
PepsiCo Is Acquiring SodaStream for $3.2B - gk1
http://fortune.com/2018/08/20/pepsico-sodastream-acquisition/
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heydenberk
I'm surprised PepsiCo would court this kind of controversy: SodaStream is a
primary target of the BDS (boycott divest sanctions) movement[1] because of
their Israeli origin and particularly their history of operating facilities in
disputed territories.

[1]
[https://bdsmovement.net/tags/sodastream](https://bdsmovement.net/tags/sodastream)

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crsv
I've never even heard of the BDS movement until this comment, which is
possibly a reason why PepsiCo didn't take this seriously.

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notafraudster
BDS is, and I mean this descriptively and not as an endorsement, a big deal.
It has been a focal point of left grassroots politics in the West for the last
several years and is one of the major pain points for campus politics. I would
say a simple majority of all communication from Jewish advocacy groups the
last few years has been around the BDS issue. The US Congress has considered
legislation around BDS. I don't really know anyone on any side of the politics
divide that doesn't take the issue seriously (whether on a symbolic or on a
policy level).

I suspect when you made your comment you thought you were saying "the Emperor
has no clothes", but it was actually more like "I don't know anybody who voted
for Nixon". Surely the better strategy in a case like this is at least to
bother Googling to see if it seems like an active thing or an irrelevant
fringe thing.

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stirlo
It's definitely a fringe thing. "Left grassroots" is fringe already.

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adultSwim
Not if you care about Israel.

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phjesusthatguy3
"The majority of all water consumed in the country is sparkling, [SodaStream
CEO Daniel Birnbaum] says"

Does anyone know what he's actually talking about? Is he counting all
carbonated beverages vs. tap or something?

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freehunter
I find that statement odd as well. The only thing I can think of is he's
looking at consumption of purchased products, and I'm assuming that bottled or
fountain soda outsells bottled water. If it was actually "all water consumed",
tap water would win out pretty handily I'd think.

Either way it's an incredibly misleading sentence, or at least a sentence
stated way out of context.

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ginko
No. It's literally what he meant. Germans drink a LOT of sparkling water.

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gnicholas
I hope the result is to broaden distribution of SodaStream refill canisters,
and lower the price due to economies of scale. I'm not holding my breath
though.

I've never tried soda flavor packets, but I enjoy carbonating fruit-infused
water (watermelon and strawberry are great) and white wine (for cheap but
surprisingly good "champagne"). Just be sure not to fill the liquid all the
way to the line when using anything other than water!

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dingdingdang
Honestly, I would use my SodaStream machine if the cartridges were not so
prohibitively expensive in the UK - £15 per refilled cartridge via Argos
(being one one the few remaining places where cartridges can even be had).

