Pepsi or Coke: a heated debate that has spanned years, and one that is especially relevant in southern Utah. Since many residents don’t drink coffee, tea or alcohol, their beverage of choice is soda.
In Cedar City alone, there are six different soda shops. These shops offer a variety of different soda options and mix-ins, ensuring everyone gets the brands and flavors that they love. Southern Utah University, on the other hand, is a Pepsi-sponsored campus. This means that 90% of the soda on campus must be a Pepsi product, leaving much less variety for thirsty T-Birds.
Despite being a Pepsi-sponsored school, some campus community members still hold loyalties to Coke.
“I’m not a fan,” student Emily Wheeler commented. “When they don’t have my go-to drink, which is Coke, it’s heartbreaking.”
In 2019, SUU submitted a request for proposal, hoping to find a brand that would offer them a holistic partnership. Pepsi responded to their RFP, and by the beginning of 2020, SUU and Pepsi signed a ten-year pouring rights contract.
“We don’t do it to hurt anyone,” Assistant Vice President of Business Services Dan Camp said. “We do it because we want the service.”
Before the school had signed with Pepsi, there was a more even split between the competing soda brands. Although everyone had access to their choice of soda, Camp mentioned that SUU had noticed some service issues.
While pouring rights limit the variety of soda that SUU can distribute, the loyalty to Pepsi creates a direct relationship between the school and the brand that comes with service benefits.
“If we need products on campus for an event,” Camp mentioned, “I can call someone, and they can get it on campus almost the next day.”
Not only does Pepsi accommodate last-minute requests, but they have also donated 200 full cases of soda as of 2023. The soda Pepsi donates goes to student events like freshman orientation.
Further, the contract states that SUU will receive a financial bonus if they sell a certain quantity of Pepsi products.
“Anyone that sells a bottle of Pepsi on campus — we still receive a profit from that,” Camp explained. “Then, if we can hit a certain amount of cases [sold], we also get kickbacks from Pepsi.”
Because this deal was signed right before the COVID-19 pandemic, the school is slightly behind their projected sales. However, Camp assured that they were on track to hit their goal for 2023.
The funds earned from Pepsi’s bonus would circulate to directly improve student’s campus experience. Dan Camp personally hopes this means another fast food option besides Chick-fil-A to shorten lines and provide more variety. However, the money would aid whatever is in the best interest of the students.
While shelves on campus still hold a limited amount of Coke products, drinking fountains are exclusively filled with Pepsi beverages. When T-Birds on campus crave a soft drink from the C-Store, Chick-fil-A or Soda Nerd, they have no choice but to drink Pepsi.
The Soda Nerd we have on campus is located in the library, though the company has a location off campus as well. Their menu consists of drinks from both Pepsi and Coke, and while the fountains in the library don’t offer a Coke option, they used to mix soda water with Coke syrup to accommodate the Coke items on the menu.
However, at the beginning of the fall 2023 semester, Soda Nerd removed the Coke items off their campus menu and stopped serving the Coke syrup.
“All the customers were pretty understanding,” said Katie Seegmiller, an employee at the Soda Nerd, “but my dad actually co-founded this place, and I got to witness the entire hassle of replacing everything. It was a lot of stress because they gave us maybe two weeks to do it.”
Seegmiller mentioned that the two most popular Coke product drinks they used to serve were the SOS, a diet Coke with coconut cream, and SouthWest Tech, a Coke with orange and vanilla cream.
“Soda Nerd was definitely the biggest hit,” Adam Cox commented. “I used to try and make orange vanilla Coke there because they don’t make that anymore, but now I can’t even do that.”
Lehi Moran, another student, agreed, “It was like a shot to the heart when I found out they weren’t doing Coke products at Soda Nerd anymore.”
Since many students spend all day on campus, it can be a real challenge not having the soda they desire. The school hopes the benefits coming from this partnership will outweigh the lack of Coke products.
“We know that people have different drink preferences, but we want to be a really good partner with Pepsi while we’re in this contract,” said Camp. “We want to make sure that we give them 100% to make sure — whatever benefits pouring rights has — [that we are able to] see what they are.”
For the next decade, SUU will continue to practice a holistic partnership with Pepsi. When the ten years is up, the purchasing office will look over the pros and cons of the contract before carrying forward. Until then, Pepsi will be on the menu all across campus, much to the dismay of Coke-enthusiasts.
Author: Heather Turner
Photographer: Heather Turner
Editor: Kale Nelson
life@suunews.net
This article was originally published in the March 2024 edition of the University Journal.
