This particular article will talk about something close to a “relationship”. Well, do you still remember the first time you met that girl/ guy? Your eyes and theirs’ met and all of a sudden, everything went blur and only focused to that person. After confronting each other’s feeling, your world just stops and revolves around them. You thought of the amazing future with that person. You just clicked. Everything was perfect. You couldn’t explain it anymore because it’s only just pure love.
But one morning, you wake up feeling not the same as yesterday. You cannot explain what’s happening. You couldn’t believe it could actually happen. The amazing future is slowly drifting apart and you couldn’t do anything already to save it.
Snap! Food companies totally and absolutely know that feels! Two amazing companies, fell in love and expected a greater future together but turns out, it’s not. Here are four famous brands that might sound familiar to you that faced divorce.
1. Coke and Costco
Official Plan: Hotdog combo exclusivity
Costco and Coke signed a deal which teamed up with Coca-Cola Company. They paired their famous hotdog with Coke at the food courts in its 400 locations. This deal was big. I mean, imagine going to Costco and seeing this amazing deal. You’d probably grab it! It will only cost you $1.50. In fact, they’ve only cost $1.50 for 27 years!
But the unexpected came, Costco soon announced that it was withdrawing with their deal with Coke and would sell a new Pepsi and a hotdog combo. Well, Pepsi-1, Coke- 0 (with a heartbroken and degraded dignity.)
2. Paula Deen and Smithfield
Official Plan: Deen-branded food products
Smithfield and Paula Deen’s team up was great and went smoothly until one of them was revealed to be using a racial slur. This incident was pretty rubbish and disgusting right? The issue went up to the court and documents showed that Deen had used the N-word, Smithfield expressed dismay and walked away from its partner in pork promotions.
3. McDonald’s and Heinz
Official Plan: Decades of ketchup for fast food’s most loved fries.
This incident was a bit recent. McDonald’s signed up a partnership with Heinz ketchup and things go along for a long time. Tiny Heinz ketchup was spread up all over McDonald’s branches. But again, a heartbreaking thing came up, Heinz was taken over by another ketchup called the Sage of Omaha, who turned out to be an ally of the treacherous Burger King.
4. Starbucks and Kraft
Official Plan: Grocery store distribution for Starbucks’ coffee
Kraft being seduced by the world’s most famous coffee that every Gen-X and Millennials got crazy about, couldn’t just say NO when asked to have a partnership with them. But again, not every story has a happy ending. Their issued went up to court. But the good thing here is that, Kraft made new partnership with a company that fits with them—McDonald’s.
To sum up and end this article, I think the lesson that’s left behind is that, partnership in the business industry is great. It got to improve both businesses but, getting a partnership and collaboration must be studied well. Knowing your desired business partner well is also a must. Study them and study your target market carefully. Might have risks but, with proper and careful analysis and study, a partnership could bring your business to the top.