Les Brasseries Hammered In Cold Drinks War

 As soon as Source du Pays bounced back with its previously popular bottled water, Supermont, which springs from hoards of mineral water embedded in the walls of volcanic Mt. Fako in the South West Region, Les Brasseries’ world abruptly became slippery.
By Ngosso a Ngosso 
For all the pride Les Brasseries had had in its shrewdness in the beverages market, Source du Pays made the ground more slippery by splashing out brand new soft drinks which gained recognition at the onset, sparking off a cold war in the shadows of bars, restaurants, shops, stores and motor parks. 
Source du Pays had added flavour to its soft drinks promotion. Then it made a further killing by packaging its soft drinks under charming brand names like Planet, Bubble Up, American Cola, and a number of Tops, which set the heads of consumers reeling with delight. 
Attractive packaging, affordability, portability and unique flavours that linger long on the tongue, all infused more positive savour in the Source du Pays products.
Source du Pays had got their branding notion right, giving its business huge forward thrust and an equal competitive edge.
With the belief that the comfort world of soft drinks belonged to it dashed, Les Brasseries went into a panic and brewed new brands. To boost consumer morale, the brewery packed up a whopping trinity of Boosters – Pina Colada, Gin and Whisky Black with added flavours. Its XXXL was supposed to be a hot ticket to ecstasy.
Seemingly chaffed to bits in the trenches of the soft drinks cold war, Les Brasseries launched into doling out drinks in Douala and Yaounde, offering for free half a litre of soft drink for every 1.5 litre bottle bought. It cut the price of small coca-cola (glass bottles) from 300 francs cfa to 250 francs cfa (the price has since climbed back to 300 francs).
When Source du Pays launched five and ten-litre Supermont jugs with attached taps, Les Brasseries did not hesitate to counter with similar measures.
Soft drinks consumers were sooner than later immersed in a swamp of drinks and trapped in the choking wrangle of the competing brewers. A survey carried out by The Green Vision in the South West and North West Regions indicate that consumers have had to exercise a monumental effort of will to choose from the myriad of soft drinks churned out by both companies. 
Our survey indicates that Source du Pays products and their brand names favour youngsters between the ages of 21 and 25. About 61% of the soft drinks consumers interviewed, also consider Source du Pays as a threat to companies producing similar soft drinks.
Some soft drinks consumers, however, demonstrated chop and change tastes. Some said they prefer Bubble Up to Sprite – a similar Les Brasseries product, rather than Planet and American Cola.
Les Brasseries might have turned a new brewing leaf but old habits are hard to break. The brewing company has clung to its old days of unexplained shortages in drinking spots, bars and hotels. Bar owners get irked to their gills whenever they have to chase Les Brasseries route sales trucks that sometimes come a day late. Beer drinkers too are often annoyed with suggestions to ‘manage’ other brands of drinks other than the ones they had on their palates when they set off for the bar. Sometimes, the bar owners and drinkers have to sit and wait for Les Brasseries.
The route sales agents have time and again been observed to adopt feelings that are less than polite.
“There are no Les Brasseries products in the whole of this Sandpit area; we are waiting for the route sales,” a disgruntled bar owner once told some loyal Les Brasseries customers who had to settle for other beverages, as they killed time waiting for Les Brasseries to come along.
A wholesaler in Buea says they are way ahead of Les Brasseries in the distribution of soft drinks.
“There is a wide gap between us and Les Brasseries. We always make sure that our drinks are in constant supply even if there is a lag in production which often doesn’t last long,” Richard Ndifor told The Green Vision.
“We never suffer shortages of drinks,” he added.
In this cold drinks war more plastic bottles have been produced and used more than ever before in the history of soft drinks business in Cameroon. While glass bottles are reusable for a long period of time, plastic bottles are lighter, more portable and convenient but may not be easily reclaimed, in Cameroon.