A Plan to Expand----A leading North American beverage company wants to work with more bottlers across Africa

ROYAL Crown Cola International, a subsidiary of Cott Beverages, is in the first stages of expanding its bottler network in emerging markets such as Africa. RCCI is now actively working throughout the region to identify the right partners to support it beverage brands – including the flagship ‘RC Cola’ – and to build strong and lasting relationships with these bottlers. There is tremendous opportunity for the soft drink and juice company to continue to expand its bottler network in the region, explains Moshy Cohen, vice president of Marketing, who works directly on RCCI’s strategic business development projects.

What challenges, in general, do prospective bottlers encounter? What is the process like for RCCI to select and qualify bottlers?

At RCCI we take every new market entry as a strategic project. In each case our priority is to take the right steps to ensure that we build a solid and lasting network within the local bottling community. As a result, our priority is always to work with each bottler to understand what their individual requirements and their unique goals are so that we are in a position to provide the most effective support.

One area that we work closely with our bottlers is to foster continuous improvement in plant operations. Continuous improvement allows bottlers to build a robust, efficient, and productive operation though a culture of process excellence using lean Six Sigma methodology. This type of practice has allowed bottlers to enhance their roll through yields, reduce process variability, reduce and eliminate waste, improve efficiency and performance and improve overall operational costs.

The success of the RCCI formula lies in maintaining a consistent and constant high level of product quality for locally produced beverages and this is achieved through proper education and coaching. ‘RCCI quality’ is a culture that is embraced throughout the supply chain and key personnel are both highly engaged and understand the key quality performance indicators. This type of culture ensures that each bottle or can that is produced is produced with the highest quality.

How do you approach the development of tailor-made programmes for specific markets?

RCCI’s bottler service package has been designed specifically to help our expanding network in markets like Africa boost sales, ensure high product quality and enhance production efficiency. Integral to that is an understanding that this should not be a ‘one size fits all’ approach to any market and region.

What this means is that we build an individual relationship with each of our bottlers that is based on their very specific requirements and their unique goals. In every program we develop with our bottler network, we work to identify their unique needs and priorities in order to offer the most effective services – from marketing and sales programs, to quality and technical support, as well as product innovation and R&D. We pride ourselves on our strong customer service and personalized support.

What are some interesting differences in terms of flavour preferences are you seeing in these markets? Is there any programme to develop specific flavour variants addressing the preferences?

It’s absolutely the case that, as the consumer base in regions like Africa continues to mature and diversify, new varieties, new flavours and new product lines are growing in importance. And as this demand for greater flavour variety increases, RCCI continues to explore opportunities to introduce new and targeted innovative beverage concepts that meet the local taste preferences. Moving forward, our global innovation team isAdidas