Coca-Cola Outpaces PepsiCo as Asset-Light Strategy and Zero Sugar Drive Growth

Coca-Cola has transformed its business over the past decade, gaining share in cola and other sparkling-soft-drink categories while its Zero Sugar brand has become a major growth driver.

Coca-Cola's growing zero-sugar portfolio is helping drive beverage volumes as the company operates under a more asset-light bottling model. [Photo: Warren LeMay, Wikimedia Commons]

Diet Coke and Coca-Cola’s flagship brand have also continued to perform strongly, Jack Hough reported for Barron’s Daily.

More than a decade ago, Coca-Cola still owned a significant portion of regional bottling operations, which produced beverages from concentrate and handled local distribution.

The company subsequently embarked on a major refranchising program, transferring bottling operations to independent partners and moving toward a more asset-light business model.

Coca-Cola completed the refranchising of its company-owned U.S. bottling operations in 2017.

The strategy has helped Coca-Cola focus more heavily on brands, marketing and beverage concentrates rather than owning and operating much of the bottling infrastructure.

The company has continued to benefit from strong demand for its core beverages and zero-sugar products.

In the second quarter of 2026, Coca-Cola reported 5% growth in overall unit-case volume. Trademark Coca-Cola grew 5%, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar grew 16%, and Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light grew 7%.

PepsiCo remains more diversified than Coca-Cola, with a large food and snack business led by Frito-Lay, in addition to its beverage operations.