Business & Money | Monday 24 February, 2020 4:47 am |

PepsiCo, the global food and beverage company has announced the renewal of its 25-year partnership with Americana Group, one of MENA’s largest restaurant operators and food manufacturers. The renewal will see PepsiCo continuing its diverse and much-loved product offering to consumers across the region through Americana’s most loved restaurant brands.

As the food and beverage landscape in the region continues to evolve, consumers are turning to more experiential offerings, discovering new tastes and increasingly demanding newer products, while still looking for convenient packaging and product delivery from brands they know and love. In parallel, the rise of e-commerce platforms and digital transformation is shaping the future of customer experience, with customers being exposed to a wide array of brand product offerings online. Americana and PepsiCo both pride themselves on remaining relevant to their consumers amidst rapidly changing preferences, habits and patterns and continuously strive to deliver on their customer promise.

The partnership means that consumers will continue to have access to the entirety of PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio at their favorite Americana restaurants including KFC, Hardee’s, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and Krispy Kreme amongst others, across the MENA and Kazakhstan. Armed with an in-depth understanding of consumers’ desires and harnessing decades of experience, PepsiCo and Americana will jointly capture the growth of this digital transformation by delivering innovative and elevated food and beverages experiences through dedicated menus, promotions, and partnerships with delivery aggregators.

“The PepsiCo and Americana partnership is a great deal for both our companies and our consumers.  Consumer habits, along with food and beverage preferences, are shifting rapidly across the Middle East. Consumers are increasingly turning to “always on” mobile and online solutions, and our partnership will leverage technology to provide personalized and interactive experiences to diners. Our renewed partnership with Americana will bring more smiles to our consumers with every sip and bite by delivering superior food and beverages experiences.” said Eugene Willemsen, CEO, PepsiCo Africa, Middle East and South Asia.

With more consumers turning to experiences over products, the partnership is another step in the journey to enhance F&B offerings, ultimately creating more unique tastes and flavors suited to the Middle East’s young and vibrant demographic. More importantly, in an era of aggressive technological revolution, digitally enabled stores complete with self-service kiosks, tablets, digital menu boards and futuristic technologies meet consumers’ desires for greater convenience and deeper interaction. 

“Americana, a market leader in the restaurant industry, operates close to 2,000 outlets in 13 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Kazakhstan, capturing a wide array of customer segments across generations and delighting customers with memorable experiences. The partnership exemplifies our pledge to reinvent our offerings to deepen our customer connect and engagement, whilst remaining at the forefront of changing customer behaviors. Americana’s deep industry know-how and expertise in managing scale and complexity coupled with PepsiCo’s global reach, positions this partnership as a strategic pillar in continuing to touch customer’s hearts and winning their trust and loyalty through consistently delivering differentiated offerings,” said Kesri Kapur, Group CEO of Americana.