Spring Allison, Cheryl Mcintire, Lea Austin,
Jose Cruz, Michelle Anderson, Randi Breach
RES/351
October, 1, 2012
Dr. Prasad Yenumula
The Issue On September 12, 2012 the New York City Health Department voted eight-zero with one vote abstaining, to enact a city wide ban on sugar-sweetened beverages in containers over 16ounce in size (Susman, 2012). At the urging of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg the health department is hoping that this ban will have an impact on the growing obesity problem among New York citizens (Susman, 2012). Opposition to the ban was evident before the final vote by citizens believing violations of his or her freedom are occurring and vendors who see the choices in what he or she serve the customers under dictation from city hall. Perhaps the group with the most to lose is the beverage industry; the ban limits servings of sugar sweetened drinks to 16 ounces or less in the city’s 24,000 restaurants, delis, movie theaters, sports venues, and street carts (Petrecca, 2012). This means no 20-ounce bottles, no super-sized drinks, no monster drinks at the movie theater, the fact is most of these establishments consider a 16-ounce beverage a small or medium drink (Petrecca, 2012). So smaller drinks mean smaller profits; however, it may be possible that this is not the case. The ban does not limit the number of 16-ounce drinks a person may purchase; the possibility for additional sales does exist (Petrecca, 2012). Because only restaurants offer free refills, it is possible that the smaller size drinks will result in greater quantities of sales at the other locations.
Business Research The CEO of the Coca Cola Company is communicating with Learning Team A, hiring Learning Team A to research potential issues and opportunities resulting from the ban on containers over the limit of 16 ounces of sugar sweetened beverages in the city of New York. Coca Cola is
References: Donald R. Cooper, P. S. (2011). Business Research Methods, Eleventh Edition Koebler, J. (2012, September 12). Experts: Courts Likely to Uphold New York Soda Ban Petrecca, L. (2012, July 18). Coke, Pepsi, others launch assault against NYC beverage ban Susman, T. (2012, September 13). New York City bans big sugary drinks in restaurants