Friday, 11 February 2011

Kofola

Name	Kofola
Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer	Kofola, a.s.
Origin	Czechoslovakia
Introduced	1962
Related	Coca-Cola, Pepsi

Kofola is a carbonated soft drink produced in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is the principal rival of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in these two markets.

History

Kofola originated in the Czechoslovak pharmaceutical company Galena in the early 1960s during research targeted at finding a possible use for surplus caffeine produced in the process of coffee roasting. The resulting dark-coloured, sweet-and-sour syrup Kofo became the main ingredient of a new soft drink named Kofola introduced in 1962.

During the 1960s and 1970s Kofola became exceedingly popular in communist Czechoslovakia because it substituted for Western cola-based drinks like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, which were available but priced at more than twice the price of Kofola. After the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, Kofola had to compete with many foreign brands that entered the attractive newly opened market. After a period of decline and trademark lawsuits (many companies produced their own "kofola" as the term became a genericized trademark, although it had nothing to do with the original one — just because it was an established trademark), in 2000 the Santa nápoje company, based in the Czech town of Krnov and owned by the originally Greek Samaras family, became the only producer and distributor of Kofola in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In 2002, the company built a new factory in Rajecká Lesná, Slovakia, to satisfy the demand of the Slovak market. In 2003, Santa nápoje changed its name to Kofola, a.s.. Apart from Kofola it also produces other soft drinks (Top Topic, Jupí, Jupík, RC Cola) that are exported to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. The company's intention is to build a factory in Poland as well.

Since 1998 Kofola has been bottled (in addition to classical 0.33-litre glass bottles) in 0.5-litre and 2-litre PET-bottles. 0.25-litre cans were introduced in 2003, 1-litre PET-bottles in December 2004. Kofola draught from 50-litre kegs, traditionally sold in many bars and restaurants across the two countries, is very popular as well.

Since 2002 the producer has launched a successful media campaign aimed at a young and hip audience based on the slogan "Když ji miluješ, není co řešit. / Keď ju miluješ, nie je čo riešiť." ("If you love her there is nothing to bother about.") Until 2000, the Kofola logo featured a coffee bean . It now resembles a coffee flower.

In 2008 Kofola announced a merger with the Polish lemonade producer Hoop.

The merged company was renamed into Kofola-Hoop S.A. In autumn 2008 the Polish Private Equity fund Enterprise Investors acquired in a Public Tender Offer 42.46% of Kofola-Hoop for approximately € 140 million. .

Sales

In Slovakia, Kofola is the most formidable rival of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. In 2003, 14.28 million litres of Kofola were sold on the Slovak market; in 2004, Kofola sales reached 19.44 million litres. According to a 2004 survey, 17% of Slovak cola-based soft drink consumers buy Kofola most frequently, compared to 14% preferring Coca-cola. Kofola's market share has doubled in the period of the last three years (4.6% in 2002, 9.4% in 2004). Kofola thus occupies third position in the Slovak market, after Coca-cola (11.5% in 2004) and Walmark (9.6%), preceding Pepsi (5.5% in 2004).

Ingredients

Kofo syrup, the main ingredient of Kofola, consists of 14 natural ingredients (such as extracts from apple, cherry, currant, or herbal aroma), sugar, and caramel. In comparison with Pepsi or Coca-Cola it contains 30% less sugar, a little more caffeine (17 mg/100ml, Coca-Cola 15 mg/100ml) and it does not contain phosphoric acid.

In 2004, new lemon-flavoured Kofola Citrus was introduced.

In 2007, yet another version, cinnamon-flavoured neKofola/joKofola was introduced.(note: This one was just a limited edition for Christmas)

In 2008, new sugar-free Kofola BEZ cukru was introduced. In November 2008, new cherry-flavoured Kofola Barborková was introduced.(note: This one was just a limited edition, produced just for about two months)

References

External links

Czech homepage

Slovak homepage

where you can buy original Kofola (Czech Republic)

where you can buy original Kofola (Slovakia)

where you can buy original Kofola (Canada, USA)

Category:Soft drinks Category:Slovak cuisine Category:Czech cuisine Category:Krnov Category:Slovak beverages Category:Czech beverages

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