After making their long-awaited debuts in alcohol, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are pausing to learn more about the category before deciding whether to make it a bigger part of their multibillion-dollar beverage empires.
可口可乐和莫尔森·库尔斯（Molson Coors）于2020年首次联手创建Topo Chico HardSeltzer，今年早些时候在美国九个州上架。在有希望的发布之后，Molson库尔斯宣布会roll out the beverage nationwidein 2022. PepsiCo and Sam Adams maker Boston Beer followed this summer withplans to launch a hard offering在MTN DEW品牌下，预计将于明年年初到达货架。
Coca-Cola, whose portfolio includes Sprite, Fairlife milk and Honest Tea, is assessing the alcohol category before determining whether to expand its presence, CEO JamesQuincey说该公司第二季度的财报电话会议in July. "We want to learn and understand more before we decide anything one direction or the other," he said.
Beverage companies have been moving aggressively to expand their portfolios in recent years to include teas, sports and energy drinks and sparkling waters as consumers look for more choice while curtailing their consumption of sugar-laden liquids. John Boylan, a senior equity analyst with Edward Jones, said alcohol adds yet another option depending on the occasion or a consumer's beverage preference at the time.
“我们并不是真的认为[百事可乐和可口可乐]会变成成熟的酒精公司。我认为这是他们的bailiwick，但我们确实认为他们会看着这很有意义的领域，”博伊兰说。“他们只是在寻找任何可以在消费者面前放饮料的途径。”
Alcohol represents a lucrative opportunity for nonalcohol companies whose own industry lacks meaningful growth on a scale large enough to impact the bottom line, said Nathan Greene, an analyst at Beverage Marketing Corporation.
"There's plenty of products hitting the market. In fact, there's all-time high levels of innovation, but the Coke and Pepsi ballpark scale — what they're looking for, what they call success — it's fairly limited right now," he said. "Alcohol represents the greatest margin generation opportunity, even if it is with a partner, compared to various nonalcoholic products."
一个主要原因碳酸饮料巨头选择的部分ner is because of the complicated three-tier distribution system enacted in 1933 to prevent any one player from dominating the industry like gangsters had during Prohibition. Federal law says alcohol producers can only sell their product to state-licensed wholesalers. The distributors in turn sell the alcohol products to state-licensed stores where consumers can then purchase it.
对于酒精制造商MolsonCoors，AB Inbev和Boston Beer，他们数十年来导航该复杂系统的经验已被证明可用于吸引新合作伙伴进入该空间。它还为他们提供了将其投资组合添加到潜在的利润丰厚的品牌，并具有即时的市场认可和最少的前期投资。
"We don't really think that [PepsiCo and Coca-Cola] are going to morph into full-blown alcohol companies. I think this is out of their bailiwick, but we do think that they'll look at in in areas where it makes sense. They're just looking for any avenue where they can put a beverage in front of the consumer."
约翰·博伊兰（John Boylan）
高级股票分析师爱德华·琼斯（Edward Jones）
昆西指出，与苏打水，茶，果汁，水或咖啡不同，可口可乐与百事可乐一起占主导地位，酒精是一个不同的行业，具有独特的特征和监管要求。可口可乐是非委员会的事实，这可能表明它的拥挤程度如何考虑这一类别，或者希望在决定如何做出回应之前看到需求在未来几个月内如何发挥作用。
PepsiCo appears to be taking a similarly measured approach. In an email, PepsiCo told Food Dive the partnership with Boston Beer allows both companies to tap into their expertise. In the beverage giant's case, this includes its iconic Mtn Dew brand and deep customer base, combined with the alcohol maker's insight in brewing and developing hard seltzers and hard teas.
6月，百事可乐提交了一项商标申请，表明饮料和小吃巨人最终可以决定决定sell alcoholic beverages under the Rockstar brand name。For now, PepsiCo downplayed any further expansion plans, telling Food Dive: "We currently do not have plans to launch alcoholic versions of any other brands, but [we're] always evaluating."
甚至在百事可乐宣布计划通过其波士顿啤酒合作伙伴关系进入酒精的计划之前，饮料和小吃巨人涉足该类别pair of nonalcoholic cocktail mixer brandsthis year called Neon Zebra and Unmuddled. The drinks are designed to appeal to consumers spending more time at home who want to avoid complicated cocktail recipes or large-format mixers.
格林推测与酒精公司的合作伙伴关系可能会将可口可乐和百事可乐置于更好的位置，如果FDA合法化食品和饮料中的大院合法化，则可以使制造商更容易跨州产品出售这些产品。
Similar to beer, wine and spirits, alcohol companies have the distribution network and likely more familiarity of the legal requirements around cannabis. MolsonCoors is partnering with Hexo to try out new products, including one with THC in Canada and CBD-based beverages in select U.S. markets, while Boston Beer hascreated a subsidiarythat will oversee research and innovation into nonalcoholic cannabis beverages.
格林说：“这里肯定有未来证明的要素。”“大麻很可能是下一个大事……而且饮料肯定会很难成为大麻选择的产品形式。”
PepsiCo recently introduced Rockstar Unplugged, a functional beverage line that contains hemp seeds as a way to encourage relaxation and improve mood. Unlike cannabis, hemp legally sold in the U.S. must contain 0.3% or less of THC, the compound that creates the feeling on being high.
As tastes and values change, especially among younger consumers, beverage makers aren't losing sight of their core offerings that continue to generate tens of billions of dollars in sales. But at the same time, they have little choice but to position themselves for future growth by testing out new categories even if the future is anything but clear.
"This is definitely a learning exercise. What we think is likely happening here is that they're looking at this space, and if it works out, that might be a good springboard into something else," Boylan said. "What that something else might be, we don't know."
