Costco plots controversial soda move across food courts nationwide

Costco plans to make a big change to its food court soda offerings next year.

The department store chain reportedly plans to remove Pepsi drinks from its soda fountains and replace them with Coca-Cola products.

The new drinks include Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke and Sprite, according to the Daily Meal.

The changes are expected to be rolled out in early 2025, according to online reports.

For the past decade, Costco has offered only Pepsi drinks in its food court after failing to negotiate lower distribution costs with Coca-Cola in 2013.

It took years for the transition to be fully completed, as Costco has more than 800 locations around the world.

It is also not the first time that the retailer and the soft drink giant have come into conflict with each other.

In 2009, when Costco was still distributing Coca-Cola products, there was another price dispute.

Costco pulled the products from food courts for a month and the disagreement was eventually resolved.

Retailers such as Costco can only serve Pepsi or Coca-Cola products, but due to product contracts cannot distribute both at the same time.

The beverage companies bid for contracts to supply their products to such chains, and often the bid with the lowest cost to the retailer wins.

Costco must keep its contract costs low to maintain its famously low deals, especially the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.

The price has remained the same for decades despite inflation, and it is a beloved staple of retail food courts.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola have been rivals for decades, but the last time they came close in terms of market share was in the 1980s.

Since then, Coca-Cola has become the undisputed king of the $97 billion U.S. soft drink industry, with more than double the market share of all its rivals: 19.18 percent.

The brand has been working hard to not only promote its original and diet products, but also to appeal to new customers with new and nostalgic flavors, such as the upcoming Coca-Cola Orange Cream.

Pepsi’s market share is 8.31 percent and Dr Pepper now 8.34 percent.

Costco can only serve Pepsi or Coca-Cola products in its soda fountains

Costco must keep its contract costs low to maintain its $1.50 hot dog-soda combo

But the Pepsi brand remains the No. 2 soft drink when you take into account the diet and sugar-free versions.

Despite coming in first place, Dr Pepper struggled with its rivals who retreated further during the cola wars.

That bitter battle began in the 1960s when Pepsi launched its Pepsi Generation campaign, presenting the drink as a hip alternative to Coke for young people.

Pepsi, which also released famous ads featuring Michael Jackson in 1984, never quite caught Coca-Cola. But it came very close in the 1980s as the war intensified.

And — except for three years from 2010, when Diet Coke entered the market — regular Pepsi has ranked second since Beverage Digest began collecting data in 1985.

Dr Pepper has been helped by the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi, which often have exclusive deals with national restaurant chains so they only have one type of Coke.

For example, McDonald’s is Coke, but KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are Pepsi. Subway, meanwhile, will move from Coca-Cola to Pepsi in 2025.

But Dr Pepper owner Keurig has deals with both parties, so it’s on almost all drink fountains, whether they’re Coke or Pepsi branded.

Whenever a major change shifts the product offering, it causes some controversy among fans.

Earlier this year, Subway announced it would drop Coca-Cola products as it struck a 10-year deal with Pepsi.

Under the agreement, all U.S. Subway locations will offer drinks such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Lipton starting in January 2025.