Puerto Rican Sodas

[mcdonaat]

So, I have until Monday to let this guy know what types of drinks to send from Puerto Rico. A USPS flat rate box is about $16 for shipping from there to the mainland, and they have everything we have, except in Spanish instead of Engrish. What types of drinks are amazing from PR (if anyone's actually been there) versus here on the mainland?

[SP Cook]

I never noticed much of anything you cannot find in the USA.  As a rule, I find Spanish places are more into fruit flavors than English places, but its not like you cannot find fruit sodas in the USA.  Maybe some odd fruit flavors.  Also several coffee flavored drinks.  Nothing worth shipping home.  As with most everyplace other than USA/Canada Coke and its imitator are not on an even plane, with Coke dominating the market.

They have a local beer, Medalla (which I suppose means Medal or Medallion).  Its not bad, but nothing to ship home.  Mostly it is cheaper there because they make it there, while major brands are shipped in.

[Brandon]

I never noticed much of anything you cannot find in the USA. 

Maybe because Puerto Rico is a part of the USA.  I believe the term you're looking for is "mainland", same as for Hawai'i.

[Pink Jazz]

Well, I know in Puerto Rico, PepsiCo doesn't sell Sierra Mist; they bottle 7-Up in Puerto Rico which isn't a Pepsi product in the mainland United States.

[Brandon]

Well, I know in Puerto Rico, PepsiCo doesn't sell Sierra Mist; they bottle 7-Up in Puerto Rico which isn't a Pepsi product in the mainland United States.

A lot of Pepsi and Coke bottlers used to bottle things like 7-Up and Dr Pepper at one time.  Usually it is because Sierra Mist/Slice or Mr Pibb isn't available in that market for some reason.  Fewer and fewer Pepsi and Coke bottlers do that anymore.

[Jardine]

I don't know if it is still available, but PR at one time had Tang in other flavors besides orange.

Weird, yes, very, very weird.

[SP Cook]

A lot of Pepsi and Coke bottlers used to bottle things like 7-Up and Dr Pepper at one time.  Usually it is because Sierra Mist/Slice or Mr Pibb isn't available in that market for some reason.  Fewer and fewer Pepsi and Coke bottlers do that anymore.

Bottling contracts to different beverages were sold, more or less, "forever" to different bottlers, mostly bounded by county lines.  This was decades ago and Coke and Pepsi were not in a position to dictate what other flavors bottlers could carry as a sideline.  (Coke did not even have anything besides Coke in the USA until the early 60s). 

Starting in the 80s both Coke and Pepsi started putting their foot down with the bottlers relative to 7UP.  They started forcing bottlers to sell of 7UP rights to other bottlers and carry Slice, later Sierra Mist; or Sprite.  They have been less aggressive with Dr Pepper, because it is a major seller, especially in the South.  As it relates to Coke bottlers, if a bottler has Dr Pepper too, it will only make a token effort with Pibb, but it does not, it will market it heavily.   All in all about 40% of the USA gets Dr Pepper from an "independent" bottler, while the rest get if from either the Coke or Pepsi bottler, about 30% each.  I can travel less than 45 miles and find Dr Pepper distributed each way, in different counties.

Weirdly, the trademark and formula to both products have different ownerships, depending on where you are in the world.  In the USA (and for this purpose, Puerto Rico is not a part of the USA) 7UP and Dr Pepper belong to a US based company called Dr Pepper-Snapple Group.  In the rest of the world, 7UP belongs to Pepsi.  Dr Pepper also belongs to DrPSG in a random list of a dozen other countries, but to Coke everywhere else.  Has to do with anti-trust.

On the subject of bottling, Coke is in the middle of what it calls "refranchising".  The way it works is that, starting in the 80s, a big company, called Coca-Cola Enterprises, started buying up all of the little bottlers around the country.  Ended up with about 80% of the USA and 95% of Canada.  A couple of years ago, Coke bought CCE.  But is now selling the territories off again.  But with a difference.  The traditional bottling contracts, including the 20% of the CCE never owned, give the right to buy syrup from Coke and make soda for sale.  In the new contracts, Coke is retaining the bottling operations, the distributor buys the products from Coke in a complete form and just handles delivery and marketing.

[Jardine]

And in case anyone was wondering, it is possible to have Coke and Pepsi in the same vending machine, but apparently the only way to do it is to buy a vending machine and stock it yourself.

Friend of mine had a business and wanted a single machine with both, and that was the only way he could figure out how to do it.

[realjd]

I don't remember seeing any sodas in PR that you can't find in the rest of the US but to be fair I wasn't really looking.

[Brandon]

I don't remember seeing any sodas in PR that you can't find in the rest of the US but to be fair I wasn't really looking.

I would think they'd have the same soda as the rest of the US - things like Arm & Hammer.  I'd also think they'd have much of the same pop. 

[realjd]

I don't remember seeing any sodas in PR that you can't find in the rest of the US but to be fair I wasn't really looking.

I would think they'd have the same soda as the rest of the US - things like Arm & Hammer.  I'd also think they'd have much of the same pop. 

Nope, at least in Puerto Rican Spanish the word is still "soda".

(Also "refresco")

[mcdonaat]

Well, I know in Puerto Rico, PepsiCo doesn't sell Sierra Mist; they bottle 7-Up in Puerto Rico which isn't a Pepsi product in the mainland United States.

A lot of Pepsi and Coke bottlers used to bottle things like 7-Up and Dr Pepper at one time.  Usually it is because Sierra Mist/Slice or Mr Pibb isn't available in that market for some reason.  Fewer and fewer Pepsi and Coke bottlers do that anymore.

I guess Lafayette would be that "fewer" area. You can't buy Sierra Mist or Mug RB because Pepsi and Dr Pepper are the same entity. You can find 7up in glass bottles, clear ones strangely enough, and A&W being stocked right next to Pepsi. I also know that Pibb is marketed pretty heavily because it's the only district to have it. Baton Rouge, Alexandria, New Orleans (I think) and Lake Charles carry Dr Pepper with Coke, but Lafayette is different.

Strangely enough, Dr Pepper is usually never distributed by the same bottler as RC, Nehi, Sunkist, or Canada Dry, but is sold right next to each other in the grocery stores. Maybe it's to keep the same items together across multiple markets, but I know that Coke is separated from Dr Pepper at my local store, where DP is next to Sunkist, Nehi, Crush, RC, and Canada Dry products.