Pepsi Contract Brings More Money, Options to Stevenson

After five years of stocking its vending machines with Coca-Cola products, Stevenson High School will revert to Pepsi beverages.

The change, which will be in place when students return from winter break, comes after PepsiCo offered to pay Stevenson $505,519 for the five-year contract. Coca-Cola’s bid came in at $309,678, Stevenson reported in its Daily Digest. 

Beverage sale revenue is used for student-related activities, the school said. The contract was approved Monday by the School Board.

The Pepsi machines will be stocked with a variety of Pepsi products, including Gatorade, Mug Root Beer, Orange Crush, Brisk, Lipton tea, Aquafina bottled water, and the regular and diet versions of Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist, school spokesman Jim Conrey said.

“My understanding is that the highly caffeinated drinks such as Pepsi and Mt. Dew will be in vending machines that won't be open until after the school day ends. Apparently, Pepsi is able to set up vending machines so that they can operate on a timing device. If kids try to put money or their ID card into a machine, it will be rejected until the timer allows the machine to be accessible,” Conrey wrote in an email to Patch.

Currently, the vending machines don't carry highly caffeinated drinks at all, he said. Instead of Coke, for example, students can purchase Coke Zero.

Sales at vending machines have declined in the last five years, according to the Daily Digest. While the school sold more than 10,000 cases of Pepsi products annually, sales fell to 4,000 cases of Coca-Cola products during the first year of the contract, the school said.

The decline is attributed to the absence of Gatorade as well as a declining students enrollment and recent sugary drink limitations supported by the American Beverage Association.