Industries · Consumer
Beverages: soft drinks, water, beer, wine and spirits
How drinks are made, bottled and brought to every shop and bar, why the concentrate maker and the bottler earn such different margins, why beer is brewed locally while whisky crosses the world, how excise taxes and health rules shape prices, and what changed for drinkers and drinks companies from 2024 to 2026.
Key takeaways
- Most drinks are mostly water, which is heavy and cheap, so the finished drink is made close to the people who drink it.
- In drinks, the brand owner earns a high margin on a small slice of the money, while the bottler or brewer earns a thin margin on the big, heavy part of the business.
- Drinks cases usually ask why volume or profit fell, how to respond to a cheaper rival or a new tax, whether to enter a market, or how to grow a premium brand.
- Explain the drinks value chain, the concentrate and bottler model, and the five main categories
- Explain why the value per litre decides how far a drink travels and where the profit sits
- Calculate the split of one unit case between brand owner and bottler, beer profit per hectolitre after excise, and the effect of price and mix
- Name the main players by region and the forces that moved the industry from 2024 to 2026
- Crack typical beverages cases, starting with the right driver
Lessons
How the drinks industry works: brands, bottlers and the route to market
From sugar, grain and grapes to the fridge in a corner shop: who makes what, the five main categories, how drinks reach drinkers, and the measures that matter.
Drinks economics: the unit case split, excise and price and mix
How the money from one case of soft drinks is split between brand owner and bottler, what a hectolitre of beer earns after tax, why mix matters as much as volume, and why whisky ties up cash for years.
Drinks players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases
Who the big drinks companies are by region, why people drank less alcohol and paid more sugar tax from 2024 to 2026, typical prompts, traps and drills.
Worked cases in this module
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Key terms