PepsiCo Is Acquiring SodaStream for $3.2B

[heydenberk]

I'm surprised PepsiCo would court this kind of controversy: SodaStream is a primary target of the BDS (boycott divest sanctions) movement[1] because of their Israeli origin and particularly their history of operating facilities in disputed territories.

[1] https://bdsmovement.net/tags/sodastream

[crsv]

I've never even heard of the BDS movement until this comment, which is possibly a reason why PepsiCo didn't take this seriously.

[yohann305]

like we say in English: "Business is Business"

[adultSwim]

Blood bubbles

[wmboy]

"...because of their Israeli origin..." I realise why you've said this, but when you take a step back, surely you can see this kind of sentiment is bordering on anti-Semitism?

[phjesusthatguy3]

"The majority of all water consumed in the country is sparkling, [SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum] says"

Does anyone know what he's actually talking about? Is he counting all carbonated beverages vs. tap or something?

[freehunter]

I find that statement odd as well. The only thing I can think of is he's looking at consumption of purchased products, and I'm assuming that bottled or fountain soda outsells bottled water. If it was actually "all water consumed", tap water would win out pretty handily I'd think.

Either way it's an incredibly misleading sentence, or at least a sentence stated way out of context.

[archi42]

If a German buys bottled water, in the most cases it will be sparkling water. At least that's my experience, and the stock at the shop I frequent is >80% sparkling.

I suppose most of those who don't drink sparkling water get it from the tap; at least this holds for the people I know. Remember, water quality is quite good here, only a few areas have a bad taste to their tap water (still drinking water quality though).

Edit: I don't think he counts other beverages, just sales of sparkling vs. non-sparkling water.

[nernst]

I think he is referring to Germany.

[dmschulman]

I assume it's based off of Pepsi's sales figures (and therefore only pertains to their beverage selection).

[jcampbell1]

Consume as in "eat/drink". Not consume as in "use".

The word drink/drank/drunk would be better if the conjugations weren't so aweful. Dranken, drinked are not words. The correct word is "drunk", but it hits the ear badly:

"The majority of all water drunk in the country is sparkling"

I have no idea about the factual accuracy.

[gnicholas]

I hope the result is to broaden distribution of SodaStream refill canisters, and lower the price due to economies of scale. I'm not holding my breath though.

I've never tried soda flavor packets, but I enjoy carbonating fruit-infused water (watermelon and strawberry are great) and white wine (for cheap but surprisingly good "champagne"). Just be sure not to fill the liquid all the way to the line when using anything other than water!

[mason55]

Get an adapter and a full sized CO2 canister and be done with the refills!

[dingdingdang]

Honestly, I would use my SodaStream machine if the cartridges were not so prohibitively expensive in the UK - £15 per refilled cartridge via Argos (being one one the few remaining places where cartridges can even be had).

Feels like Pepsi could revolutionize the carbonated water market in the UK/US by having machines installed in supermarkets to allow filtered bottled water on demand at better prices. Also, feel good and environment factor would be top given no CO2 emissions from trucking tap water around after fizzing it up!

[lostlogin]

Putting milk in it is a right of passage.

[copperx]

Isn't warranty void when using it for anything other than water?

[Someone1234]

I recently tried a soda stream. I was legitimately surprised how poor the official syrups were (Coke, Dr. Pepper, etc). The bubbles were rich but the taste was nothing like store purchased versions of the same.

Half tempted to buy a box of the real syrup from Sam's club and try that with a soda stream.

[bdcravens]

A few years ago we did SodaStream alot, and our latest fridge even has a SodaStream dispenser built in. However in recent years the variety, and quality, of syrups went downhill as I believe they were focusing more on flavored sparkling rather than mainstream soda. Hope this changes that.

[allannienhuis]

I've just been using the little squirt bottles of water flavoring (Mio, Dasani, and a number of other brands) with our SodaStream. Works like a charm for me. They tend to be fruit-flavored but that's what I prefer anyway. Just shoot them in your glass, not in the bottle.

I find it easier to get the variety that way - don't have to commit to a flavor for a whole bottle & no need for multiple bottles in the fridge.

[Finnucane]

Making syrup is dead simple. Hell, a little lemon juice and sugar and you've got lemon soda. And the soda water by itself is fine when it's hot.

I make chocolate syrup so I can have egg creams in the summer. Also, mint syrup because it grows wild in my yard.

[WiseWeasel]

Having tried several syrups, I prefer to mix the carbonated water with fruit juices. Use orange juice to make orange soda, apple for cider-like soda, or any fruit juice you enjoy. I find fruit juice to have a better balance of flavor and sweetness (less sweet) than most syrups you can get, which makes sense given the amount of sugar in them.

