Pepsi Co Loses Long-Time Bottler In Thailand

[StreetCowboy]

...There are shills and there are shills. But for excellence in shilldom I think the engineering shills from the UK are in a class by themselves.

Another field in which we excel. It's not called the King's Shilling for nothing

SC

[thenervoussurgeon]

not a big deal if they do, tastes like shit anyway .

how dare you sir ,in fact how double dare you ,have you tasted shit? cause if you have not ,how can you tell?

[longball53098]

I would say based on these two news articles that Pepsi is in no way leaving Thailand or SEA.

http://www.bangkokpo...-into-thai-push

http://finance.yahoo...4--finance.html

I would say that this change to the new bottling plant has not gone smooth as at least in my area here in Ban Chang getting Pepsi drink products has been very , very difficult

[Jeddah Jo]

Serm Suk are launching their own brand of Cola called EST Cola.

Tried it today in Oishi and it was very good!

[bonobo]

Pepsi attempted to buy out Sermsuk, but the company leadership felt the offer was not good enough and appealed to the stockholders not to sell. By an extremely small margin, the offer by Pepsi was rejected. The company leadership then arranged for ThaiBev to take over the company, leaving Pepsi in the lurch.

Pepsi is building their own facilities, but as ThaiBev made the glass bottles, they dont as of yet have an access to them. Glass bottles did make up 47% of the Pepsi distribution before, according to a notice put out to Sernsuk stockholders.

Pepsi will use DHL for distribution, but there are strong doubts that DHL will be effective in getting the product efficiently to the small stands and street stalls throughout the country that actually sell a huge percentage of all soft drinks.

Sernsuk has come out with EST, and so far, this has been well-received. There have been some reports that many Thais are switching because it is a Thai cola vice an American cola, but I have not read any data to back that up.

[thenervoussurgeon]

Yes ,but will they make a diet version? if not i would not buy it .

[bonobo]

Yes ,but will they make a diet version? if not i would not buy it .

If you mean EST, yes, they are supposed to have their diet version on the market within two months.

[tuffy]

That's funny when I first saw EST I was told that it was Pepsi and that they just changed the name in Thailand ... The wife swears it is Pepsi still.... Now that is what I call good advertising!!!

[JeffreyMcCollum]

Est was not to my liking

I'll stick to 1.) Coke 2.) Pepsi

and just say no to BIG and Est Cola

[ignis]

Plenty of Pepsi Max about again, now bigger in 1.45 lt bottles............ EST tried it, most of it I poured down the drain..

[roamer]

By way of a gloat, I've got Irn Bru (diet & wholemeal), Barrs cream soda, limeade, cherryade - oh and Waitrose cloudy lemonade in my local shopping centre...

SC

Nae red cola or Tunnocks wafers?

Much tae gloat aboot that aye!

Where are the mods ? Only English allowed here, innit

[JeffreyMcCollum]

Plenty of Pepsi Max about again, now bigger in 1.45 lt bottles............ EST tried it, most of it I poured down the drain..

You mean now smaller in 1.45 lt bottles down from the normal 1.5 size

[ignis]

Plenty of Pepsi Max about again, now bigger in 1.45 lt bottles............ EST tried it, most of it I poured down the drain..

You mean now smaller in 1.45 lt bottles down from the normal 1.5 size

NO.. Pepsi Max was always 1.25 size, never seen anything different here, other than cans...... now is 1.45 size = bigger.. oddly both in Tesco Express and 7/11 the price is the same as before........ so you get more for the same money.

[Baloney pony]

So what does EST taste like? I'm assuming a super sweet version of pepsi.

[lopburi3]

As said the normal has been 1.25 and the 1.5 a "big" option. Did notice limited amount of Pepsi back on shelves of local Tesco last week but no diet of any brand.

[ste860]

ive tried est twice second time was just to confirm my first thoughts ,it nothing like pepsi , i will stick to pepsi thanks ,i could not finish the bottle goes flat very quick

[somchaismith]

est is a acronym for 'exact same thing'.

[baboon]

est is a acronym for 'exact same thing'.

My thoughts exactly.

[Psych01]

Peeved about this Pepsi thing, the so called "same thing", est or everlasting shit taste, is just a Thai rip off. Pepsi obviously did not pay enough of a backhander. ;-)

[ignis]

Peeved about this Pepsi thing, the so called "same thing", est or everlasting shit taste, is just a Thai rip off. Pepsi obviously did not pay enough of a backhander. ;-)

Everywhere I have been in the last week there are plenty of both Pepsi and Pepsi Max.. Big C had 30 big packs of Max, yesterday and loads of normal... just been into Tesco Express, is only a small one, the had the shelves and fridge full + at the back was 15 cases..

