Pepsi is introducing a new coffee-infused cola.
Twice as caffeinated as a regular soda and available in vanilla flavor is Pepsi’s new drink #PepsiCafe. CNN reports this is the company’s attempt at leveraging consumer trends to help the sales of its main product. “Cola has been a pretty stagnant category over the last 20-30 years,” said Todd Kaplan, vice president of marketing for Pepsi. “As consumer preferences continue to evolve, we as Pepsi need to evolve as well to better meet those needs.”
According to CNN, on-the-go iced coffee drinks are increasing in sales, which motivated the company to get in on the market. Pepsi hasn’t tried coffee-based colas since their first products Pepsi Kona and Pepsi Max Cino. Those didn’t do very well, but the soda brand is ready to dust itself off and try again. “We think the consumers today have now caught up with this trend,” Kaplan said.
When consumers tested out the new version, they were “quite surprised about the synergy between cola and coffee,” said Danielle Barbaro, director of research and development at PepsiCo. “Once they tasted it, they saw that the flavors really blended.” The soda coffees will hit shelves everywhere in the country in April of 2020.
“The concept of cola infused with coffee, for people to initially wrap their head around until they try it, it’s gonna take some time to catch on,” Kaplan said. Still, he added, “we think there’s a real market there.”
