Innovation in the Marketplace

The foodservice industry is an evolving world. Every day new restaurant concepts open, new items appear on the menu, and new consumers walk through the door with their own individual wants and expectations. As the leading beverage supplier for the foodservice industry, our customers turn to us to provide the products, programs, packaging and marketing support that are in tune with the ever-changing playing field of foodservice.

As a result, we've become an organization where innovation is paramount to our success. Through innovation, we have helped, and will continue to help, our customers maintain and grow their businesses, especially in uncertain economic times. Some of these innovations offer consumers more beverage choices; some tap into growing categories like tea, coffee and smoothies; and some provide custom beverages and food/beverage pairings.

Let's look at some recent examples:

• Our new Bevariety beverage dispenser allows consumers to choose from 12 brands and multiple flavor shot options, totaling more than 50 different drink combinations, in the same footprint as the existing legacy dispenser.
• Gold Peak variety tea dispenser is a self-service urn that offers four different tea flavors, offering choice and variety in the growing tea category.
• Juan Valdez caféREALE system enables foodservice operators to serve hot, fresh cups of Colombian coffee on demand (no brewing required).
• Our Minute Maid two- and four-valve juice dispenser delivers healthy beverage choices throughout the day, such as orange juice at breakfast and lemonade in the afternoon.
• The Coca-Cola Brands with Meals website provides customers with suggested food and beverage pairings, and a tool to develop specialty beverages with chefs from the Culinary Institute of America.

In addition, we continue to develop beverages, programs and promotions to meet specific customer needs, such as the successful custom milkshake, crew training and marketing materials we recently created for one of our customers.

But innovation, like any change, comes with some inherent risk. As an organization, we've been able to learn from innovations that worked as well as those that didn't. Fortunately, many of our innovations have met with business success. But on the occasions they haven't, we've used that knowledge to do things a better way. We've learned from past experiences to introduce an innovation only when it's ready. Those experiences, and the lessons learned, have helped guide the launch of Bevariety and other innovations still in development.

If you think about it, a fountain innovation is what started this great Company. A simple combination of syrup mixed with sparkling water created what is now the No. 1 beverage company in the world. We know firsthand that innovation is critical to our -- and our customers'-- continued growth and success.

That's why innovation will keep our Company moving toward undisputed beverage leadership and our customers ahead of the competition. There are so many new things to offer our consumers and customers and revolutionary innovations still to come.