Cedar Fair and Pepsi

Pepsi or Coke... Coke or Pepsi. The rage continues. I tell you what, the problem with SF is that they went out and bought all of these little parks that all had existing contracts with Coke or Pepsi. Basically it seems that the company is trying to line up so that all contracts expire at the same time and then go with the best sweetheart deal. I know with experience with GLP that they had Pepsi before like '95 and went Coke sometime around there. Coke has better equiptment and better support. I would wager that either company would give the product at bottom barrel price to SF because of the amount of volume. But they have to make some money off of the product.

For example, the owners of GLP/SFO/WOA pay a price for a bib of Coke (syrup in a box that is then mixed with carbonated water to be dispensed to the consumer), it wasn't the best price for the Coke, but 30 bucks for five gallons of syrup (mixed at something like a 5 or 6 to one ratio water/syrup) and then sold for like 2 something for a 20 ounce equals a TON of profit. The other thing is the kickback for moving each bib of product that the owners of the park see. Prices on the bottled drinks were never that great. Hence the crazy attempts to the three dollar bottle from the machine.

Jeff has claimed before that CP doesn't pay for their product, and perhaps they don't in a respect. But i garuntee that the company is seeing some profit from dealing with the park. Either through a cut of gross or revenue or payment for each unit sold to the park. But the profit margin on drinks are the highest on the menu in the park. In fact all product is returnable (if not expired) at the end of the season. So there is no risk. And from that point of view the park doesn't have to pay for anything. They certainly don't have to pay for machines or coolers, or decorations/ads, or any equiptment. They would have to pay for dry stock and CO2 (unless of course they bottle it) and product. But Pepsi HAS to make money in the deal. But then again i would imagine that the deal is VERY nice if the company would override what any food service department with experience would say. Which is that Coke is a larger, more organized company (but not by much), with far superior equiptment and support. So maybe they don't have to pay for it...

Pepsi is usually marketed to a younger crowd, ie, Mt. Dew. Coke is usually for an older crowd. Thats why I think CP has Pepsi.(With other reasons already stated.). For Paramount they go for more of a family atmosphere at least PKI. So it would make sense for them to have Coke with slightly older GP and children. I personally like Pepsi, Coke gives me an upset stomach. Pepsi sells more in the stores while Coke which is pretty much at every restaurant sells more through the syrup. But I will agree that agreements do go with money. Toledo Public Schools went with Coke because of money. And so did the Toledo Zoo. So in the end MONEY talks!

-----------------
Evolution is wrong!

Now, if more parks would just take the Holiday World route...although that would be a huge loss of revenue for them. Holiday World still seems to bring in a hefty profit though.

I still find it amazing that there are "camps" on the Coke and Pepsi side. While I'd say that there is nothing offered by CC that matches Mt. Dew and there's nothing PepCo has to battle Sprite, the "signature, flagship" drinks themselves (Coke and Pepsi) taste virtually identical to me.

Just give me a generic "cola" and I'll be just as happy.

Yay! Pepsi! Now I can drink something besides their boysenberry punch.

Okay, probably not. It's not often I can have their punch. I can have Pepsi any time. Still, it's nice to have the option.

Coke? It's okay but I prefer Pepsi. These days it's water most of the time :P

Jeremy - Coke offers Mello Yello, which is sometimes hard to find but is far superior to Mountain Dew as far as taste goes.

But to me, Coke and Pepsi have strongly different tastes. Coke is much fizzier, less sweet, and more bitter, with less of a fruity taste. Pepsi is much sweeter and has a more sour fruit taste.

Now RC Cola tastes just like Pepsi to me. As do generic colas. Personally, I really don't like any colas, except Vanilla Coke. Mello Yello rules.

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Well I thought Mello Yellow was like Mt Dew after a ton pf ice was melted in it. Vanilla Coke is just disgusting and I wont even venture to try Pepsi Blue.

lata, jeremy

--who was one of like five people in the country that actually enjoyed "Surge"

Jeremy - DO NOT try Pepsi Blue. Tastes like a melted popsicle.

If you liked Surge (I did too), try the new 7-up drink DNL. Tastes exactly like Surge.

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

But jeremy....you happen to be in the "demographic" that Pepsi Blue is aimed at.....you guessed it, coaster enthusiasts...;)

Vanilla Coke is disgusting, and while I have a slight preference for Diet Coke over Diet Pepsi, please keep that lemon flavoring where it belongs....in the sweet tea!

Coke is a corn syrup base and Pepsi has a citris base. That's the difference.

One park doesn't go for one or the other for any reason but money. The End. When the contract ends the other company is most likely willing to give up more to get the contract back. Hence the switching. It's all about the cash.

And by the way, Coke is a much bigger and (revenue wise) a much more successful company. Their market share is incredible.

There's an entire generation that has come to live by Mountain Dew as previous generations did with coffee. And Mellow Yellow just doesn't cut it as a good substitute. I'm surprised that Coke hasn't taken more notice of this.

-------------
James Draeger
-Born and raised on the 'Dew (but all about bringing back the Crystal Pepsi!)

*** This post was edited by Draegs on 1/24/2003. ***

Mello Yello was, I think, doing a lot better until they took it completely off the market in the mid-90s and replaced it with Surge. When Surge failed, Coke pulled it, and just recently (last 2 years) is slowly leaking Mello Yello back into stores.

It gets NO advertising of any kind, compared to Mountain Dew's onslaught of "extreme" ads. So I'm hoping it will stick around.

Dennis (also wishing Crystal Pepsi would make a comeback.... and New Coke)

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Pepsi Blue is absolutely awful, as if the ridiculous 'Tick Tock' spoken word commercial wasn't a clue.

I prefer regular Coke to regular Pepsi, but will only drink Diet Pepsi.

I absolutely *love* Pepsi Twist, but find the Diet Coke with lemon to be superior to Diet Pepsi Twist.

CRHIS - PESPI TWIS TSUX0R!@!!1 UR DUM!!!!1

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

....coming from a Schlitz drinker, how seriously are we supposed to take those *beverage recommendations*, eh chris?

...there IS just too much tomfoolery around here.....not enough jocularity...;)

gator - it's not the tomfoolery I'm concerned about, it's all the shenanigans and goings-on that worry me.

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Nowadays I prefer Code Red Mt.Dew over Mt. Dew. And I am glad some restaurants serve both. Does anyone now if CP sells Code Red as a fountain drink?

-----------------
Evolution is wrong!

Luckily Den, here in South Park we have a way of dealing with unscrupulous shenaniganizers....:)

Code Red? Ack! I forgot about that one.

Hey, I don't just limit myself to Schlitz, you know. I've been known to enjoy my fair share of PBRs and Old Styles, as well.

-----------------
'I feel it coming on again just like it did before. They feed your pride with boredom and they lead you on to war.' - The Soft Boys 'I Wanna Destroy You.'

PBR....is that like a PBJ....(Jill likes those at parks)....damned hippie vegetarian crap...;)