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TAMPA-Any soft drink, bottled water or juice beverage that's not a product dispensed by The Pepsi Bottling Group Inc., a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., may soon be contraband on Hillsborough County Public Schools campuses.
School officials assert there won't be designated backpack or lunch box police searching for beverages made by competitors. But the school district's request for proposal and Pepsi's response spells out plans to expel competition.
More important, it expels local businesses from serving the school district.
Officials at Hillsborough schools-the 11th largest school district in the United States with more than 183,000 pre-kindergarten through adult education students-continue to negotiate a 12-year, $50 million exclusive funding package contract with Pepsi.
Instead of schools making individual deals with beverage distributors, the Pepsi contract gives the company exclusive rights to deliver trademark brands such as top selling soft drinks Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Aquafina water beverages, and Lipton Brisk tea.
In return, Hillsborough is projected to receive more than $50 million in commissions, equipment and Pepsi marketing perks.
More than 150 school districts in 30 states have signed exclusive contracts with Pepsi or the Coca-Cola Co., contracts designed by beverage conglomerates to permanently connect young consumers with their brands.
Pepsi and the Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co., the only two entities to bid on the Hillsborough schools contract, helped draft the request for proposal language.
Meanwhile, Vend-Works Enterprises Inc. in Tampa, as well as other independent vendors and Coca-Cola, will lose the opportunity to deliver beverage products to public schools.
Pepsi's proposal calls for delivery by dedicated, full-service vending route trucks stationed in The Pepsi Bottling Group Tampa facility. The local facility included in the proposal that 300 Pepsi employee families send their children to Hillsborough schools.
But Al Coton, Vend-Works owner, doesn't lament that Hillsborough schools officials picked Pepsi.
He sees...