Ten of Pepsi’s most popular soft drink flavors will soon be available for homemade creations using SodaStream’s Israeli-made technology.
By United With Israel Staff
Following Pepsi’s $3.2 billion acquisition last year of Israeli do-it-yourself soft drink company SodaStream, consumers will be able to make 10 of Pepsi’s most popular soda pops at home.
Concentrates for 7-Up, Mountain Dew, and Pepsi Max, among others, will be available in Sweden and Norway, SodaStream announced on Wednesday.
The concentrates will be manufactured at SodaStream’s factory in Ashkelon, in southern Israel.
By March 2020, the new flavors will also be available in Germany and France.
Following PepsiCo’s acquisition of the Israeli company, Sodastream CEO and director Daniel Birnbaum said, “SodaStream was founded to bring healthy, convenient and environmentally friendly beverage options to consumers around the world, and PepsiCo will help us deliver and expand on this mission.”
Building Bridges
Birnbaum has established a reputation as a bridge-builder between Jews and Arabs, providing well-paying jobs, impressive benefits, and opportunities to advance to Israelis and Palestinians alike.
In May, SodaStream hosted around 3,000 employees and their families for a Ramadan fast-ending meal at its factory in the town of Rahat. Bedouins, Jewish Israelis, and Palestinians attended the gathering, with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in attendance.
“Muslims, Druze, Christians and Jews working together, each making the other better, happier and more prosperous,” tweeted Friedman at the time.
Despite the opportunities Birnbaum’s company offers to all employees, the anti-Israel BDS movement forced him to shutter a factory near the Dead Sea amid boycott calls, with SodaStream reopening in the predominantly Bedouin town of Rahat.
SodaStream’s carbonation machine became popular in the 70’s and 80’s with the jingle, “Get Busy with the Fizzy.” It is estimated that nearly 20 percent of Swedish homes have a SodaStream machine today.
The SodaStream Source line, created in 2012, is touted as energy efficient and environmentally protective as it has reusable plastic bottles rather than disposable ones that pollute.
The reusable bottles are its main advantage as the financial savings to consumers is negligible. Homemade soft drinks cost about $0.93 per liter while pre-bottled sodas cost $0.95 per liter, according to CTECH.