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Posted on 08/25/2025 2:01:19 PM PDT by DallasBiff
In the mid-1980s, the "Cola Wars" were raging, with Coca-Cola and Pepsi engaged in a fierce battle for dominance in the lucrative soft drink market. As the iconic American brand that had reigned supreme for nearly a century, Coca-Cola found itself in a precarious position, facing a relentless challenge from its long-time rival.
The data paints a clear picture of the competitive landscape. By 1985, Pepsi had captured 58.4% of supermarket soda sales, while Coca-Cola‘s share had dwindled to just 41.6%. [1] This shift was particularly concerning for Coca-Cola, as supermarkets were a crucial battleground in the Cola Wars, with consumers able to directly compare the prices and taste profiles of the two leading brands.
Coca-Cola‘s leadership, led by CEO Roberto Goizueta, recognized the gravity of the situation. Market research conducted by the company revealed a troubling trend – in blind taste tests, a significant majority of consumers preferred Pepsi‘s sweeter flavor over the classic Coca-Cola recipe. [2] The quarterly sales reports only reinforced this pattern, with Pepsi‘s steady advance cutting into Coca-Cola‘s once-dominant position
(Excerpt) Read more at historytools.org ...
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The old adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is not heeded by the business wokesters of today. Some will never learn from history.
Cracker Barrel should just give up and go back to where they were a year ago. Work on improving the food, not the ambiance or logo.
‘New Coke’ was a cover for them to switch out cane sugar for high-fructose corn syrup.
They won’t because they want to push lbgqtia stuff.
Not a fan of soda at all but Coke over Pepsi anytime. Pepsi is like pure sugar to me and I drink soda maybe twice a year.
Nah. They could have done that switch anyway.
You'd go to the market, purchase a wooden crate of the bottles, then return all the empty bottles in the same wooden crate.
I worked in the Special Events department of the Pepsi bottling plant in San Diego during the Pepsi Challenge phase of this cola war. I ran the Pepsi Challenge at the Del Mar Fair and other locations. Pepsi was picked in the blind taste test by a pretty good margin.
I prefer RC Cola.
RC is very good. I tried one in a bottle recently and was very surprised.
1) RC Cola
2) Pepsi
3) Store brand cola
4) Coke, if I have no other choice.
https://youtu.be/XINImbZzU7I?si=KDHvfyNoP1wussVw
It would probably have done better and even still be around if they had literally released it as “New Coke” or “Coke II” and not eliminated regular Coke. It wasn’t that people didn’t like the taste - they did - but they did not want it at the expense of losing the taste of original Coke, which they liked and had been around for ages. Having it replace a product they liked was no-go. Example: Cherry Coke. It is successful...but if they had instead released it as a replacement for regular Coke? Almost certain failure - irrelevant if people liked how it tasted or not.
Cracker Barrel’s original owners sold their successful business and the new owners thought they knew better and started changing things. Even people who drink didn’t think it fit Cracker Barrel’s atmosphere to serve alcohol, let alone their customer base that didn’t drink at all. Couple that with lowering the quality of the food, and downhill it went.
Now they’ve decided that the reason things haven’t been going as well is not because of the previous changes they made, but because they had not changed enough.
I’ve always believed that “New Coke” was designed to fail, but while failing it also allows all the “real sugar” Coke to be consumed. Then, you “bring back Old Coke” with HFCS in it, and no one notices! (And your production cost has gone down).
I remember those days, I was able to pick which was which every time without even sipping.
Pepsi had more carbonation and would create bubbles in the glass about 20 seconds after drinking the cup.
I told the promoters I was psychic and could correctly predict which was which every time, and then proceed to do it.
they were amazed.
I never had a rum and Pepsi that tasted good. I won’t drink Woka-Cola since they told me to be less white so it’s straight rum or no rum.
CRACKER BARREL NEEDS TO REMIND THEMSELVES OF THAT DEBACLE
I remember when it came out. I got ahold of three cases of the original stuff. I remember the first place I ever tasted it. It was at a McDonalds. Hated it. Was so glad when they brought back the original. Stupid unforced error.
I worked at a DFW soda bottler, and was one of the only departments to sell both Coke and Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper outsold New Coke about 1.5 to 1 after the switch. And the brass was very sure that they were correct about New Coke.
Let’s just say that no one at our facility could believe that we had to push that stuff. It cost us commissions.
When Diet Coke came out, I made it all back in the first month, as people believed that it was made from the original formula. Not that I would ever encourage people to believe whatever made me the most sales ... and I departed on a 40 year sales career.
Keep in mind, this was the same brainiacs that tried three liter RETURNABLES. The bottles were so heavy that one third broke in the grocery stores when dropped. Which happened all the time.
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