How Coca-Cola plans to build more billion-dollar brands

Food Dive reported the development on 2026-02-11. The soda giant is focused on scaling regional offerings under incoming CEO Henrique Braun.

The report places the news in a wider commercial context. Coca-Cola’s incoming CEO is looking locally for its next $1 billion brand. Henrique Braun, chief operating officer who is set to take over the top post next month, hinted at his plans to drive growth at the world's largest beverage company during Coca-Cola’s earnings call on Tuesday. Part of the strategy focuses on identifying local, emerging brands that Coca-Cola can later scale.

For the food sector, the practical implications extend beyond the immediate announcement. “We put a lot of effort and discipline on how to prune the brands, learn how to grow them and leverage scale,” Braun said. “Now it's about bringing more of those localness opportunities into the family and then accelerate.”. Smaller, local brands have found success at grocery stores in part because they can react quicker to consumer trends.

Attention now turns to how companies, customers and regulators respond. Three-quarters of Coca-Cola’s billion-dollar brand portfolio are outside of its legacy soft drink business, outgoing CEO James Quincey told analysts. Santa Clara, a Mexico-based dairy brand, recently crossed the billion-dollar threshold. “That’s a great example of something that started locally, and then we invested behind it,” Braun said of Santa Clara.