With temperatures beginning to rise already, soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi are evaluating the options of launching iced tea and cold coffee through vending machines, apart from dispensing hot beverages.
PepsiCo India on Friday said it has begun test marketing tea and coffee (both hot and cold versions) through vending machines in Delhi in a joint venture with Hindustan Lever Ltd.
"We have begun test marketing tea and coffee through vending machines in Delhi. This is a joint venture with HLL wherein we will provide them Aquafina water and vending machines while Hindustan Lever will give us the technology," Subroto Chattopadhyay, executive director, Pepsi Foods, told reporters in New Delhi.
He said tea will be under the brand name Lipton, while coffee will also carry the HLL brand name Bru.
When contacted, Sunil Gupta, vice-president, Coca-Cola India, told PTI: "We do not have iced tea and coffee as yet but we plan to launch these through vending machines shortly."
Besides entering the tea-coffee segment, PepsiCo is also evaluating whether to launch other non-carbonated products from among the large global portfolio. Among the products being studied for a possible launch are sports drink Gatorade and juice blends, which may come under brand name Twister.
Chattopadhyay said the company's focus in non-carbonated segment would be on developing more products which suit needs of children, and several variants are being contemplated in the juice category alone.
"Juice is an area where a lot can be done. For example, we could have smoothies (which have yogurt as well as juice) and other juice-based drinks. We are evaluating these options but nothing has been decided as yet," he said, adding two new juice blends will hit the market next month.
On bottled water Aquafina, Chattopadhyay said the bulk water business was logging over 30 per cent growth rates.
"Three new plants for bulk water are coming up at Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. Each is a franchisee operation with close to a million dollar investment in each," he said.
Meanwhile, he also announced the association of Pepsi's juice brand Tropicana with the International Jumping Competition oraganised by the Indian Army.
