That's What I Like
PepsiCo
Tagline
Net Worth
$67,000,000,000
Started in (City)
New Bern, North Carolina
Started in (Country)
United States
Incorporation Date
28th December, 1898
Bankruptcy Date
-
Founders
- Caleb Bradham
About
PepsiCo Inc. is an American food and beverage company that is one of the largest in the world, with products available in more than 200 countries. It took its name in 1965 when the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. The company’s headquarters are in Purchase, New York. It is a world-renowned company, consisting of Pepsi-Cola, Budweiser, PepsiCo, Gatorade, and many other brands. PepsiCo is one of the world’s largest brands with more than 1.5 billion annual sales and a market capitalization of over 100 billion dollars. PepsiCo Inc. has expanded its namesake Pepsi brand to include other brands, such as the Gatorade brand, which Quaker Oats Company added to its portfolio in 2001.
As of January 26, 2012, 22 of PepsiCo's brands generated retail sales of more than $1 billion, and the company's products were distributed across more than 200 countries, resulting in annual net revenues of $43.3 billion. Based on net revenue, PepsiCo is the second largest food and beverage business in the world, behind Nestlé. Within North America, PepsiCo is the largest food and beverage business by net revenue.
Beginning
In the summer of 1898, in New Bern, North Carolina a young pharmacist named Caleb Bradham experimented with combinations of spices, juices, and syrups trying to create a new refreshing drink for his customers. Like many pharmacists at the turn of the century he had a soda fountain in his drugstore. He served his customers refreshing drinks that he created himself. Caleb knew that the only way to keep people returning to his pharmacy was to turn it into a gathering place and keep introducing new drinks. He did so by creating his own special beverage, a soft drink.
His creation: a unique mixture of kola nut extract, vanilla and rare oils. It became an instant hit and was dubbed Brad’s Drink. Caleb knew this was an ideal opportunity and bought the trade name “Pep Cola” for $100 from a competitor from Newark, New Jersey who had gone broke.
In the beginning, Caleb continued to mix the syrup himself and sold it exclusively through soda fountains. But soon he recognized that a greater opportunity existed to bottle Pepsi so that people could drink it anywhere. The business began to grow, and on June 16, 1903, “Pepsi- Cola” was officially registered with the US Patent Office. Caleb’s neighbor, an artist, designed the first Pepsi logo. That year, 7,968 gallons of syrup were sold and the first advertisements carried the tag line “Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion".
Caleb knew this was just the beginning for Pepsi. He also realized that it was not possible to fill the gap in the market everywhere. Caleb began franchises to bottle Pepsi to independent investors. In the time span from 1905 to 1907, the number of investors grew from just two, in the cities of Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina, to 40. By 1907, the new company was selling more than 100,000 gallons of syrup per year.
By 1921, only two plants remained open and Pepsi’s ownership changed hands several times until Charles Guth, who headed Loft Candy Company, bought it in 1931. He saw Pepsi as an opportunity and grabbed it. He was right and after five owners and 15 unprofitable years, Pepsi under the leadership of Guth was once again a thriving national brand.
Further, Pepsi Cola merged with Frito-Lay to form PepsiCo Inc., with the two predecessors becoming a division. The power of the one goes back to the company’s beginnings as a subsidiary of Pepsi Co. in the 1950s and 1960s, its merger with Pepsi - Cola in 1970.
Road to Success
Pepsi Cola dates back to 1898, but syrup sales reached nearly 20,000 gallons in 1904. Pepsi’s growth was unparalleled, and, in 1909, it shifted to its headquarters in the town of New Bern. In 1931 the company’s trademark and assets were picked up by Charles G. Guth (1876–1948), founder of the modern Pepsi-Cola. He established a new Pepsi-Cola Company, had a chemist formulate a better drink, set up new bottling operations, and began merchandising a hugely successful 12-ounce bottle for five cents. Pepsico then moved its headquarters from the East River to Midtown Manhattan and for the first time, the beverage was sold in cans. Guth also took steps to internationalize Pepsi-Cola, founding the Pepsi-Cola Company in Canada in 1934 and the following year founding the Compania Pepsi Cola in Cuba. When in 1941 the Pepsi-Cola Company was merged into Loft, the name Loft, Inc., was changed to Pepsi-Cola Company.
The new company, founded in 1941, used the name Pepsi - Cola Company because it was so well known and the company’s product range was expanded. At that time, Pepsi-Cola produced a wide range of beverages such as lemonade, cola, water, juice, milk, coffee, and tea, as well as a variety of snacks.
In the 1970s, Kendall acquired Burger King, a well-known fast-food restaurant chain, in 1977 and 1978. The company claims that Burger King began selling Pepsi products, and of course the new subsidiary became a major sales market for Pepsi products. PepsiCo has launched two direct consumer websites where shoppers can order a range of the company’s products, the snack drinks giant said in a statement. Coca-Cola was one of two companies that expanded when the plant opened in the Philippines in 1915, and Pepsi-Cola left the city for Westchester. The company revived an old Pepsi Challenge campaign from the 1970s with a new Pepsi - One Diet Drink that took on Diet Coke. The marketing campaign, known as the "Pepsi Challenge," in 2000 was so successful that the company decided to revive it in the 2000s.
PepsiCo has opened the door to acquire juice maker Tropicana Products Inc. from Seagram Company Ltd. for $2.5 billion in cash in the largest takeover in its history. Pepsico is listed as one of the largest businesses worldwide in terms of market value. Pepsi was one of the soft-drinks advertised the most maximum on TV in The United States. Pepsico’s CEO was an Indian origin, Indra Nooyi, until August 6, 2018. No of the Employees work in PepsiCo is 267k. Pepsico is the most visible brand in 2018 on Twitter. Pepsico changed its logo design 13 times since it was established.
Challenges
Major challenge encountered by Caleb was during World War I, and the scenario changed drastically. The whole US economy was in turmoil, sugar prices see-sawed between record highs and disastrous lows. The price of producing Pepsi became unstable and Caleb was forced into taking a few business gambles just to survive. And, finally, after three exhausting years filled with highs and lows, he went bankrupt.
Another issue was faced later when Coca-Cola emerged as a competitor of PepsiCo. Pepsico has given a tough competition to cola-cola and applied many tactics to compete for coca-cola like, they randomly tasted common people Pepsi and coca-cola without letting them know what sample they are having and soon people preferred Pepsi because of its more sweet taste than coca-cola.
Failures
The loft company, which was about to go bankrupt, sued Guth for ownership of the Pepsi-Cola company, although Guth initially used Loft’s financing to found a new Pepsi for success. After three years of continuous losses, Megargel led for bankruptcy, and Pepsi was officially declared bankrupt on May 31, 1923.
Guth gave up Coke and began selling Pepsi and buying it again in 1924 when it went bankrupt for the second time. He reorganized the company in 1928 as the National Pepsi Cola Company, but on July 1, 1929, after a third consecutive year of losses, it was declared bankrupt. All of his assets were sold to Craven. Holding Corporation for $30,000 and the company was renamed Coca-Cola.
Achievements
- Ranked 43 among Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2020).
- Featured on the Global 2000 Leading Companies list (2020) by Forbes.
- Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Award for PepsiCo's Food for Good program (2016).
Subsidies
- Frito-Lay
- The Gatorade Company
- Soda Stream
- Quaker oats company
- Tropicana
- Gamesa
CEOs
- Steven Reinemund
- Indra Nooyi
- Ramon Laguarta