New recipes key to making sodas pop

It’s a new era for carbonated beverages. Sales have been falling for a decade as consumers have shifted away from traditional sodas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup and are avoiding diet sodas due to concerns about artificial sweeteners.

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Aggressive marketing, price promotions, and new product extensions have not been enough to stem the category’s decline. The key to carbonated soft drinks’ future lies in innovation. To that end, manufacturers are trying new recipes and trotting out old favorites to keep consumers interested in the category.



Advances in stevia extract, a natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant, could be the start of a new chapter for the ailing category. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and the American Beverage Association have made an industrywide pledge to reduce beverage calories by 20% by 2025, and the improved taste profile of stevia-sweetened products is helping them meet that goal.



“Taste has been a challenge with natural sweeteners, but improved stevia extract and a new wave of other naturally derived sweeteners — such as monk fruit, palm sugar and sorghum — could solve that problem,” said Laurie Demeritt, CEO of The Hartman Group.



Pepsi is debuting a new soda, Pepsi True, which is sweetened with real sugar and stevia, and contains no artificial sweeteners or high-fructose corn syrup. Each 7.5-oz. can has 60 calories, compared with the 100 calories found in a 7.7-oz. can of regular Pepsi. The product currently is sold only through Amazon.com, but Pepsi plans to roll out to other online retailers, then some grocery stores next year.



Coca-Cola tested its own mid-calorie cola, Coca-Cola Life, in a few southern states, and rolled out nationally in November. The product, which has more than 30% fewer calories than regular Coca-Cola, has been tested in Argentina, Chile, Great Britain, Sweden and Mexico. In a notable departure from the Coca-Cola’s iconic red packaging, the product has green labeling.



Dr Pepper Snapple Group is testing three naturally sweetened versions of Dr Pepper, 7up and Canada Dry — sweetened with stevia and sugar — in three markets, and such smaller brands as Zevia also are entering the market with a variety flavors. Zevia uses stevia, monk fruit and erythritol, a natural component of fruits, vegetables and grains that is classified as a sugar alcohol.



At the same time, carbonated soft drinks sweetened with pure cane sugar are becoming more popular with consumers. Coca-Cola has seen double-digit increases of the Mexican version of its classic soda.



“The success of Mexican Coke is buoyed by the fact that it’s exotic because it comes from another country, but other manufacturers are looking at that natural soda space as an opportunity,” Demerrit said. “Hanson and its Blue Sky brand have been successful in positioning their beverages as ‘healthier’ soft drinks.”