Pepsi in the Philippines
John Clarkin, a native of Minnesota came to the Philippines with the American forces at the close of World War II.
He acquired a franchise to bottle Pepsi-Cola in the Philippines on October 16, 1946. Clarkin became the president and general manager of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of the Philippine Islands Ltd. For a year, Pepsi was imported from the U.S. until the first bottling plant was built in Quezon City in 1947. When Clarkin returned to the US in 1957, PepsiCo Interational took over Pepsi's operation in the country. It became a branch of the PCI Head Office in New York and the name was changed toPepsiCo Inc. (Philippine Branch) in 1983. FUN FACT: From 1979 to 1981, Pepsi had a 60% share of the market fueled by a marketing campaign called "Have a Pepsi Day" and the launching of Mountain Dew. Pepsi Philippines became a Filipino corporation in 1985 when the Pepsi-Cola Distributors of the Philippines Inc. led by the Escaler clan acquired franchising and bottling rights. In 1989, Premier Beverages, under Luis Lorenzo Sr. and the AFP-RSBS assumed majority ownership of the company and renamed itPepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. FUN FACT: Under the Lorenzo group, PCPPI pioneered the plastic returnable bottle and produced its first house brand: Premier bottled water. PCPPI MILESTONES:Guoco Holdings (Philippines) Inc., a Hong Kong-based Holdings company assumed majority ownership of PCPPI. |