A Coke is a Coke is a Coke … except when it isn’t.
Deep in the heart of Coca-Cola country, there’s at least one place where the iconic caramel-colored fizz doesn’t reign supreme — at least not the version most Americans know.
At Las Tarascas Latino Supermarket, 30 miles from the soft drink giant’s world headquarters, store manager Eric Carvallo adjusts prized bottles of Mexican Coke displayed prominently at the front of the store.
Taste is the main reason why his discriminating shoppers buy Mexican Coke — they say the cane sugar sweetener used in Mexican Coke has a sweeter, cleaner flavor than the high-fructose corn syrup in the American version. Many are willing to pay $1.10 per 12-ounce bottle for the imports, even with cans of American Coke sitting nearby for 49 cents each.
“You drink it and taste it — it’s something you tasted all your life,” said Carvallo, referring to the many immigrants who prefer Mexican Coke over its American counterpart.
I’ve heard of this before, actually, usually more in context of when Coke changed in the US market from cane sugar to the less expensive “high-fructose corn syrup” in the 80s.
Alas, this is not producing a Coke and a smile in some quarters.
With a niche market for Mexican Coke taking root in the United States, The Coca-Cola Co. and its bottlers are quietly looking to block its passage across the border.
One reason the Atlanta-based company wants the drink to have a low profile in the United States is that bottlers here don’t profit from sales of the import, which are produced by independent Mexican bottlers. Mexican Coke, brought in by third-party distributors and retailers, infringes on franchise territory rights of the U.S. plants.
“We believe that those territory rights belong to the rightful bottlers,” said Coke spokesman Mart Martin.
I.e., “Never mind what the customer wants, we cut deals with distributors, and they’re the ones we’re interested in making happy.”
Coke may also be afraid that consumers will begin to prefer the alternate formulation and want Coke to provide it domestically — at the same cost, and, thus, at lower margins.
Fortunately, since it’s not a counterfeit product, there’s no basis for asking Customs to hold up shipments of Mexican Coke at the border. At least not the fizzy kind.
(via DBD)