Soft drink industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie

The soft drink industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie is the sector of the New Alexandrian economy that makes, bottles and sells carbonated drinks, bottled teas, functional drinks and bottled water. Two firms lead it: Embotelladora Chasqui, a family-controlled bottler founded in Parap in 1712 AN, and Brio Beverages, the drinks arm that Agrifoods launched in 1734 AN. Together they held about 52 percent of domestic volume in 1760 AN, and a field of regional bottlers, craft makers and water brands shares the rest.

New Alexandrians drank about 95 liters of soft drinks per person in 1760 AN, or roughly 43 billion liters in all. Soft drinks rank well behind coffee and tea, the two most widely drunk beverages in the federation. Several of the industry's best-selling flavors, led by Chasqui Morada, a carbonated descendant of chicha morada, are sold almost only in Nouvelle Alexandrie.

A shared pool of returnable glass bottles, the Consorcio Envase Federal, lets small firms compete with the two leaders, and seven regional bottlers hold about a fifth of the market. Since the 1750 ANs buyers have moved toward low-sugar and unsweetened drinks, which made up a majority of volume by 1760 AN.

History

Bottled drinks reached the federation's towns before any national firm existed. Refrescos Valencianos began bottling horchata for its cafés in Valencia in 1708 AN, and families in Parap and Rimarima sold chicha morada by the jug from neighborhood workshops. The inflation of the Recession of 1709 raised the cost of sugar and glass bottles and ruined many of those workshops. Atoq Mamani, a Parap trader, bought several of them and in 1712 AN founded Embotelladora Chasqui to bottle chicha morada on a larger scale.

Glass was the industry's largest cost, and in 1716 AN Chasqui and a dozen smaller bottlers formed the Consorcio Envase Federal, a cooperative that owns a common stock of returnable bottles. Members pay a deposit on each bottle, fill any pool bottle at any member plant and return empties through the same shops that sell them. The standard bottle was modeled on Chasqui's own, which gave the firm an advantage in the pool's early decades.

Chasqui added carbonation to its morada in 1725 AN, and the drink spread beyond the Wechua Nation during the following decade. Regional houses opened in the same years: Limonaderie de Chambéry in 1727 AN, Riviera Aranciata on the Southern Aldurian Riviera in 1731 AN, and Jengibre & Co in Punta Santiago in 1733 AN. Agrifoods listed on the Cardenas Stock Exchange in 1732 AN and used part of the proceeds to launch Brio in 1734 AN, the first competitor to match Chasqui's national distribution.

Vegno's accession to the Concord Alliance Treaty Organization in 1738 AN set off a fashion for Vegnese food and drink. Parap distributors reported that orders for Cantorunno beer rose tenfold after the announcement. Acqua Munnissima bottled water arrived with the same wave and competed with domestic firms at the premium end of the market. In 1743 AN Chasqui formed Chasqui Internacional, an export company it owns jointly with the Cunno family of Acqua Munnissima, which sells Chasqui drinks in Vegno and Natopia.

From the 1750 ANs, demand shifted toward less sugar. Chasqui released Morada Ligera in 1752 AN, and Brio's Zero colas, sweetened with stevia, took about two points of share from Chasqui in 1758 AN. In the same year Brio bought Brota, a prebiotic soda maker from the CarSan Tech Corridor, and kept the brand.

Major producers

Market shares in the industry are measured by volume. The two leaders sell nationally under their own names. The regional bottlers are strongest in their home Regions, where they often outsell the national brands with a local flavor, and most of the remaining market belongs to craft makers and water brands.

Embotelladora Chasqui

Embotelladora Chasqui is headquartered in Llamkay Urqu, the Company Hill district of Parap, and draws its source water from springs on Mount Lacara. It runs about 22 bottling plants and remains controlled by the Mamani family, with a minority of shares traded publicly. Chasqui Morada, made from highland purple corn with pineapple, clove and cinnamon, accounts for more than half of the firm's volume. The firm also sells a cola, orange and lemon-lime sodas, and two low-sugar lines.

