Supermarket shelves are running low on large bottles of classic red Coca-Cola as the soft drinks levy comes into effect today.
Branches of Asda, Morrisons and Tesco all appeared hit by a shortage of 1.5 litre bottles, the largest available following size changes prompted by the levy.
The 1.5 litre bottle replaces a 1.75 litre, while a 1.25 litre variant is reduced to 1 litre.
A branch of Asda visited by The Grocer today had no large classic Coca-Cola bottles in any of the various sizes, offering only individual-sized bottles or multi-packs of cans.
The Grocer visited an Asda first after learning anecdotally of shortages at another branch.
An assistant blamed the change in sizes. “I know we won’t have any Coke,” he said. “It’s because the bottle is changing size to 1.5l.”
Sooo… Tesco and Morrison’s haven’t got any 1+ litre bottles of full sugar coke, I’m guessing because of the sugar tax, but I can buy a box of 24 cans?
— One Last Thing (@one_last_thing) March 22, 2018
Two other supermarkets also appeared to be experiencing shortages. At a Tesco Extra, only eight 1.5l bottles remained in an otherwise empty crate while low-sugar variants appeared fully stocked.
At Morrisons, only six 1.5l bottles of classic Coke remained on the shelves, while 2 1itre bottles of Diet Coke were stocked in their hundreds.
On Twitter, a user wrote: ‘Sooo… Tesco and Morrison’s haven’t got any 1+ litre bottles of full sugar coke, I’m guessing because of the sugar tax, but I can buy a box of 24 cans?’
Supermarkets did not provide clarity on the apparent shortage.
An Asda spokesman said there were “pockets” of stores struck by a “little supply issue”. He said it was not linked to the soft drinks levy or size changes but would not provide further details.
“It’s just a little supply issue we’ve had which is going to be fixed in a couple of days,” he said. “It’s a coincidence. It’s not to do with what’s being going on today. It’s just an internal thing so it’s something for us.”
A Tesco spokesman denied there was any shortage.
Morrisons and Coca-Cola European Partners did not provide an immediate comment.
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