Kas no longer exists as a commercial company with its own life. That same week, news emerged of Pepsi’s absorption of the iconic Alava soft drinks company, established 70 years ago by the Knörr family. The agreement was reached at the general meeting of the two companies last June when the merger by absorption of Kas, SL by the Pepsico group was unanimously approved “with dissolution and extinction without liquidation of the absorbed company and allocation of its entire capital” a universal basis to the absorbing company. This is a formality, as the absorption and dissolution is taking place now and Kas is no longer a separate company and legal entity, but the company and brand have been part of Pepsico since 1991. The group has also transformed the Alava factory into its spearhead. towards sustainability: it will be the first multinational company in the world to have zero emissions.
Kas was born as a brand in Vitoria in 1956, by Luis Knörr Elorza, a businessman of German origin who was already involved in the beverage sector at that time and who had the idea of adding juice orange soda called The AS. and which the family had been manufacturing since 1926. The K added to the Knörr family name gave birth to one of the most iconic non-alcoholic soft drinks brands in Spain and which has survived to this day, along with soft drinks. orange, lemon or Bitter Kas. It became a social and sporting reference of the time, for example with the sponsorship of the cycling team, born in 1958, disappeared in 1979, but returning to racing in 1985 and remaining until 1988, the date of its disappearance. definitive of cycling on the road. The success was such that the factory hosted a finish of the Tour de France in 1977, the previous visit of the recent one in 2023. It was a rider with advertising for soft drinks who won, José Nazabal.
The family business begins to expand and has 12 packaging factories throughout Spain, with its main headquarters in the Gamarra industrial zone, in Vitoria. It was in 1974 that it moved to Etxabarri-Ibiña, where the factory is currently located.
At the end of the 1980s, the company ceased to be a family business. The Knörr family ceded majority control to today’s BBVA, which sold its stake to Pepsico in 1991 and the multinational became owner of the company, while retaining all brands. The building that housed the headquarters first of Kas and then of Pepsi in Vitoria was put up for sale in 2022 for 650,000 euros through the real estate company Cbre to settle in the Álava technology park. The old headquarters is still for sale two years later at the same price.
Currently, the Etxebarri-Ibiña factory has a total of 200 employees and six production lines. More than 300 references are made there, including the best known like Pepsi, Kas, Bitter Kas and 7UP. During its fifty years of history, since its creation in 1974, this factory has produced 7 billion liters of Kas and Pepsi in all its formats, some 365,000 trucks have been shipped and more than 21 million people throughout the countries consumed some of these drinks. which are manufactured in the Alava factory, according to data managed by the company.
Spearheading Pepsico’s decarbonization
Already without a name and without its own legal identity, the Alava factory is currently positioned as the spearhead of Pepsico’s decarbonization. A milestone they remembered last month during the commemoration of their 50th anniversary. Already in 2021, the Basque factory was the first to launch the entire Pepsi range in 100% recycled plastic bottles and to produce a new cardboard solution for grouping cans, in addition to piloting the change of the caps attached to the cans. bottles. Next year, it is expected to become the world’s first multinational net-zero emissions factory. A project which involves an investment of five million euros. Since 2019, 27 million have been invested in this factory in terms of sustainability. Zero emissions involves replacing natural gas with renewable electric energy and achieving 100% electrification of installations.