All bottles are now 1.45.. both Big C and Tesco Express price the same 25 baht each.. the old ones were 24 baht and you got only 1.25 bottles...

[watcharacters]

I prefer the non sugar drinks and hopefully zero calories Sometimes it isn't easy to get.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Peeved about this Pepsi thing, the so called "same thing", est or everlasting shit taste, is just a Thai rip off. Pepsi obviously did not pay enough of a backhander. ;-)

No, they didn't offer enough for the company's shares. Shadows of the Pizza Hut / Pizza Company debacle. And we know which has come out on top (by far).

[draftvader]

Peeved about this Pepsi thing, the so called "same thing", est or everlasting shit taste, is just a Thai rip off. Pepsi obviously did not pay enough of a backhander. ;-)

No, they didn't offer enough for the company's shares. Shadows of the Pizza Hut / Pizza Company debacle. And we know which has come out on top (by far).

Yes, Pizza Hut. 12,800 restaurants in over 90 countries in the world. Pizza Company. 200 restaurants in 1 country. I know which one has come out on top. If the Est brand steps into most other countries they will have to change their branding significantly to avoid being beaten to death by Pepsi.

[HHBM]

Well, I haven't tried 'est' (I think it's in lower case), but it's already ubiquitous and seems to be selling well, as well. I stopped consuming Pepsico products within the last year, anyhow, so that includes Lay's. I prefer the taste of Coca Cola anyhow. Isn't it wonderful to be in a country where you can still find cola in glass bottles and made with real sugar (as opposed to HFCS)? When you can find it, RC Cola is a good choice for taste and costs half the price of the others (or at least it used to be 5 Baht a bottle a couple of years ago). There is Big Cola as well, but not in glass bottles as far as I know.

[elwood]

Peeved about this Pepsi thing, the so called "same thing", est or everlasting shit taste, is just a Thai rip off. Pepsi obviously did not pay enough of a backhander. ;-)

No, they didn't offer enough for the company's shares. Shadows of the Pizza Hut / Pizza Company debacle. And we know which has come out on top (by far).

Yes, Pizza Hut. 12,800 restaurants in over 90 countries in the world. Pizza Company. 200 restaurants in 1 country. I know which one has come out on top. If the Est brand steps into most other countries they will have to change their branding significantly to avoid being beaten to death by Pepsi.

Why mention worldwide figures - we are talking about here in Thailand, where Pizza Company outnumbers Pizza Hut around two to one. I should think that that proves his point.

[Briggsy]

Looks like Thai Beverage are "doing a Beer Chang" again forcing retailers to stock loads of their new product.

I occasionally drink the non-sugar varieties such as Coke Zero or Pepsi Max but now everywhere I go has fridges loaded to the gunnels with EST and little else. Very often they are Pepsi or Coke fridges, LOL.

Looks like the local incorporations of Coke and Pepsi have a real war on their hands which will probably be sorted out behind closed doors. Thai Beverage will get a chunk of the Coke and Pepsi profits somehow and they will withdraw EST some time in the next 2 years.

[hookedondhamma]

I was given a can of est today. It tastes like a diet cola without the awful aftertaste. Well done Thailand, well done.

[arch77778]

Whilst on a drinks subject, i need to contact Coca Cola in Thailand on a certain matter. The email address given to me was incorrect.Could a member please provide me with the current email address.Thanks.

[kkerry]

Looks like Thai Beverage are "doing a Beer Chang" again forcing retailers to stock loads of their new product.

I occasionally drink the non-sugar varieties such as Coke Zero or Pepsi Max but now everywhere I go has fridges loaded to the gunnels with EST and little else. Very often they are Pepsi or Coke fridges, LOL.

Noticed that myself in the past week everywhere I've been and it reminded me of beer Chang as well.

Ask for a Coke Zero or Pepsi Max in many cafes and small restaurants and Est seems the only choice. I think every mini mart out my way has it and in most of the small family run shops it's the only cola they sell. My wife never buys Pepsi in the large bottle but she did this week because she said none of the local mini-marts sold it in small bottles anymore and while she thinks Est is okay she prefers Pepsi if available. Someone is doing a very good job getting their product on the market. At Seven last week for every so much you spent you could purchase a 480ml Est for just 10 baht. Coke Zero seems hard to find in large bottles in supermarkets yet again, never been a consistent supply since the flood.

[jbrain]

Pepsi will use DHL for distribution, but there are strong doubts that DHL will be effective in getting the product efficiently to the small stands and street stalls throughout the country that actually sell a huge percentage of all soft drinks.

They could always distribute it in plastic bags with an elastic, would make it easier for the end of line distributor.