Brio Beverages

Brio Beverages is a business unit within Agrifoods' Consumer Products division, based at the parent company's headquarters in Santiago, Santander. Brio owns fewer plants than Chasqui and contracts out more than half of its bottling. It competes on price, especially in supermarket multipacks, and on sponsorship of football. Its range includes Brio Cola and its Zero line, 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.

Regional bottlers

Seven regional bottlers held about 20 percent of national volume in 1760 AN. Each built its trade on a drink tied to its home Region.

Firm	Base	Founded	Signature drink
Refrescos Valencianos	Valencia	1708 AN	Horchata Valenciana
Cotto Tropical Beverages	Boriquén	1717 AN	Piña Fizz, a pineapple soda
Ch'aska Bebidas	Rimarima	1721 AN	Durazno Andino, a peach and cinnamon soda
Limonaderie de Chambéry	Chambéry	1727 AN	Pschiff! lemonade
Riviera Aranciata	Southern Aldurian Riviera	1731 AN	Aranciata Amara, a bitter orange aperitif soda
Hojas de Lyrica	North Lyrica	1736 AN	Brume Glacée, a sparkling milk tea
Isleña Bebidas	Islas de la Libertad	1739 AN	Jamaica Tonic, a hibiscus and ginger soda

Hojas de Lyrica bottles Brume Glacée under license from a group of Niebla de Lyrica estates. The drink is a carbonated version of the chilled milk tea served in the coastal towns of South Lyrica, a style that came to Lyrica with Constancian settlers and that highland tea growers have long disdained. Cotto Tropical Beverages, best known as an importer of Dark Berry Ale, added its small soda line to an existing trade in juices and spirits.

Functional and craft producers

About a tenth of the market belongs to small firms that sell on a specific use or tradition rather than price.

Firm	Base	Founded	Products
Jengibre & Co	Punta Santiago	1733 AN	Ginger ale, tonic and bitter lemon
Aqha Wasi Collective	Wechua Nation	1744 AN	Non-alcoholic sparkling chicha de jora
Mate Frío Colectivo	Cárdenas	1749 AN	Lightly carbonated cold mate
Brota	CarSan Tech Corridor	1751 AN	Prebiotic sodas; owned by Brio since 1758 AN
Muña Tonic	Wechua Nation	1755 AN	Unsweetened muña herbal sodas

The Aqha Wasi Collective is a cooperative of chicherías that sells under one label, with each bottle naming the house that brewed it. Jengibre & Co's ginger ale is the usual mixer in the chilcano, and Mate Frío Colectivo began as a student cart in Cárdenas before selling nationally. Muña Tonic takes its flavor from muña, a mint of the highlands around Mount Lacara.

Bottled water

Apu Natural Spring Water, founded in 1719 AN, leads the bottled water market with still and sparkling water drawn from the Mount Lacara watershed.

Market structure

Chasqui's share fell from about 33 percent in 1740 AN to 28 percent in 1760 AN, while Brio's rose from 15 to 24 percent over the same period.

Year	Embotelladora Chasqui	Brio Beverages	All others
1740 AN	33%	15%	52%
1750 AN	31%	20%	49%
1760 AN	28%	24%	48%

Products fall into three broad groups. Colas, lemon-lime and orange sodas, and mixers sell in every market and make up most of what the two leaders export. Flavors such as Chasqui Morada, Durazno Andino, Aranciata Amara and Jamaica Tonic have little market outside the federation. Low-sugar sodas, sparkling waters and unsweetened herbal drinks form the third and fastest-growing group.

Parap Beverage Distributors, led by Roberto Paz, carries highland brands and Vegnese imports to retailers across the federation. HotelBev supplies bars, hotels and restaurants. Supermarkets sell a growing share of private-label soda, including the GonzoPa Home line of González Padín, filled under contract by Embotelladora Federal in Cárdenas.

