Brio Beverages
| Type | Business unit of Agrifoods Consumer Products |
|---|---|
| Industry | Soft drinks |
| Area served |
 Nouvelle Alexandrie |
| Key people | Rafael Ibáñez (President) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue | NAX€1.2 billion (1759 AN) |
| Employees | 4,300 (1759 AN) |
| Parent | Agrifoods |
Brio Beverages is the soft drink business of Agrifoods, run within its Consumer Products division and headquartered with its parent in Santiago, Santander. Launched in 1734 AN, it is the second-largest firm in the federation's soft drink industry after Embotelladora Chasqui, with about 24 percent of domestic volume in 1760 AN. Brio competes mainly on price and owns fewer plants than its rival, relying on contract bottlers for more than half of its output.
History
Agrifoods entered consumer foods in 1724 AN and listed on the Cardenas Stock Exchange in 1732 AN.[1] Part of the money raised in the listing paid for Brio, which the company launched in 1734 AN as a national cola and fruit soda brand to rival Embotelladora Chasqui. Agrifoods already sold through grocery chains across the federation, and Brio used those relationships to build its supermarket trade, while Chasqui's strength lay in small shops and the returnable bottle trade.
Brio's share of national volume rose from about 15 percent in 1740 AN to 20 percent in 1750 AN. Its largest gains came in the 1750 ANs with the Zero line of colas, sweetened with stevia. In 1758 AN Brio cut multipack prices as it expanded Zero, taking about two points of share from Chasqui in a single year. The same year it bought Brota, a prebiotic soda maker founded in the CarSan Tech Corridor in 1751 AN, for about NAX€80 million. Brota's founders stayed on, and its drinks are sold as Brio Brota in mainstream stores.
Products
Brio Cola and its Zero version are Brio's best sellers. The Zero line is sweetened with stevia, part of it from Real Azucarera de Santander's stevia powder and part from plant lines developed by the Agrifoods BioScience division. Brio also sells orange and lemon sodas and Brio Té Niebla, a bottled tea made with leaves from Agrifoods' Tes Imperiales de Lyrica estates in the Niebla de Lyrica growing districts. Brio Brota adds prebiotic sodas with little added sugar.
Operations
Brio employed about 4,300 people in 1759 AN. Agrifoods' own consumer products plants fill a little under half of its volume, and franchise and contract bottlers, among them Embotelladora Federal in Cárdenas, fill the rest. Brio's multipacks sell for roughly a tenth less than Chasqui's in supermarkets, and the business runs its own vending machine network and sponsors football clubs. Rafael Ibáñez is president of Brio and reports to Agrifoods chief executive Elena Fuentes Castillo.
Controversies
Brio's price cuts of 1758 AN drew complaints from regional bottlers, who said the price war between Brio and Chasqui squeezed smaller firms between two larger competitors. The purchase of Brota in the same year renewed questions in the trade about consolidation, since it brought a growing independent maker under the control of a listed food group.
