New report from Pepsi shows decrease in beverage sales

Because county regulations made the school stop selling soda during lunch, the school sold 12,456 fewer drinks between January of 2000 and December of 2001 according to a report made by Pepsi.

The report shows that the school made about $3,000 less after the school starting selling only more healthy beverages, such as Fruitworks and water, during lunch. The $3,000 represents a nine percent decrease in the profits made by the school from the soda machines this year.

Principal Phillip Gainous says that despite the decrease in sales, Pepsi is not concerned and the school's contract will not be affected.

Gainous feels that the money from the vending machines is becoming much more important due to the increasingly tight budget in the county's central office. Gainous warns that the recession may force the school to pay for many expensive programs that they did not have to pay for before. For example, one of the necessary summer programs that the county pays for costs $22,000. If the county is no longer able to pay for this and other programs, then the funding for their continuation will come from either the soda machines or from grants.

To increase beverage sales, Gainous and Blair's financial manager Anne Alban are considering adding milk machines. According to Alban, these machines have been very successful at Kennedy high school and she plans to "look into" possibilities of adding them to Blairs collection of vending machines.