Pepsi Cola to announce R&D centre for Cork

SOFT drinks giant Pepsi Cola is expected to announce today that it is to create a major research and development centre in Cork.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin is expected to reveal details at a conference in the Carrigaline Court Hotel.

Speculation increased last night that the likely new research centre will become Pepsi Cola’s worldwide headquarters for research.

A number of jobs are expected to be created by the move.

Last year, the company employing 143,000 people worldwide, had a turnover of €21.3 billion.

In September 2003, ex-Tánaiste and former Enterprise Minister Mary Harney officially opened Pepsi-Cola’s €90 million concentrate manufacturing plant at the Kilnagleary industrial estate, near Carrigaline.

The company also has another manufacturing plant at Little Island, which was created in 1974. Between the two plants, Pepsi Cola already employs more than 260 people in the Cork area.

The decision to build the plant at Carrigaline followed the success of the Little Island operation.

The proposed latest development is likely to be due to the success and strength of both plants and the availability of graduates in the Cork region.

Many of Pepsi Cola’s brand names are over 100 years old, but the corporation is relatively young. PepsiCo, as it is officially known, was founded in 1965 through the merger of Pepsi Cola and Frito-Lay.

Tropicana was acquired in 1998 and PepsiCo merged with The Quaker Oats Company, including Gatorade, in 2001.