Pep’s Place was a virtual restaurant, offering delivery only, that ran from May 3rd to May 30th, 2021, across the United States. Orders could be placed on PepsPlaceRestaurant.com or via Doordash, GrubHub and UberEats. The pop-up served as the big launch for the Better With Pepsi campaign.

The quick service restaurant featured a curated menu based entirely on what foods paired well with Pepsi beverages and put beverage choices at the forefront. The culinary team worked to create the perfect food pairings and every meal started with a choice of Pepsi beverages then an iconic item from a fast-food restaurant. Some pairings included: Pepsi & Classic Cheeseburger, Pepsi Wild Cherry & Lip Smackin’ Spareribs, Pepsi Mango & Wings.

During the pandemic, consumers were missing out on going out to restaurants and were turning to takeout to get their fix of comfort fast-food they craved. Although ordering out more, consumers were not ordering beverages with their meals. Humans find joy in eating out and enjoying their favorite foods so ordering out could sometimes feel uninspiring.

Pepsi wanted to provide an exciting shift in the industry by offering consumers something new, outside of the same old box of options they had gotten used to.

Pep’s Place, the industry’s first-ever Fast Beverage Restaurant, came to be by using strong consumer insights and data as well as partnerships with chefs who curated tailored menu pairings for Pepsi’s iconic beverages.

Traditionally delivery packaging is basic, messy and lackluster. Pepsi reimagined delivery packaging to include safety seals, trays for Pepsi beverages, sealed/branded boxes all while remaining conscious of the environment.

As the world continued to grapple with the effects of a global pandemic, Pepsi saw an opportunity to offer consumers some inspiration while also launching its Better With Pepsi campaign in an innovative and fresh way.

The goal was to get people who order fast food and delivery to order Pepsi 100% of the time by creating a beverage first restaurant using ghost kitchen technology because Pepsi knows food goes better with its iconic beverages.

#BetterwithPepsi was more than just a tagline for the brand; it was an unapologetic reinforcement of how consumers enjoy Pepsi every day.

Pep’s Place was built as a marquee moment for the launch of the Better With Pepsi campaign, as well as the initial pilot for Pepsi’s direct-to-consumer vision. This was the first time Pepsi had ever tried to launch its own virtual restaurant. The launch of these 30 ghost kitchens exemplifies the future of dining and delivery with thoughtfulness to packaging and design innovation. This was not just a PepsiCo first, but a first of its kind in the industry, and the first ever “Fast Beverage Restaurant.”

To prepare, Pepsi commissioned third party blind taste tests and a consumer survey to discover how burgers with signature offerings from the top three burger chains paired with different beverages and developed a curated menu for the new restaurants based on those findings.

With the earned media announcement of Better with Pepsi and Pep’s Place, PR created a groundswell of coverage and consumer awareness for the new creative and cola-led ghost kitchen concept, via national release and broad outreach.

As a result…

- Features across top-tier marketing, trade and F+B outlets including Ad Age, Adweek, Marketing Dive, Thrillist and more

- Better with Pepsi featured in Ad Age’s digital daily newsletter

- Positive, message-rich coverage with key assets appears across a variety of press verticals, with some press noting the brand’s innovative marketing approach

- Additional features in top local publications near Pep’s Place locations, a result of creative and targeted outreach efforts

- 3B PR impressions

- 150M+ visitors to PepsPlaceRestaurant.com

- 3.2M+ meals sold