Pepsi moves to the outskirts of Bucharest

Pepsi Americas Romania, the bottler of PepsiCo for the Republic of Moldova and the Romanian market, has scheduled investments worth around 34 million dollars (25 million euros) for a new plant in Bucharest, where the existing bottling operations from the Capital could be transferred.
The company has recently bought an 80,000sqm plot in Militari, on the outskirts of Bucharest, for around 4 million dollars, and will invest 25 to 30 million dollars in the construction of a soft drinks plant, according to representatives of Pepsi Americas Romania.
Works on the new plant are scheduled to start midway through next year, and could be completed within 12-18 months.
The current production facility held by Pepsi Americas in Bucharest is located on Viilor Road and has the potential for a residential development.
“Once the new plant begins functioning, I don’t think the other production facility in Bucharest will be necessary. The capacity of the new production facility will exceed the one in the Capital by 15-20%,” Mike Holmes told ZF, in his first interview since being appointed as president of Pepsi Americas Romania.
US-based company Pepsi Americas took over Quadrant-Amroq Bottling Company Limited ((QABCL), which used to control QAB, the bottler of PepsiCo products in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, paying over 150 million euros in total.
“We think it is better for production to be located at the heart of a strong market, which in this case is Bucharest. Additionally, we want our production facility to be located close to our main employees’ offices, and near a workforce market which allows us to attract the best professionals,” explained Mike Holmes.
The company holds another production facility in Covasna, which will continue to operate after the new plant opens.