Pepsi back on UBC campus after 12-year exile

BORIS KORBY, THE UBYSSEY (UBC)

VANCOUVER — UBC students once again have the option of purchasing non-Coca-Cola soft drinks on campus, but only in the Student Union Building (SUB).

UBC’s exclusivity contract with the Atlanta-based soft drink giant, which dates back 12 years, expired on Aug. 31. And while the university is maintaining a preferential partner relationship with Coca-Cola, the Alma Mater Society (AMS), which runs the SUB, has opted out.

“We’re just trying to get as much choice as we can in there and if there’s any certain products that students are interested in, we’re always open to hear those and include those as well,” said AMS vice-president (finance) Brittany Tyson.

The AMS has already replaced 10 Coca-Cola vending machines in the SUB with ones which now dispense Pepsi products, including soft drinks, Aquafina water, Gatorade, Starbucks iced coffees and Dole juices. And according to AMS general manager Bernie Peets, more changes could be coming.

“There’s no commitment to keep any mix of [machines] . . . We may decide at some point to have more Pepsi and less Coke or more Coke and less Pepsi and that’ll be market driven,” said Peets.

AMS food outlets will also begin selling non-Coke products. In addition to Pepsi, they will be offering major brands such as RC Cola, Nestle, Red Bull, and Ocean Spray, and more local retail products such as Jones Soda. Pacific Spirit Place Cafeteria in the SUB, which is not run by the AMS, will still be providing Coca-Cola products exclusively, however, according to Nancy Toogood, food and beverage manager of the AMS.

In place of the revenues from the Coca-Cola exclusivity contract, the new arrangement has the AMS purchasing soft drink products from food wholesalers, and generating revenue solely from the markup. But while students will be afforded more beverage choices in the SUB than at anytime in the last decade, Tyson said that the AMS probably won’t be getting as much money at the end of the year as they did with the exclusivity deal.

Money from the Coca-Cola-supported Event Sponsorship Fund, for example, which was used to aid in financing everything from student bursaries and scholarships to the welcome back barbecue and other first week events, will have to be generated elsewhere, said Tyson.

Tyson also noted that despite the financial incentives offered from exclusivity contracts, it’s unlikely the AMS will be signing into such a deal in the near future.

“[The AMS] is really reluctant to go with exclusivity. That wasn’t something that the AMS had ever agreed to. That was something imposed by the university across campus.”

“Two years ago the AMS council passed a motion saying they didn’t support any exclusivity deals on campus, for ourselves and for the university. So students have voted that they don’t want an exclusivity deal, and that’s not something that we’re going to do anytime soon.”