Western beverage giants flock to Eastern Europe.

Beverage Industry, December, 1994 by Frank, John N.

Beverage producers see the potential for double-digit sales growth in Eastern Europe as consumers in the region, numbering around 300 million, discover their products. Coca-Cola has invested over $1.5 billion since 1991 in setting up 26 new plants throughout the region. Per capita consumption for Coca-Cola went from 12 to 36 8-ounce servings between 1991 and 1993. Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers parent, Whitman Corp., plans to invest $100 million in Poland through 2002.

U.S. school children in the Cold War shrouded 1950s grew accustomed to viewing propaganda films showing a menacing red wave (communism) sweeping out of Eastern Europe to engulf the entire continent before moving on to North America.

In 1995, roughly five years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall,...

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