Feels like Pepsi could revolutionize the carbonated water market in the UK/US
by having machines installed in supermarkets to allow filtered bottled water
on demand at better prices. Also, feel good and environment factor would be
top given no CO2 emissions from trucking tap water around after fizzing it up!

~~~
kalleboo
Interesting geographic pricing discrimination. They're like £6 to swap in
Sweden. I used to do it at my local supermarket. Maybe because there are
compatible third-party gas canisters on the market they have to compete with
e.g. [https://www.xn--ob-
eka.se/hushall/koksmaskiner/kolsyremaskin...](https://www.öob.se/hushall/koksmaskiner/kolsyremaskiner/pafyllning-
kolsyrepatron-1502193)

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dingdingdang
The competition is no doubt the driver of reasonable'ish price in Sweden.
Honestly feels odd how Sodastream is almost certainly pricing themselves out
of the market (I personally know of several families who have abandoned their
machines due to cost which can hardly be in Sodastream's favour, unless they
are committing a wilful "slow exit" from UK market)

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Someone1234
I recently tried a soda stream. I was legitimately surprised how poor the
official syrups were (Coke, Dr. Pepper, etc). The bubbles were rich but the
taste was nothing like store purchased versions of the same.

Half tempted to buy a box of the real syrup from Sam's club and try that with
a soda stream.

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TheSoftwareGuy
Your local water supply may not taste the same as the factory water

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Someone1234
I was using filtered water.

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loco5niner
I was just in florida and was surprised at how bad even the bottled water
tasted.

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jstarfish
You have to check where it was bottled. No sense in refusing to drink the tap
water when the bottles youre buying come from the same municipal source.

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loco5niner
Yep, we ended up buying water bottled from the Himalayan springs, untouched by
modern society. Just kidding, New Jersey.

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bdcravens
A few years ago we did SodaStream alot, and our latest fridge even has a
SodaStream dispenser built in. However in recent years the variety, and
quality, of syrups went downhill as I believe they were focusing more on
flavored sparkling rather than mainstream soda. Hope this changes that.

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Finnucane
Making syrup is dead simple. Hell, a little lemon juice and sugar and you've
got lemon soda. And the soda water by itself is fine when it's hot.

I make chocolate syrup so I can have egg creams in the summer. Also, mint
syrup because it grows wild in my yard.

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Big_crimpin
I couldn't agree more. It's actually really fun too. I'd love to see more
people finding new concoctions and sharing syrup recipes. We've got a few
companies covering entire store shelf space with 10 variations each of the
same 8-12 ingredients.

There's no better feeling than letting a friend try a soda you made yourself
from scratch and watching their eyebrows go up in surprise because your
cocktail of flavours is awesome.

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robin_reala
I’m slightly surprised by all the comments here about syrups. Our SodaStream
is used a couple of times a day to make soda water, and I can’t remember the
last time a flavouring was added. Mind you, it always surprises me to hear
people say they don‘t like the taste of water.

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anewone
It always surprises me to hear that people enjoy carbonated water. Different
strokes. The only way I can stand carbonation is with some flavor. Tap water
is just fine to me.

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syntaxing
I'm serious surprised that Sodastream is valued at $3.2B. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc
(NYSE: KDP) is only at marketvalued around 4B (though the acquisition and
merger are skewing the numbers a bit).

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rdtsc
The value is in the margins. SodaSteam I'd imagine has lower costs. CO2 is not
very expensive, but those cartridges are $20-$30 to refill. That is almost
pure profit.

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fipple
Question: can SodaStream carbonate arbitrary liquids like orange juice, or
just pure water? If it can only carbonate water, which you then mix with
flavoring, what’s the advantage over bottled seltzer from the store?

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lathiat
The problem is that when you release pressure on anything but water, as the
CO2 starts to come out of solution it bubbles up and tends to spill out of the
bottle.

I'm sure there is science on this but my naive guess is that this is partly
because theres more nucleation sites to bubble more, and then the non-water
fluid will "soap" up a bit for lack of a better description (form bubles)
causing it to then spill up and out.

You can get around this by releasing the pressure slowly. Some models of
SodaStream (e.g. the Source) let you do this and others do not (e.g. the
electric model).

As a secondary concern if the fluids do spill up out of the top into the valve
area, it gets stuff on the seals etc and it doesn't seal as well later. Lower
pressure = less carboned. And it's very easy to do this even releasing the
pressure slowly.

So; yes.. but.. no. If you want to do that regularly, you're better off making
some other kind of solution I think. It's pretty easy to make your own
rudimentary sodastream. (and as others stated, they specifically tell you not
to do this)

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walrus01
For those who care, google "DIY sodastream", you can build your own refill
canister attachment apparatus and be free from their razor blades/razor or ink
tank/inkjet business model.

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cobookman
I've thought the same. But the soda stream co2 refills are way easier to
pickup. And with the 20% off bed bath and beyond coupon it's not that much
more expensive

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guidedlight
This seems like a very smart purchase, as soda bottle sales are flat or
declining in many parts of the world.

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cool-RR
Yes, and the flat soda bottles don't sell well at all.

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petra
So does this mean the future of soda drinks is making them at home ? If not,
why? What's missing ?

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Spivak
Nothing is missing, it's just a bit of an upfront cost if you want soda that
doesn't taste terrible. All of the consumer products are cheaply made, weak,
and ridiculously overpriced even for the terrible quality you get.

If you want something that tastes as good as a restaurant then you pretty much
need to buy the same equipment and it'll set you back _at least_ $1k^, a
weekend projects worth of installation time, and the cost of a CO2 tank and
bulk syrup.

^ You can probably get under $1k if all you want is a soda-gun without the
fancy dispenser.

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ChuckMcM
Oddly enough I seriously investigated this path when I was drinking 1600oz (47
liters) per week of Diet Dr. Pepper. It was possible, through careful
shopping, to buy it between 2 and 3 cents per ounce. Trying to buy it as bulk
syrup was something like 4 cents per ounce (of soda) not counting the cost of
the CO2 and filter system for the water.

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dogma1138
Jesus no offense but I also hope you shopped for a good healthcare provider
along the way also.

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ChuckMcM
No offense taken. In this particular sample of one there have not been any
deleterious effects from that level of consumption. The only medical anomaly
detected has been a lower than expected cholesterol level given age/weight
models. When I decided to give it up in February of this year there was about
a 3 day caffeine withdrawal experience followed by dealing with the habituated
'sweet drink' habit (I've replaced my Diet Dr. Pepper consumption with water
which doesn't satisfy a drink something sweet habit well). My expectation is
that by next February that habit will also stop impinging on me.

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dogma1138
Take care about drinking too much water also it’s very good at flushing micro
nutrients from your system including calcium, and that won’t show in most
blood work.

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amelius
Sigh. When can we have new products again, instead of old products with new
business models?

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yohann305
I would love to see an API to make your own soda flavors at home

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AdmiralAsshat
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-
source_cola](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_cola)

Have at it!

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fenwick67
If this doesn't violate anti-trust I don't know what would.

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sushid
The market disagrees with you as it's trading at $142 at the moment. It's not
like Coke is merging with Pepsi.

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jacobush
Now that would be a new coke!

