Story time!

This past summer, I made a trip to lovely North Dakota to shop. Now, being a Canadian, I had to visit an American grocery store because, well... they have an incredible variety of things that we cannot buy here in Canada for whatever reason. In the soft drink aisle, I saw Wild Cherry Pepsi and Cherry Coke, drinks that have long been non-existant in the Canadian soft drink world. Of course, I bought them, brought them back to Canada, and drank them (though I tried to consume them as slow as I could... for special occasions!) They were delicious.

Now my question(s)... Why the heck are these no longer sold in Canada? It seems that a lot of Canadians have a fondness for cherry flavoured beverages. Is it something to do with the lack of HFCS in Canada? Lack of demand?

How can I contact Pepsi/Coke and profess my frustrations with the lack of selection in Canada?

Lots of questions, I know... But it is really frustrating not being able to enjoy something that is so common in other parts of the world.

Thanks!

Probably lack of demand.

Not the lack of HFCS, because Cherry Coke is made with sucrose in Bethlehem Pennsylvania and Cleveland Ohio here in the US. And it's awesome.

You could pick up some cherry Torani or DaVinci syrup (commonly used by coffeehouses to flavor drinks - not sure if those brands are sold in Canada, but I bet you'd find something similar), and mix that in some Coke. I put the Torani vanilla syrup in Coke a long time ago, it came out pretty darn good.

In Canada it is a must(by laws) that sodas have at least 50% or more real sugar(any real sugars of choice not just cane sugars) in thier products and that is part of the reason why there is a limited number of soft drinks supplied in the Canadian market as well as our population base. Their is less profit in Canada for soda makers mainly Pepsi and Coke even though they have big pockets they still have a bottom line like everyone else. I live in Alberta, Canada and i wish to god we would get so many more as i am a soda lover like all us here on this site. It is so frustrating not to have sodas released in Canada when they are just kilometers away on the same continent. HFCS is a terrible product that kills the products taste and quality. HFCS converts inside our bodies like a transfat substance chemically and is causing significant rising rates of diabetes in the USA and now Canada where in all other parts of the world HFCS is not allowed in products sold due to severe health defects. This is why Canada limits the use of HFCS and is why there is a bill to rid Canada and ban the use of HFCS in Canada completely. You can actually taste the difference if you buy a can or bottle of american Coca-Cola and buy a can or bottle of Canadian Coca-Cola, completely different as Canadian is so much better/crisper and is more of the original tasteing Coke that is used to be. US Coca-Cola has 100% HFCS in all US states and depending which bottler in Canada, Canadian Coca-Cola has at least 50% or more real sugar. Rarly Pepsi in the USA has real sugar in(they too have 100% HFCS which weakens the taste) it depending on the bottlers and i am not talking about the special editions Pepsi Throwback which is completely different. Generally Canadian Pepsi taste better too due to our high real sugar content which we have always had. I wish we had Pepsi Throwback which uses 100% cane sugar which they used to use back originally in the day and has been a great success for Pepsi and will be a permanent extension in some parts of the US is the rumors but at a premium price maybe. Wish we had some here but i'll gladly keep what we have than 100%HFCS cause that is gross and deadly. I hope we pass that bill soon that outlaws HFCS completely so we can have 100% sugar again, that would be so sweet and i do not care if we get less products here if they do. I'd rather have well i cannot say soda is at all healthy but i can say wholesome and true than poison, that it is currently going. What is Pepsi Next, some new evoulutionary healthy non-chemical laden soda? The advertising is hyping it that way anyways?

Having a route in northern North Dakota and being a merchandiser at the big-chain stores on the weekends, we go through a ton of cherry Pepsi. You can literally watch it fly off the shelves. Mainly Canadian shoppers saying that they can't get it in Canada. I've also heard that they can't get Diet Dew? Is this true? Whether they can or not, you Canadians are certainly giving me job security

American Pepsi is not 100% HFCS (except for Cherry Vanilla).
US Pepsi does have some sugar in it after Caramel Color.

Hey Mr. RoughRiders - I am from Canada (GTA) and also wish we had access to the variety of flavours availalble in the U.S. Luckily, I'm less than an hour from the border so I do make trips and stock up on pop. Recently, I actually e-mailed Pepsi about the distribution differences. Here is the response:

Due to the differences in market patterns and consumer preferences, PepsiCo Canada does not necessarily market all the products sold by our U.S. parent company.

Your requests have been forwarded to Marketing for future consideration as we do continually review products that are available in the U.S. to assess further sales potential in Canada.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,
Sincerely,


Lawrence Jabbonsky
PepsiCo Consumer Relations

..:: PEPSI® ::..

So apparently, there isn't enough of a market to support bringing back all those old (and new) flavours. Lately, Pepsi Lime and diet Pepsi Lime made a return so hopefully Pepsi Wild Cherry and all that stuff eventually comes back in.

--------

Pop Element Blog -
rft 3 presents | Pop and Soda cans – all you need

Wild Cherry Pepsi is generally the one thing I always bring back from Minot. I always like going to the US during the Summer because they always have the LTO "summer" flavours of things you can't get in Canada anymore.

On this note, is Red Alert Mountain Dew still available in the US?

Originally Posted by Shootmaster_44

On this note, is Red Alert Mountain Dew still available in the US?

MTN DEW Code Red is available.....

Originally Posted by halloaaryn

MTN DEW Code Red is available.....

Oh man. I need to do a roadtrip to the US very soon then. Is it widely available or am I going to be searching supermarkets and bigbox retailers in Montana for it?

Mountain Dew Code Red is available all over Montanna and if you are crossing the border in Milk River then the first town will be Shelby Montanna where they have a small Albertsons grocery store. That store has all the best sodas for Coke or Pepsi products and other drinks too and they have a great amount of stock of all flavours. MTN DEW is so popular in the state they have all the flavor extensons like diet, diet caffiene free, Voltage, White Out, diet Code Red. Live Wire is not available. Plus montanna does not charge any deposit fees and there is no state taxes to pay so soda(pop) is cheap and make sure when you get to the cashier to pay for your stash, that you ask for the Albertsons Price Discount Card key tag as it is free to all people so you can get those great sale prices. I have been traveling across the Montanna border for over a decade and have been getting tons of soda at the same time and price wise, yes the city of Great Falls does have the big box stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart but i found Albertsons is always best and you can get all your traveling done and if you are going back home through the same route then get all your sodas last in Shelby at the Albertsons. There is a good sized truckstop called Exxon"TownPump" where you can find any snack foods, chocolate bars, beers plus you can usually find 20oz(591ml) bottles of Pepsi and Coke product flavors that you cannot find in the stores. There is a resturaunt on one side and a casino on another side of the truckstop Exxon"TownPump" of which the food is good like a diner type foods plus a Subway if you wanna healthy choice. If you need a place to stay then The Inn between the PizzaHut and the truckstop overflow parking lot and a Bar. Enjoy your sodas, i wish i could go down there more, its been so long since i have been down there aswell, it sucks. I do like code red and want to try White Out, Cherry Vanilla Pepsi and Wild Cherry Pepsi. Do you know that Canada had tested Mountain Dew Code Red over ten years ago before the USA ever got it and was on the alberta shelves and was then marketed all over Canada for about a year before it was gone for good. The USA then got it when Canada dropped it and has not had it back ever again for some reason.