I have a brother that works at Coke in the Western states. He is joining the Air Force in September so we had a family get together over the weekend, the only time we could get the extended family together was at an air show at the local base. I asked him about Sprite Ice and Chocolate Coke. He said they get new sampling ideas all the time but he has never run across any mention of Chocolate Coke, or Sprite Ice. Also, I posted awhile back about PCS Coca-Cola, he said that was scrapped and hasn't made it to the test phase yet. He does work at a bottling company that bottles Dr. Pepper, and he did confirm PCS Dr. P will be rolling out very soon. They are debating whether to bring it in from Dublin, or get the local plants to distribute it. He did mention Chocolate Coke was an idea, and that the Flavor Shots, that were at Wal-Mart and some other stores were a product aimed at determing customer choice, and ideas on new Coke or other product flavor additions. What sold most would be an indicator of customer preference and what people may want in a new soft drink. I know I am rambling on, but I think I got too much sun at the air show today...hahaha. Hope that all made sense, and don't butcher me to bad in your replies, I'm just relaying the messsage from the messenger.

Thanks for the inside information. I would asume that cane sugar dr. pepper would have to be produced by individual bottlers. How could dublin produce enough for a nationwide release?

i think coke's afraid to try the sugar thing, because it will make their regular product seem inferior.

I think Coke does not want to push up retail prices which may have a negative effect on volume sales. It all boils down to Coca Cola keeping their share holders happy.

I also agree with popplogist. IMO...once sugar soda pops are back on the Big Three mass market,HFCS soda pops will fall out of favor with the market. It's really a win/lose situation. IMO

Guess we will have to wait even longer for "chocolate-vanilla swirl" coke

popologist wrote:
>i think coke's afraid to try the sugar thing, because it will make their regular product seem inferior.
-----

I was thinking that the recent labelling change (even the 8 oz glass bottles now only show "high fructose corn syrup" as the sweetener) might actually be a clever plan to make a "pure cane sugar" premium version taste that much obviously better. (Kind of like the reverse of when HFCS was phased in, gradually, to prevent people from noticing.)

Maybe their accountants have worked out that a pure HFCS "standard" version would be so cheap to make, along with a premium-priced "pure cane sugar" (PCS) version, that it would be lead to a net increase in profit. Those people who can't tell the difference would pay the *current* price for a cheaper-to-make soda, while those who *can* tell the difference will gladly "pay up" for the premium formula.

(They know there's a market for PCS, given the Mexican imports!)

-Doug

it could start a revolt though.

people might get upset that they have to pay more for "real" coca-cola.

after "new coke"... who knows how the consumer will react.

Any idea how soon on the PCS Dr Pepper rollout? I've been not so patiently waiting! [img]smile.gif[/img] Someone speculated mid-June, and another not until July. Has anyone spotted the glass bottles in the store yet?