yes and no.

coke still has a sizeable lead in the carbonated beverage area, BUT... for stock traders... pepsi may have won (since pepsi owns the better-selling non-carbonated brands, plus frito-lay snacks).

for the first time in history, pepsi's market capitalization has squeaked past coca-cola's.

see the full story here:

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx...omy__business/

personally, i'm a coca-cola fan, but... they're suffering from their own arrogance and short-sighted-ness.

they FINALLY turned things around (hopefully) with coke zero and vault (maybe) and dasani flavored waters. but they should probably branch out a bit more... i mean, they're sitting on billions of dollars of CASH.

they should start by buying red bull.

Pepsi hasn't won the cola war. Their focus now is on Diet Pepsi, not Pepsi. Maybe they're trying to win the diet cola war?

I always thought Coke should buy a chip company. Pepsi does a TON of co-marketing with Frito and Pepsi products - lots of themed displays, ads, etc. Especially during the Super Bowl.

The trouble is, there is no other nationwide chip company. But since I live in the backyard of the snack capital of the country (Pennsylvania), I personally vote for Utz chips.

http://www.utzsnacks.com/

They are located in Hanover PA, and their products are currently distributed from Maine to North Carolina. Coke could rent excess warehouse space from the bottlers to distribute in the rest of the country.

The other option would be Snyder's of Hanover. They are also located in Hanover, but they have a second bakery in Goodyear, Arizona. Their products are delivered all over the world, though I think most of it outside their core area is drop shipped pallets.

http://www.snydersofhanover.com/

Their main focus is pretzels, and they also have a line of healthier snacks. Their chips are much harder to find (but pretty damn good). They also make Hershey's chocolate covered pretzels.. mmmm.

No to be a smart arse, I would doubt Coca Cola would consider acquiring a snack food company. Just seems to make too much sense.

I agree Coke should get in the salty snack food business for marketing and soda pop volume increases.

[ 01-13-2006, 07:59 PM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

coke was rumored to be eye-ing "eagle snacks" back in the 80s/90s... but then decided to pass.

also, i know that healthy snacks are the trend but... maybe coke should do the opposite... and stick with what it knows best... junk food. maybe buy a candy company. or hostess cupcakes. something like that. things that kids pack in their lunches.

i guess the danger with that is being demonized by the media. they've already gone after soda in the schools.

Originally posted by fusion:
Pepsi hasn't won the cola war. Their focus now is on Diet Pepsi, not Pepsi. Maybe they're trying to win the diet cola war?

diet coke will pass pepsi way before diet pepsi passes diet coke.

in 2004, pepsi had an 12% share... and diet coke had 10%... and diet coke has been gaining steadily for years. diet pepsi only sells about half as much as diet coke.

many analysts have been predicting that diet coke would pass pepsi as the #2 soft drink in the next ten years. but, now, with coke zero taking a bite out of diet coke's sales, that might not happen.

for the latest data (2004) for market share, go to beveragedigest.com

by the way, pepsi-cola does NOT sell more than coca-cola. not in the US. not internationally.

this thread was originally about market capitalization.

Its apples to oranges.

KO is a soft drink company. It has a, by Wall Street standards, tiny juice division (Minute Maid) and that is it.

PEP is a salty snack company. It also has divisions that make soft drinks, sports beverages, juice products, and cereal.

KO, if it were in a race to be "bigger than PEP" could easily merge with a foods companry (Smuckers, Sara Lea, or Kellogs would be a good fit), a candy company (Hershey or Wrigley would work), a hard drink company like Diaego or SABMiller or buy another product line. Or it could sell itself to a big major like Kraft General Foods or ADM.

It is not in such a competition. Just happy to DOMINATE for over a century the market segment it is in.

Frito-Lay's chips are so ingrained into the American eating conscience that Coke or any other big company with better products, a huge promotion budget, and superior distribution could never knock them out of first place. I think Eagle Snacks failed because they cloned all of Frito-Lay's products instead of introducing anything new and different that would make them stand out. The only other nationwide company that has competed successfully against Frito-Lay is Procter & Gamble's Pringles brand.

I remember seeing UTZ Chips here in Texas. Maybe at EZ-Mart, Family Dollar, Dollar General or Dollar Tree had them for a dolalr. I have no clue they wound up down here! Our local Dollar Tree has had Uncle Ray's, Cabana, Herr's and Bon Ton potato chips. The Bon Ton's were a nice surprise for a dollar, nothing innovative but they were crisp and tasty. (PS I never buy the Fritos/Dorito's knockoffs - they are always inferior)

My favorite local brand potato chips are Art & Mary's from Wichita KS, (I always get a couple bags when I'm visiting relatives and freinds there) and Zapp's hot & spicy chips out of Louisiana.

[ 01-14-2006, 12:21 AM: Message edited by: billygtexas ]

zapp's are good.

better made in detroit are quality chips. there butter twist pretzels put anyone elses, let alone rold gold, to shame.

jay's - now are they regional or national?