Coca-Cola Co. and Coca-Cola Enterprises the biggest bottler of Coke products, have filed separate motions to dismiss a lawsuit that would block CCE from testing warehouse delivery of the Powerade sports drink directly to Wal-Mart in its exclusive territory

Food & Drink Weekly, March 13, 2006

Coca-Cola Co. and Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) the biggest bottler of Coke products, have filed separate motions to dismiss a lawsuit that would block CCE from testing warehouse delivery of the Powerade sports drink directly to Wal-Mart in its exclusive territory. A large number of franchised bottlers in the U.S.

are concerned that the trial will be rolled out to other territories, thereby bypassing them, and have a filed a lawsuit to stop the trial going ahead. "The core issue here is an attempt by one group of bottlers to block another group of bottlers from making a change to better serve customers and consumers. Our Powerade contract clearly allows a bottler to choose warehouse delivery in its own territory," said Don Knauss, President, Coca-Cola North America. "This is a question of how our system creates growth by serving our customers and consumers; it is not a legal issue. "We have had a deep and mutually beneficial relationship with our bottlers for more than 100 years. One of the historic strengths of our system has been its ability to change and adapt as our consumers, customers and competitors have changed. Change today is coming more rapidly than ever, and if we aren't willing to consider change, we risk missing out on growth," Knauss said.