While in eastern TN recently, my wife spoke to a soft drink delivery man in a grocery store. My wife asked him about where she could find Ski. The man told her that Ski used to be widely available in the area, but now it's hard to find outside of Chattanooga. After my wife had told the guy where she was from, he asked her if she knew about Sun-Drop. She answered that Sun-Drop was widely available in central NC. The man then started talking about how convoluted the soft drink distribution system is. He stated that his company owns Sun-Drop and Dr Pepper, but that Coca-Cola has the distribution rights for both in the area. He claimed that Coke kept the distribution of Sun-Drop to a minimum because they also sell Mello Yello and Vault. He added, "I work for Dr Pepper/Snapple, but I'm not allowed to distribute either Dr Pepper or Snapple. Tell me that's not messed up."

The man added that "they keep telling me that things are going to change, but I'll believe it when I see it." I think that the distribution system is a big issue for DPSG.

The "new"DrPepper Snapple Group will change things in the near future. As contracts to Coke and Pepsi come to date you will see that they will no longer be renewed and that what used to be known as DPSU houses will begin to start selling their name sake brands once again.
The stores will have a much more balanced soda aisle now instead of having 30ft of Coke 25 of pepsi and 5 of "Independent" ( #'s are for example only)

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. For example, here in Birmingham, Buffalo Rock has DP. Why would Cadbury want to turn it over to some bottom of the barrel around here company like DPSU. THey arent in over half the stores, and the ones they get in to, they are gone 6 weeks later. I'm talking about major stores here. It would kill there sales, and the DP name alone might get them in there eventually, but I see it hurting them more than helping. Same goes in Lake Charles LA. It's part of United, and the largest per capita for DP in the world. Why would you take it away from them just to give it to someone else down there, that might hurt it more than help. JMO.

And those contracts are generally in perpetuity, they aren't renewed.

I thought the same thing as BhamCokeman. I rmember what happened to 7-UP and A&W years ago when Pepsi and Coke stopped distributing them here. It took a long time for them to gain back space on the shelves and to this day still have limited space.

Originally Posted by CitrusCola

He stated that his company owns Sun-Drop and Dr Pepper, but that Coca-Cola has the distribution rights for both in the area.

Are you sure that was in eastern TN? I can't think of anywhere in that area where a Coke distributor has Sundrop and Dr Pepper. In the Tri-Cities, CCBCC has neither. Further south towards Knoxville, CCE has Dr Pepper but Sundrop is with Cadbury.

Sounds more like eastern NC.

"Why would Cadbury want to turn it over to some bottom of the barrel around here company like DPSU."

Cadbury spun off the US drink division. What used to be the DPSU bottling group is a part of the new independent company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

As far as distribution, I think where DPSG has it's own bottling and distribution system in place, it could do okay in getting Dr Pepper on the shelves. Where it would have problems is in areas where it has no system of its own. Here in the NC Piedmont, for example, they depend on Carolina Beverages (the folks who make Cheerwine) to bottle and distribute most of their products [except Dr Pepper and Squirt which are handled by Pepsi].

The guy my wife spoke with was in a store south of Maryville, TN.

That's another point fusion. They are generally life long contracts and you would really have to screw up to lose something. Trust me, I have nothing against Pibb because it does quite well around here, but if I could have DP I would take it any day.

Originally Posted by CitrusCola

The guy my wife spoke with was in a store south of Maryville, TN.

Dude's smokin' something. Maryville is CCE, they have DP but have never had Sundrop.

Maybe that's why it doesn't sell well. The C-S guy doesn't realize that he's the one who's supposed to distribute it.