Pepsi virtual restaurant matches fizz with foods

PepsiCo in the US has launched a digital kitchen called Pep’s Place to encourage consumers to experiment with matching foods with various Pepsi beverages.

From this week, consumers can visit a dedicated website to select from eight Pepsi drinks and match them with renowned American dishes like cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, Cajun chicken sandwiches, chopped pork sandwiches, spare ribs, and chicken caesar salads. Orders will be fulfilled by major food-delivery services Uber Eats, Door Dash, and Grub Hub, or by Pepsi itself.

Customers order by first choosing a drink – Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, Pepsi Real Sugar, Pepsi Wild Cherry, Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry, Pepsi Mango, and Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango. After that, they are prompted with a selection of food items Pepsi believes complements the drink.

“For years we have known that Pepsi is the perfect complement to a variety of foods,” said Todd Kaplan, VP of marketing at Pepsi. “But even though consumers know that food tastes Better With Pepsi, they often still forget to order a beverage with their favorite meals.

“With the launch of Pep’s Place, we have designed a new ‘fast beverage’ restaurant delivery concept that features a menu and experience literally built around the idea of what foods go best with Pepsi, allowing consumers at home to fully optimize their meals,” he said.

Pep’s Place will trade for a month, supported by eight television commercials broadcast nationwide. The company says the ads were filmed without “unrealistic, idealistic perfection” of food, instead depicting “the celebration of unapologetic love of foods like juicy, drippy cheeseburgers, topping-heavy hot dogs, and pizzas with the extra-long cheese pull”.

As the example below shows, some are amusing…