"Duke’s... is one of the iconic regional brands in our portfolio and we continue to manufacture the Duke’s range of products from our plant in Mahul, Bombay. Duke’s Soda is available in 300 ml glass bottles and 750 ml PET bottles; Duke’s Lemon is available in 600 ml PET and 300 ml glass bottles... these are available in certain areas like Thana, Vashi, Andheri, Chembur and South Bombay,” a PepsiCo India spokesperson told Parsiana on July 30, 2018.
Catering queen Tanaz Godiwala told Parsiana the same day that she has to rely on other companies for Raspberry and Ginger drinks to serve at Parsi events. The Duke’s brand of cold drinks continues to be one of the 15 brands that multinational corporation PepsiCo manufactures and sells in India.
Above: Iconic Duke’s bottle at their erstwhile factory, since demolished;
Inset: Lemonade and Soda, part of PepsiCo’s range
For many, the demolition of the two-storey high iconic Duke’s bottle at their erstwhile Chembur factory on July 10, 2018 was an occasion to reminisce about the aerated water company’s history and its legacy. Painted white, with blue stripes, the bottle was a landmark in its own right. During its heyday Duke’s two-and-a-half-acre factory would churn out 5,00,000 bottles of Ice cream Soda, Raspberry, Lemonade and Mangola, said a report in The Times of India (TOI) of July 14.
The Pundole family who owned the Duke’s brand had set up the Chembur plant in 1970; the family sold their beverage assets to American giant PepsiCo in 1994. "Since it was a home-grown brand we didn’t want to sell it off. But the entry of powerful multinational companies on the scene, and the fact that at the time, not too many youngsters from the family were willing to come forward to run it, led to the collective decision,” Naval Pundole, great-grandson of the founder of Duke and Sons Dinshawji Cooverji Pundole told mid-day on July 22. Defunct since 2013, the plant was demolished to make way for three residential towers to be constructed by the Wadhwa Group, who bought it from PepsiCo last year. The new building project will be two-and-a-half years in the making and may "tentatively incorporate a structure reminiscent of the iconic bottle,” though plans have not been finalized, said the TOI report.
Duke and Sons’ Pineapple, Ginger, Raspberry, Tango, Lemonade and Mangola remained favorite flavors at Parsi weddings and navjotes over the decades. Business had commenced from a shed in Byculla in 1898 then moved to Khetwadi (see "Duke’s is back,” Business, Parsiana, July 7, 2012). In 2004, PepsiCo had taken Duke’s drinks off the market, but reintroduced them in the western region in 2012 with new packaging, pricing and also a new flavor, Masala Soda.