Ippolito to Beer Distributors on a Possible Pepsi Refranchise: Form Alliances, or Forget it

Dear Client:  With Pepsi under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to rethink its bottling model, longtime beer-distribution advisor Ippolito Christon & Co. is telling wholesalers one thing: if refranchising comes, only alliances will have a shot. Beverage suppliers, they note, increasingly prefer partners able to offer “one-stop” statewide or regional coverage that reduces “operational complexity, onboarding costs, and logistical headaches.” And if Pepsi moves in that direction, it will be looking for exactly those kinds of unified solutions, not