PURCHASE, N.Y — Pepsi-Cola North America, The Pepsi Bottling Group, PepsiAmericas, Pepsi Bottling Ventures and other leading members of Pepsi’s bottling system today announced their support of the American Beverage Association’s new school vending policy.
The Pepsi system will work closely with parents, community leaders and school officials to achieve the following objectives:
– Provide only bottled water and 100 percent juice to elementary school students.
– Provide nutritious and/or lower calorie beverages to middle school students, such as bottled water, 100 percent juice, sports drinks, no-calorie soft drinks and low-calorie juice drinks. No full-calorie soft drinks or full-calorie juice drinks with five percent or less juice provided until after school hours.
– Provide a variety of beverage choices to high school students, such as bottled water, 100 percent juice, sports drinks and juice drinks. No more than 50 percent of the vending selections will be soft drinks.
“Parents tell us they’d like help in determining what products are sold in schools, and we’re listening,” said Dawn Hudson, president and chief executive officer, Pepsi-Cola North America. “We’ve been working diligently to introduce new, healthier offerings that give schools a broader selection of better-for-you options than ever before. We’re also providing incentives to our bottlers that will encourage compliance with the new policy. As an industry, we are part of the solution.”
“The school environment is unique, and therefore requires a flexible approach,” said John T. Cahill, chairman and chief executive officer, The Pepsi Bottling Group. “This policy strives to be responsive to parents’ feedback while continuing to offer a variety of refreshing beverage choices.”
“Young people enjoy our products,” said Robert C. Pohlad, chairman & chief executive officer, PepsiAmericas. “We look forward to working with our school customers to promote healthier lifestyles in a responsible manner.”
“This policy is designed to meet changing needs and tastes in schools, said Keith Reimer, president and chief executive officer of Pepsi Bottling Ventures. “It will likely continue to evolve as the industry develops new products, particularly low-calorie or no-calorie options.”
The American Beverage Association encourages districts and bottlers to implement the policy immediately for any new beverage contracts, and where contracts previously exist, no later than upon expiration of the contract.
PepsiCo supports numerous physical activity initiatives across the country to encourage people to be more active. PepsiCo and America On the Move developed a lesson plan called Balance First(TM) to help educate kids about energy balance. This program reached three million elementary school students in 2004. In 2005, as part of a partnership with Discovery Education, PepsiCo distributed the Balance First program to 15,000 middle schools in the United States. To see PCNA’s school policy, visit http://www.pepsi.com/schoolpolicy.
Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsi-Cola North America ( http://www.pepsi.com ) is the $4 billion refreshment beverage unit of PepsiCo Inc. in the United States and Canada. The company’s U.S. brands include Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi ONE, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Vanilla, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, Mountain Dew LiveWire, Sierra Mist, Sierra Mist Free, Mug, Slice, Aquafina, Aquafina Flavor Splash, Aquafina Sparkling, Dole Juices, Tropicana Juice Drinks and SoBe. The company also makes and markets North America’s best-selling ready-to-drink iced teas and coffees via joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks.
The Pepsi Bottling Group, PepsiAmericas and Pepsi Bottling Ventures account for nearly 80% of Pepsi-Cola North America’s beverage volume in the United States. The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. ( http://www.pbg.com ) is the world’s largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages with operations in the U.S., Canada, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Turkey. PepsiAmericas is the second-largest Pepsi bottler with operations in the U.S., Central Europe and the Caribbean. Pepsi Bottling Ventures serves customers in North Carolina, the Long Island, New York, area and parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
For more info please contact: Dave DeCecco of Pepsi-Cola North America, +1-914-253-2655, dave.dececco@pepsi.com