Pepsi beats out Coke for Oceanside contract

The Coke vs. Pepsi war may be heating up in Oceanside. The city will most likely be switching to Pepsi as their official soft-drink provider, to the chagrin of some city employees.

“I feel like quitting my job and moving, “ said one longtime staff person, a Coke drinker who refuses to drink Pepsi. “I’ll just have to bring my own Coke cans,” she said.

The city’s property manager, Doug Eddow, said they didn’t bother to survey the preference of the hundreds of city employees. It’s that Pepsi came in with a better deal.

Coca Cola has been the city’s official soft-drink vending provider since 2000. “We put out a request for proposal. Obviously only two responded, Coke and Pepsi. Coke said they were pretty much happy with the way things are now. Pepsi offered more,” said Eddow.

The city has been guaranteed by Pepsi a minimum of $5000 per year — a percentage of beverage sales. In addition, Pepsi will pay $92,350 in rent over the next two years for usage of the small space of its vending machines. “It was more than what Coke pays now,” said Eddow. The funds generated will be directed into the city’s Park and Recreation Department budget.

If approved by the city council, Pepsi will have exclusive rights to sell their products in all of the city’s offices, parks, and community centers, with the exception of the police station. “Due to security reasons, the police station is on their own as to who they let in [their building],” said Eddow.

Pepsi cannot, however, use their exclusivity to place their brand names on signs or banners at city facilities like the pier, park benches, trash cans, or skate parks. “They can only place signs on their machines, in accordance with our sign ordinances,” said Eddow.

The city currently has 25 Coke vending machines. Pepsi is free to expand that number. Pepsi is also required to offer soda alternatives, such as coconut water, tea, bottled water, juice, or Gatorade.

“Pepsi people been snooping around here looking at our machines since last year. I should have known it was going to happen,” said the Coke-drinking employee. “Nobody will ever get up from their desk and say, ‘I’m going to get a Pepsi.'”

Currently the agreement is scheduled to be before the city-council meeting on October 26, as a consent item, meaning it's automatically approved unless a member of the public requests it be pulled. Then there will be a public hearing usually at the same meeting.