Alva Review-Courier -

Hot and cold drinks and the companies that manufacture them have kept them in separate worlds, the market shared by Coke and Pepsi with Dr Pepper a distant third. Notice the Dr doesn’t have a period after it, dropped in 1950. Stories abound about how Coke once contained cocaine, Pepsi was an elixir for upset stomach, and Dr Pepper was created by a pharmacist.

Then came Starbucks in 1971. Today, over half of Starbuck’s drinks contain ice. When the pandemic hit, Bob Gamgort, CEO of Keurig Dr Pepper, knew that families would be stockpiling beverages for the “stay-at-home” society. As a result, KDP and the Big Two cut back on niche brands and concentrated on 12 packs.

Soda stays fresher in cans anyway and the Mexican government helped by declaring beer “non-essential,” freeing up cans for the American market. An unexpected trend surfaced as demand increased for ginger ale and root beer.

Hot drinks using the K-cup pods are also in demand as one in four American households has a brewer. Home-bound consumers found themselves serving 70-cent pods instead of $3 Starbucks. That helped Keurig control 82% of the coffee pod market and Dr Pepper now has a 24% share of the soda trade.

The “flavor” market – that is soft drinks that aren’t colas – has emerged, growing faster than soft drinks in general. As for the Mexican label of beer being non-essential, my stockbroker says, “The alcohol market is strong in good times and in bad.” No surprise to me!