Pepsi quielty discontinued a fan-favorite soda flavor

Every consumer has probably experienced the horror of slowly realizing that one of their favorite products has been discontinued. In some cases, a company will make an announcement that it’s killing certain brands, flavors, or products.

In a lot of situations, that doesn’t happen, and most consumers go through a multi-stage cycle of grief.

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First, you go to the store and an item you usually buy is missing. You might just assume that it’s out of stock and that it will certainly be there the next time you go shopping.

If you find that, it’s not there on your next trip or in a different store, that’s when it gets scary. You start to wonder if it’s just a supply chain issue or maybe there was a run on that item in your area.

And, of course, at some point, you realize that the item has disappeared. The company was not even decent enough to tell you it was going away and it has been discontinued.

That’s a very common practice in the soda space. Sometimes, when a big company like Coca-Cola (KO) makes large changes, it does address them. In other cases, when a single soda or a few related flavors are going away nothing gets said.

That’s what has happened to one popular Pepsi flavor that people have begun discovering is no longer on shelves.

PepsiCo drops popular namesake flavor

Sadly, sometimes rumors can be true.

"Heard Peach Pepsi was going off shelves soon, so I went and got a case tonight just in case," Bearulice shared on Reddit.

The poster is clearly a big fan of the flavor.

"If Peach Pepsi was the standard, it beats Coke, but alas, it isn’t. Hopefully, they bring it back later on," he added.

Pepsi PEP has, in fact, discontinued Pepsi Peach.

The company did not make an announcement about the flavor going away, but it did subtly share the news on its website.

When you use Pepsi's product locator, it shows the word "discontinued" next to Pepsi Peach. And when you roll over the text, it shares a little bit more information.

Retail closings:

• Another struggling mall retail chain closing more stores
• Struggling supermarket chain closes more locations
• Popular bank closing dozens of branches (locations revealed)

"Manufacturing has ended, but it may still be found on shelf," the company shared.

So, with a poorly-written, grammatically incorrect sentence, PepsiCo quietly told the world that Pepsi Peach has been discontinued.

ArchieBaird was also upset about the loss on Reddit.

"No way...I saw it for the first time two weeks ago and have been buying it steadily since. Is it just gone now? Why do they always kill the good flavours? they asked.

PepsiCo focuses on portions and price points

In both its snack business and in beverages, PepsiCo is focusing on package sizes. That's a question of both health and nutrition and pricing. 

Basically, it wants to make it possible for consumers to buy their snacks and drinks and pretty much any budget size. That means that someone with less money might buy a smaller package while there would still be savings in buying in larger quantities.

“Beverages price points are critical. I think, obviously, offering partitions that drive that are critical better for you, so zero and more functional beverages, and we have both in Gatorade and Propel and in the whole Zero portfolio and then also elevated experiences away from home," CEO Ramon Luis Laguarta said during Pepsi's fourth-quarter earnings call.

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He believes that portion control is key, especially in the snack part of the business.

"You think about portion control. Probably the number one solution for consumers to stay in our category is small portions of our favorites, ideally improved favorites with lower sodium, lower fat, and artificial ingredients. So portion control of our favorites is a big strategy," the CEO added.