Ownership varies across the industry. Chasqui is a public company in which the founding family keeps control, while Brio is a business unit of the listed Agrifoods. Most regional bottlers are family firms, and the Aqha Wasi Collective and the Consorcio Envase Federal are cooperatives owned by their members.

Production and supply

Sugar for the industry comes from several Regions. Cane is grown mainly in New Luthoria and Islas de la Libertad, and in smaller quantities in Boriquén, while North Lyrica grows sugar beet. Refineries in North Lyrica, New Luthoria and Boriquén supply the federation's beverage makers. Real Azucarera de Santander refines further supplies at six plants and sells panela and chancaca, two unrefined cane sugars, along with liquid sugar and stevia powder to bottlers. Chasqui sweetens part of its morada with chancaca from the refinery's Rimarima plant, and Brio's Zero lines use its stevia.

The Consorcio Envase Federal had about 60 member firms in 1760 AN. Chasqui holds the largest single vote on its board but has no veto, and the pool's two standard sizes, 330 milliliters and one liter, remain the most common bottles in the country. Firms too small to run their own plants bottle under contract at Embotelladora Federal, which operates nine plants.

Water rights on Mount Lacara have caused friction between Chasqui and Apu Natural Spring Water, which draw on the same watershed. The two firms have contested allocations before the authorities of the Wechua Nation several times since the 1740 ANs, and the dispute has flared again in dry years.

Employment

The industry employed about 38,000 people directly in 1759 AN. Embotelladora Chasqui, with about 9,800 employees, was the largest employer, followed by Brio with about 4,300, while the regional bottlers, contract bottlers and distributors employed most of the rest.

Trade

Chasqui Internacional works through distribution agreements of the kind Acqua Munnissima used to enter the Natopian market in 1742 AN. Bottled chicha morada also reaches Wechua communities abroad through specialty importers. Isleña Bebidas and Jengibre & Co export smaller volumes, the latter through Chasqui Internacional's network for a fee. Imported soft drinks and waters hold a small premium share of the domestic market; Acqua Munnissima from Vegno and Oasis Water from Constancia are among the leading brands.

Health and changing tastes

Low- and no-sugar drinks made up a majority of the industry's volume by 1760 AN, up from a small minority two decades earlier. Most of that share belongs to the leaders' reduced-sugar lines, Morada Ligera, Chasqui Sin and Brio Zero, which are sweetened with stevia or with less cane sugar. The small firms that grew fastest over the same period, Brota and Muña Tonic among them, sell drinks with little or no added sugar, and Brio Brota has carried prebiotic sodas into supermarket aisles.

Culture

Chasqui Morada is served with highland dishes in the Wechua Nation and has spread with Wechua communities to the large cities, although traditionalists hold that bottled morada lacks the depth of the homemade drink. On the Riviera, Aranciata Amara is drunk before dinner in place of an aperitif wine, and in Valencia chilled horchata accompanies pastries in summer. Chasqui's emblem, a running chasqui, draws on chaski racing, a long-distance running sport of Wechua tradition.

Challenges and controversies

The rivalry between the two leaders turned into a price war in 1758 AN, when Brio cut multipack prices alongside an expansion of its Zero line. Regional bottlers say the war leaves them competing against both leaders' multipack prices, and Brio's purchase of Brota raised concern that independent makers were being absorbed by larger groups.

Refrescos Valencianos withdrew a sparkling horchata in 1746 AN after poor sales, and Muña Tonic's rapid growth since 1755 AN has yet to prove durable.

Regulatory environment

Bottling plants must meet federal food safety standards on water quality, hygiene and the washing of returnable bottles. Sugar content and the labeling of sweeteners are not regulated beyond those general rules.

See also

• Agrifoods
• Chicha
• Chicherías
• Cuisine of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Economy of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Agriculture in Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Automotive industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie