In return, PepsiCo expanded its distribution of Stolichnaya vodka as well as other alcoholic beverages from the USSR. Not until years later, in 1974, did Pepsi actually break into the USSR market, opening its first bottling plant under a deal Kendall struck with the Soviet trade ministry. At a reception, he told Vice President Richard Nixon that he needed the trip to be a success. He brought a team of Russian-speaking college students, a supply of Pepsi fountain syrup and carbonation machines to Moscow, while some colleagues back home questioned his judgment.
Kendall was Pepsi-Cola's head of international operations when a US official recruited him to participate in the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow. He had laid the foundations for serving American soda to Russians earlier in his career. As CEO of the merged company until his retirement in 1986, he led the expansion of business into the Soviet Union and China and the relocation of company headquarters to Purchase, New York, from Manhattan. starting in 1963, Kendall oversaw development of the slogan, "Come Alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation," and engineered the 1965 merger with Frito-Lay that created PepsiCo. Credit:Getty ImagesĪs chief executive officer of Pepsi-Cola Co. Former PepsiCo boss Donald Kendall famously served Pepsi to Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev when a US official recruited him to participate in the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow.