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PepsiCo history
PepsiCo company history timeline
He coined the name "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898 while marketing the drink from his pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina.
The company underwent a series of changes, assuming its present name in 1901.
The Quaker Oats Company was officially formed in 1901 when four American grain pioneers came together to incorporate the now household name.
The drink proved so popular that in 1902 Bradham incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company.
The business began to grow, and on June 16, 1903, "Pepsi-Cola" became an official trademark.
The recipe earned popularity and Bradham registered a patent for the recipe in 1903.
By 1904, the Pepsi-Cola Syrup sales reached almost 20,000 gallons.
1904 - Bradham purchases a building in New Bern known as the "Bishop Factory" for $5,000 and moves all bottling and syrup operations to this location.
1905: Bradham begins establishing a network of bottling franchises.
1906 - Pepsi gets another logo change, the third in eight years.
1907 - Pepsi-Cola Company continues to expand; the company's bottling network grows to 40 franchises.
1908 - Pepsi-Cola becomes one of the first companies to modernize delivery from horse drawn carts to motor vehicles.
By 1910 there were 240 franchises in 24 states and that year the Pepsi-Cola Company held their first Bottler Convention in New Bern.
The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1919.
1920 - Pepsi theme line speaks to the consumer with "Drink Pepsi-Cola, it will satisfy you."
By 1922, the company had lost so much money that Bradham went bankrupt.
On June 8, 1923, the company trademark and secret recipe were purchased by Craven Holding Corporation.
1928: Roy C. Megargel reorganizes the firm as the National Pepsi-Cola Company.
But his successors fared no better and it was not until the end of the 1930’s that Pepsi-Cola again became profitable.
1931: Company again goes bankrupt and is resurrected by the president of Loft Inc., Charles G. Guth.
In 1931, Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, purchased the Pepsi trademark, business, and goodwill from Craven Holding in association with Charles Guth.
In 1932, Herman W. Lay began a potato chip business in Nashville, Tennessee.
1933: The size of Pepsi bottles is doubled, increasing sales dramatically.
By the end of 1933, Guth bought out Megargel and owned 91 percent of the insolvent company.
In 1934, Pepsi sells their 12 ounce bottle for only 5 cents during the Depression which rakes in sales compared to its competitors.
In 1935, the shareholders of Loft sued Guth for his 91% stake of Pepsi-Cola Company in the landmark case Guth v.
1936: Pepsi-Cola Company becomes a subsidiary of Loft.
1939: First national radio advertising of the Pepsi brand.
In 1940, the first ever jingle is created to advertise Pepsi. "Nickle, Nickle" is the first ever jingle to be played on the radio.
He had been an amateur boxing champion in his youth and joined the company as a production line worker in 1947 after a stint in the United States Navy.
Profits in 1948 were down $3.6 million from the year before.
Pepsi began to sell canned soft drinks in 1948.
Walter Mack was appointed company chairman in 1950, and a former Coca-Cola vice-president of sales, Alfred N. Steele, took over as president and chief executive officer, bringing 15 other Coke executives with him.
Early Pepsi advertising campaigns played off the "Nickel Nickel" jingle with such slogans as "Twice as Much" and "Why Take Less When Pepsi's Best?" Then, with a 1953 campaign called "The Light Refreshment," Pepsi shifted its focus from lower prices to a lower caloric content.
By the time Alfred Steele married movie star Joan Crawford in 1954, a transformation of the company was well underway.
The actress also worked hard to spread the Pepsi word overseas and accompanied her husband, now chairman of the board, on his 1957 tour of Europe and Africa, where bottling plants were being established.
Have a Pepsi" in 1958, that targeted young people.
Product innovation continued, and in 1958 a distinctive new "swirl" bottle was introduced.
Photo: Nikita Khrushchev enjoys a Pepsi with Donald Kendall, with then-VP Richard Nixon looking on (1959).
By 1960, Pepsi profits reached $14.2 million and the company was advertising their soft drink to "Those who think young."
At a grocer's convention in 1960, he met Herman W. Lay, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Frito-Lay, the nation's leading manufacturer of such snack foods as Lay's potato chips, Cheetos, Ruffles, and Rold Gold pretzels.
Jones began selling the product in 1961 using a simple marketing campaign that attempted to put the drink in as many hands as possible.
Founded in 1962 by American entrepreneur Glen Bell, the chain has more than 7,000 locations and over 350 franchisees worldwide.
Before the first Taco Bell opened in Downey, California, in 1962, Glen Bell owned and operated several other restaurants, including Bell’s Drive-In and Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernardino.
By 1963, Kendall was presiding over the Pepsi empire.
1964: Diet Pepsi debuts; Mountain Dew is acquired from Tip Corporation.
The company's expansion beyond the soft drink market began in 1965 when Kendall met Herman Lay, the owner of Frito-Lay, at a grocer's convention.
Nonetheless, since its 1965 beginnings, in which Gatorade was invented to help the University of Florida's football team, Gatorade's primary focus had been on athletes.
In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc.
PepsiCo's 1966 Annual Report is released.
1967: Frito-Lay introduces Doritos tortilla chips to the national United States market.
The overnight success drew little attention from the business world, and in 1967 the Indianapolis-based food-processing company Stokely-Van Camp bought the rights to Gatorade for just $30,000.
But Kendall also diversified outside the food and drink industry, bringing North American Van Lines (acquired in 1968), Lee Way Motor Freight, and Wilson Sporting Goods into the PepsiCo empire.
Gatorade's first nationwide advertising campaign was released in 1969, costing Stokely-Van Camp $4 million.
The company's headquarters were also relocated to Purchase, New York in 1970.
The addition of Frito-Lay helped PepsiCo achieve $1 billion in sales for the first time in 1970.
In 1972, Pepsi becomes the first United States consumer product to be produced, marketed and sold in the Soviet Union.
When ad agency BBDO took over the Mountain Dew account in 1973, the brand's target market was defined as the young and active.
Pepsi Light, a diet cola with a hint of lemon, made its debut in 1975, and a few years later Pepsi tested the market with Aspen apple soda and On-Tap root beer.
In 1976, PepsiCo launched a head-to-head combat with Coke by offering drinkers a blind taste test to see whether they could tell the difference between the two colas.
In 1978 PepsiCo Inc. purchased 868 Taco Bell restaurants for about $125 million.
Herman W. Lay created the first national potato chip brand in the United States He served as chairman of the board for the newly formed PepsiCo and then chairman of the executive committee before his retirement in 1980.
1981: Frito-Lay introduces Tostitos tortilla chips.
In 1982, with Gatorade's annual revenues at $90 million, Stokely-Van Camp became the target of an aggressive bidding war.
In 1982 Pepsi Free and Diet Pepsi Free, the first major brand caffeine-free colas, were introduced.
In the 1990s, however, those marketing strategies, and the fortunes of the diet category as a whole, changed dramatically. Its signature slogan, "Just For the Taste of It," began running in 1982.
In 1983 the company claimed a significant share of the fast-food soft drink market when Burger King began selling Pepsi products.
After Quaker Oats acquired Gatorade in 1983, the drink's connection to professional athletes was fixed.
When Quaker Oats bought Stokely-Van Camp Co. for an astounding $269 million in 1983, it was clear that Gatorade brought the possibility of big earnings.
Profits continued to decrease in 1983 when the value of the peso, Mexico's currency, dropped dramatically.
Calloway hoped to build on the phenomenal success of the Slice line of fruit juice beverages, which achieved $1 billion in sales and created a new beverage category within just two years of its 1984 introduction.
Quaker further immersed Gatorade in the sports world; in 1984 it launched the Gatorade "Thirst Aid" advertising campaign and in the meantime connected the drink brand to several professional sporting leagues, including Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the NBA, and the Olympics.
In 1984 Diet Pepsi was reformulated with a new artificial sweetener, aspartame, which was marketed under the trade name NutraSweet.
Hostilities commenced soon after the Coca-Cola Company changed its syrup recipe in the summer of 1985 and with much fanfare introduced New Coke.
The latter group must have nodded off in front of their television sets when Pepsi took the Cola Wars beyond the firmament. 'One Giant Sip for Mankind,' proclaimed the ads as a Pepsi 'space can' was opened up aboard the United States space shuttle Challenger in 1985.
Kraar, Louis, “Pepsi’s Pitch to Quench Chinese Thirsts,” Fortune, March 17, 1986.
1986: The Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) chain is acquired.
D. Wayne Calloway replaced Donald M. Kendall as chairman and chief executive officer in 1986.
In 1987 another Diet Pepsi commercial, "Mustang," became the first advertisement ever to appear on a movie video.
In the restaurant segment, PepsiCo’s 1990 acquisition of the Hot ’n Now hamburger chain continued its emphasis on value priced fast foods.
In 1991 Gatorade signed a $13.5 million, 10-year contract with the basketball superstar, creating the "Be Like Mike" advertising campaign.
PepsiCo, Inc., entered the ready-to-drink tea market in 1991 when it joined with the Thomas J. Lipton Company (which later became part of Unilever) to form the Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership to market, produce, and develop tea-based drinks.
In 1992, PepsiCo introduced Crystal Pepsi, a clear cola that, while still a traditional soda, also tried to capture the momentum of the 'New Age' beverage trend.
In 1992, for example, the company forged a joint venture with General Mills called Snack Ventures Europe which emerged as the largest firm in the $17 billion market.
"Mountain Dew's 1993 Ad Campaign Debuts with 14-Minute Single-Night Advertising Schedules." PR Newswire, March 17, 1993.
By 1993, PepsiCo had invested over $5 billion in international businesses, and its international sales comprised 27 percent, or $6.71 billion, of total annual sales.
With the "Do the Dew" campaign that began in 1993, this focus was obvious.
The shoot called for Harris to dive from an exploding plane at 5,000 feet, the kind of daring stunt he had performed in a dozen TV spots since 1993.
PepsiCo was the first company to stamp expiration dates, starting in March 1994.
The company also launched a new marketing (or, as the company phrased it, 'product quality') initiative early in 1994, when it announced that packaged carbonated soft drink products sold in the United States would voluntarily be marked with a 'Best if Consumed By' date.
Introduced in 1994, its "Always Coca-Cola" theme succeeded by hammering its image-building message home to consumers.
"102.7 KIIS-FM and Aquafina Unite for the 3rd All-Star Benefit Concert." Business Wire, May 25, 1995.
In 1995 Mountain Dew sponsored the Grammy Awards and used the jaded tagline "Been There, Done That, Tried That." That same year tennis superstar Andre Agassi signed a deal to promote Mountain Dew in the United States.
In 1995 Coca-Cola spent $125.7 million to advertise its regular and diet colas.
While Diet Pepsi's market share slipped from 5.8 percent to 5.7 percent in 1995, Diet Coke was having its own problems.
The campaign's first spot, which debuted on June 17, 1996, showed the miniature animated Sinatra figure performing to a packed house of screaming fans, only to be too tired to do an encore.
PepsiCo ended up taking $576 million in special charges related to international writeoffs and restructuring, and its international arm posted a huge operating loss of $846 million, depressing 1996 profits.
By 1996 the citrus drink had displaced Dr Pepper as the top-selling noncola product in the United States.
The Spice Girls, an international all-female pop music combo, forged their own alliance with the soda maker in May 1997.
The spinoff was completed in October 1997 with the formation of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., consisting of the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC chains.
PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold so it could focus on its primary snack food and beverage lines, according to investment analysts reporting on the divestments in 1997.
The company in 1997 nationally launched the Aquafina bottled water brand, which quickly gained the number one position in a fast-growing sector.
By the end of 1997 the new drink was available in 90 percent of the United States market and had achieved a loyal teen following.
The "Generation Next" campaign is considered a failure by most industry analysts, but another of the cola giant's moves of 1997 won instant accolades from its shareholders.
Of 1997 revenues, $10.54 billion was earned by the company's beverages operations, and $10.37 billion was earned by its snack foods operations.
1998: PepsiCo acquires Tropicana Products for $3.3 billion.
The company purchased Tropicana Products in 1998.
In television spots that aired in 1998, Aquafina, alluding to Evian's pricey brand and pretentiousness, mockingly referred to its competitor's water as "Envie." Aquafina's then-tagline, "Pure water.
The soft drink giant also agreed to produce a series of baseball-oriented television ads for airing during the 1998 season.
For years the Quaker Oats Company had promoted the health-related benefits of its oatmeal products, and so its 1998 "Warms You, Heart and Soul" campaign was not a departure from established strategy.
"Spotlighting a town and the voices of its everyday people is unprecedented in Quaker's advertising campaigns," Sally Kroha, director of oatmeal advertising for the company, told Judann Pollack of Advertising Age in 1998.
The state's celebration began on New Year's Day in 1998, 100 years after the pharmacist in New Bern had put the finishing touches on his unique concoction.
Officers: Roger Enrico, Chmn. & CEO, 53, 1998 base salary $900,000; Karl M. von der Heyden, VChmn.
Three more were expected to be built in 1998.
1999: Pepsi Bottling Group is spun off to the public, with PepsiCo retaining a 35 percent stake.
In 1999 Aquafina reaffirmed its connection with athletes when it became the lead sponsor of the All-American Soccer Stars Victory Tour.
"Aquafina Plays Up Pure Water Necessities in First National TV Advertising Campaign." PR Newswire, May 15, 2000.
Unger, Henry. "Coke Launches Advertising Campaign to Boost Bottled-Water Line." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 3, 2000.
Since 2000, Taco Bell has continued to find distinctive ways to brand and partner in order to attract customers.
In 2000 Coca-Cola released a $15 million national ad campaign for Dasani. "Life Simplified" focused on the busy and stressed-out woman, revealing how her life could be simplified by drinking Dasani.
By September 2001 Code Red had become the fifth-best-selling soft drink in convenience stores.
In October 2001 Code Red aired its first television spot, "Hoops." The commercial, which portrayed an inner-city basketball game, was far from ordinary.
McKay, Betsy, and Suzanne Vranica. "Selling Iced Tea in February: Inside One Campaign." Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2002.
Within a year Pepsi, with its 2002 Gatorade "Origins" advertising campaign, helped the 35-year-old sports drink make its history known.
As such, in 2003 Coke introduced Sprite Remix, which added tropical flavors to the original drink.
Most notably, in 2003 the Code Red campaign as a whole won a Gold EFFIE Award (Carbonated Soft Drink category) from the New York American Marketing Association.
By 2003 the number had increased to 8.3 billion.
The campaign debuted to 30 million viewers on July 13, 2004, during the broadcast of Major League Baseball's 75th All-Star Game.
Aquafina, with ad agency BBDO New York, debuted its "Drink More Water" campaign on July 13, 2004, during the broadcast of Major League Baseball's 75th All-Star Game.
In 2004 the company partnered with Mountain Dew soda and released Mountain Dew Baja Blast, which, for some time, could only be purchased at Taco Bell.
In 2004 Mello Yello launched its own red version: Cherry Mello Yello.
In 2004 "Drink Up" was given a WIN (Women's Image Network) Ad Award.
In a further attempt to gain market share, in 2004 Monarch introduced two low-carbohydrate versions of its sports drink.
"BBDO Strikes Gold at the EFFIEs; Wins More Gold than Any Other Agency." PR Newswire, June 8, 2005.
The Coca-Cola Company has historically been considered PepsiCo's primary competitor in the beverage market, and in December 2005, PepsiCo surpassed The Coca-Cola Company in market value for the first time in 12 years since both companies began to compete.
To celebrate the 2005 New Year, Aquafina put up its first-ever billboard in New York City's Times Square.
In 2007 the company began a promotion with Major League Baseball that promised one free taco to everyone in the United States for every stolen base in the World Series.
In 2008 it bought a controlling interest in JSC Lebedyansky, Russia’s largest juice manufacturer, and three years later it completed its acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods.
In 2009 Taco Bell became the official fast-food partner of the NBA, replacing McDonald’s.
Beverages accounted for less than 50 percent of its total revenue in 2009.
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats brands hold a significant share of the United States snack food market, accounting for approximately 39 percent of United States snack food sales in 2009.
In 2010 this acquisition was completed, resulting in the formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Pepsi Beverages Company.
When it acquired the remaining 23% stake of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods in October 2011, PepsiCo became the largest food and beverage company in Russia.
In July 2012, PepsiCo announced a joint venture with the Theo Muller Group which was named Muller Quaker Dairy.
A similar promotion began in 2012 in a partnership with Frito Lay; the result, Doritos Locos Tacos, saw considerable success.
The company was also ranked #41 on the Fortune 500 list, in 2012.
PepsiCo's brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Lay's potato chips, Diet Pepsi, 7 Up, Cheetos, Aquafina bottled water and Tropicana beverages among others.The company generated 66 billion in revenue in 2013 and has more than two hundred and seventy four thousands employees worldwide.
Taco Bell took on competitors in other ways as well. It began offering breakfast nationwide in 2014; among its unique offerings were a waffle taco and a breakfast burrito, along with more traditional pastries, orange juice, and coffee.
Then, in 2015 Taco Bell released its vegan and vegetarian menu, introduced a limited delivery service in the United States, and opened its first location that sold alcohol (in Chicago).
Since becoming a key sponsor in 2015, PepsiCo has partnered with UEFA to excite and bring fans closer to the athletes and game they love.
After 39 years trading on the New York Stock Exchange, PepsiCo moved its shares to Nasdaq on December 20, 2017.
On December 2, 2019, PepsiCo acquired the snacks brand, BFY Brands, who are going to be folded into the Frito-Lay division.
PepsiCo announces that its snacks and drinks will be made with renewable electricity in the United States by the end of 2020.
PepsiCo generated $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream.
"PepsiCo, Inc. ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Retrieved June 21, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/pepsico-inc-0
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaker Oats | 1877 | $3.8B | 10,000 | - |
| General Mills | 1866 | $19.9B | 35,000 | 146 |
| Pinnacle Foods Group LLC | 1998 | $3.1B | 4,900 | - |
| The Coca-Cola Company | 1892 | $47.1B | 86,200 | 824 |
| McDonald's | 1940 | $25.9B | 210,000 | 43,932 |
| Frito-Lay | 1989 | $15.8B | 166 | 218 |
| Pizza Hut | 1958 | $7.5B | 350,000 | 10,304 |
| Ecolab | 1923 | $15.7B | 50,000 | 538 |
| Pepsi Cola Federal Credit Union | 1956 | $25.0M | 50 | 3 |
| Merck | 1891 | $64.2B | 74,000 | 1,483 |
PepsiCo history FAQs
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PepsiCo may also be known as or be related to PepsiCo, PepsiCo Inc, PepsiCo, Inc., Pepsico Caribbean, Inc., Pepsico Inc and pepsico/frito-lay.