Dive Brief:
- Pepsi and SodaStream will conduct a "small-scale, limited-time test’’ early next year in which Pepsi brands will be made in the at-home soda machine, the companies confirmed.
- Consumers in Tampa, FL and Orlando, FL will be able to buy new variations of two Pepsi brands - Pepsi Homemade and Sierra Mist Homemade - for use in the countertop machines, according to a report by Beverage Digest. Bloomberg News confirmed that detail.
- The test comes as rival Coca-Cola prepares to launch a new at-home machine in conjunction with coffee-brewer powerhouse Keurig Green Mountain.
Dive Insight:
The most interesting tidbit here is what is not happening...yet. Pepsi did not buy a stake in SodaStream, unlike the approach by rival Coca-Cola which bought, and then increased, a stake in Keurig.
That may change if the test in Florida works out. Although as we've noted before, SodaStream's controversial operations in the occupied territories would leave Pepsi, or any other investor, vulnerable to a public relations nightmare.