One of the country's largest Coca-Cola bottlers is closing its Raleigh distribution operations and opening a larger facility in Clayton.
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated will abandon its 90,000 square-foot facility on S. Wilmington St. in Raleigh that was built in 1957. The company is replacing it by leasing a 233,000 square-foot center on Shotwell Road, just off U.S. 70 in Clayton.
The company expects to shift its 184 local workers to the new facility in May.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures plans to close a warehouse in Durham and shift most of the facilities' workers to its operation in Garner.
Pepsi Bottling recently made automation improvements at the Garner facility that prompted the workforce consolidation, said spokesman George Suddath.
It's another example of the harsh reality in a post-recession world: Even as the economy steadily improves, companies in many industries are continuing to look for opportunities to cut costs.
The Durham facility employs about 100 people and most have been offered transfers to the Garner plant off of Jones Sausage Road.
Pepsi Beverages, the soda brand born in New Bern, plans to add 195 jobs over three years as it expands a customer-service center in Winston-Salem.
The new jobs will pay average annual salaries of $36,077, Gov. Bev Perdue's office announced this morning. That's less than the $40,352 Forsyth County average.
The company will receive state and local incentives worth up to $800,000, including a $400,000 state grant, if it meets hiring targets. Pepsi Beverages, a division of New York-based PepsiCo, also will have to retain the 870 people it already employs at the Winston-Salem call center.
On the heels of winning a major Caterpillar factory, Winston-Salem leaders are offering another round of incentives to lure an expansion by Pepsi Beverages at its Triad call center.
Pepsi is considering creating 195 jobs over five years as it renovates and expands its call center that serves retailers and vendors, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. Forsyth County commissioners have scheduled a hearing on Sept. 13 to discuss offering $64,000 to $150,000 in incentives. The city of Winston-Salem is expected to kick in the rest of a combined $400,000 offer.
The state would match that amount with a $400,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund, the newspaper reported.
Thousands of Haitians are drinking Raleigh water.
Matthew Bucherati, vice president of operations at Pepsi Bottling Ventures, last week began organizing a donation of 2,889 cases of Aquafina produced in Raleigh to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. That's 69,336 bottles.
Bucherati got approval from Keith Reimer, CEO of the Raleigh-based company, and used contacts at Ft. Bragg, a Pepsi Bottling customer, to arrange the delivery to Charleston and then to Haiti.
Bucherati, who has been with the company for more than 20 years, "knows how to make things happen," said Pepsi Bottling spokesman George Suddath. "He got it in his head that he was going to make this happen and give some immediate relief. Hopefully, we'll be able to provide some more."
The donation is just one of many by companies with Triangle operations.
Forgive the folks at Pepsi Bottling Ventures if they forgo throwing a Super Bowl party.
The Raleigh-based company, one of the nation's largest bottlers of Pepsi products, can't control how the beverage and snacks giant spends its advertising money. But it couldn't have set off much celebrating when Pepsi announced Thursday that it won't advertise its drinks during the big football game on CBS.
Pepsi beverages have been advertised in the Super Bowl since 1987, with spots that featured celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears and Will.i.am. Last year the company spent $33 million promoting products such as Pepsi, Gatorade and Cheetos, with $15 million on Pepsi alone.
The company spent $142.8 million from 1999 to 2008 on Super Bowl ads, second only to Anheuser-Busch, the Associated Press reports.
Pepsi plans to focus on new online marketing efforts.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures, the subsidiary of a Japanese company since 1980, employs more than 2,400 people at its 26 facilities in North Carolina, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Vermont and Idaho.