The only syrup I still use is Indian tonic for cocktails.

[robin_reala]

I’m slightly surprised by all the comments here about syrups. Our SodaStream is used a couple of times a day to make soda water, and I can’t remember the last time a flavouring was added. Mind you, it always surprises me to hear people say they don‘t like the taste of water.

[anewone]

It always surprises me to hear that people enjoy carbonated water. Different strokes. The only way I can stand carbonation is with some flavor. Tap water is just fine to me.

[jcampbell1]

I think the carbonated water drinkers are very happy with SodaStreams. The flavored soda drinkers have mixed opinions.

I think they are great, as I like to drink about a liter of seltzer a day.

I like the Le Croix flavors in a can, and I often add bitters to plain seltzer. There are a ton of varieties of bitters available these days.

[syntaxing]

I'm serious surprised that Sodastream is valued at $3.2B. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NYSE: KDP) is only at marketvalued around 4B (though the acquisition and merger are skewing the numbers a bit).

[rdtsc]

The value is in the margins. SodaSteam I'd imagine has lower costs. CO2 is not very expensive, but those cartridges are $20-$30 to refill. That is almost pure profit.

[fipple]

Question: can SodaStream carbonate arbitrary liquids like orange juice, or just pure water? If it can only carbonate water, which you then mix with flavoring, what’s the advantage over bottled seltzer from the store?

[lathiat]

The problem is that when you release pressure on anything but water, as the CO2 starts to come out of solution it bubbles up and tends to spill out of the bottle.

I'm sure there is science on this but my naive guess is that this is partly because theres more nucleation sites to bubble more, and then the non-water fluid will "soap" up a bit for lack of a better description (form bubles) causing it to then spill up and out.

You can get around this by releasing the pressure slowly. Some models of SodaStream (e.g. the Source) let you do this and others do not (e.g. the electric model).

As a secondary concern if the fluids do spill up out of the top into the valve area, it gets stuff on the seals etc and it doesn't seal as well later. Lower pressure = less carboned. And it's very easy to do this even releasing the pressure slowly.

So; yes.. but.. no. If you want to do that regularly, you're better off making some other kind of solution I think. It's pretty easy to make your own rudimentary sodastream. (and as others stated, they specifically tell you not to do this)

[karmelapple]

Officially, just pure water.

Unofficially, you can hack it [1].

Back in 2015, there were plans to unveil something that could officially do more [2], but that seems to not be for the consumer market.

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/dining/hacking-home-soda-...

2. https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2015/04/sodastream-mix-will-car...

[jjcm]

Yea. It's just adding pressure to liquid. You can carbonate whatever you want in it. Tried it was apple juice once and it was neat, but ended up really using it almost exclusively for carbonated water.

[awiesenhofer]

> what’s the advantage over bottled seltzer from the store?

Not needing to buy plastic bottles and trashing them when you are done with them!?

[walrus01]

For those who care, google "DIY sodastream", you can build your own refill canister attachment apparatus and be free from their razor blades/razor or ink tank/inkjet business model.

[cobookman]

I've thought the same. But the soda stream co2 refills are way easier to pickup. And with the 20% off bed bath and beyond coupon it's not that much more expensive

[guidedlight]

This seems like a very smart purchase, as soda bottle sales are flat or declining in many parts of the world.

[cool-RR]

Yes, and the flat soda bottles don't sell well at all.

[petra]

So does this mean the future of soda drinks is making them at home ? If not, why? What's missing ?

[Spivak]

Nothing is missing, it's just a bit of an upfront cost if you want soda that doesn't taste terrible. All of the consumer products are cheaply made, weak, and ridiculously overpriced even for the terrible quality you get.

If you want something that tastes as good as a restaurant then you pretty much need to buy the same equipment and it'll set you back at least $1k^, a weekend projects worth of installation time, and the cost of a CO2 tank and bulk syrup.

^ You can probably get under $1k if all you want is a soda-gun without the fancy dispenser.

[willio58]

Personally I have no interest in making soda at home as I’ll only indulge in a soda once or twice in a year. For me, I’ll buy it at a restaurant or a vending machine, and that’s the end of it

[amelius]

Sigh. When can we have new products again, instead of old products with new business models?

[yohann305]

I would love to see an API to make your own soda flavors at home

[AdmiralAsshat]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_cola

Have at it!

[fenwick67]

If this doesn't violate anti-trust I don't know what would.

[chadash]

Why would this be anti-trust? Sodastream has competitors who do the exact same thing, not to mention their biggest competitor, which is pre-bottled sparkling water.

[sushid]

The market disagrees with you as it's trading at $142 at the moment. It's not like Coke is merging with Pepsi.