor we’ve ever had for the majority of the business locations.”
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