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ABA Beverages recognized for its outstanding quality and food safety achievement


ABA Beverages, the leading player in the bottling industry in the State of Qatar, announced on August 29, 2023 that it had been honored with the prestigious Gold – Quality Excellence Award from PepsiCo International for the 2022 Annual Quality Excellence Awards. The award was in recognition of ABA Beverages’ achievement in scoring at the highest levels on the international Quality and Food Safety scale.

Receiving the Gold – Quality Excellence Award, the General Manager of ABA Beverages, Mr. Marc Karam, together with other members of the management team, explained that this achievement was the result of a sustained and passionate commitment to ambitious quality and food safety targets the team set themselves over the last few years.

“ABA Beverages has recently been achieving Silver Rating Award, almost every year. This is a significant achievement for a 43-year-old plant. We earned the Gold Standard Award after 18 years waiting, since ABA Beverages won it last. I have no doubt that this winning team is able to sustain the Blue Rating in Quality and Food Safety in the coming year as well, and by doing so, earning the Gold Standard Award again,” noted Mr. Karam.

Every year, PepsiCo International gives special recognition to bottling companies worldwide that have impeccable ratings on Quality and Food Safety Standards. In this process, Pepsi picks up market samples, every month, through a third party certified operator. These samples are tested at Pepsi labs in Ireland and China. Based on the test results versus standard requirements, Pepsi then categorizes the results with color codes; the highest being Blue, followed by Green, Orange and Red. Blue has the highest rating parameter of 100%, which ABA Beverages attained in 2022.

Apart from this, the bottling companies undergo impromptu Quality and Food Safety Audit, conducted by AIB International, a third party Audit Company appointed by PepsiCo International. Out of a maximum score of 1,000 points, ABA Beverages scored 925 points in the same year to win the Gold – Quality Excellence Award.

The Gold – Quality Excellence Award is only awarded to companies that have excelled in both the AIB Audit and achieved the BLUE code in the monthly sampling. Other ratings include the Silver and Bronze awards. For perspective, out of a total of more than 260 bottling sites in Africa, Middle East and Asia, only 20 were awarded the Gold distinction for year 2022.

ABA Beverages will continue to strive for excellence and ensure the highest quality production in its state-of-the-art factory whilst sparing no effort to achieve the environmental sustainability goals and contributing to the circular economy in Qatar.

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Ali Bin Ali Beverages and PepsiCo launch 100% recycled Aquafina plastic bottles

In an exclusive event launch on 27th October 2022, PepsiCo and Ali Bin Ali Beverages, with the support of the Government of the State of Qatar, launched the new Aquafina 100% recycled plastic bottles for the first time in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The launch, held at the Ali Bin Ali Beverages production plant in Doha, Qatar, was graced by the attendance of Eng. Youssef Al Emadi representing the Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Eng. Hussain Saad Al Kubaisi representing the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Special attendance was made by the Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President of Ali Bin Ali Holding, Mr. Nabeel Ali Bin Ali; CEO Africa, Middle East and South Asia at PepsiCo, Mr. Eugene Willemsen; and PepsiCo CEO for the Middle East, Mr. Aamer Sheikh. In addition, other key personnel from PepsiCo and Ali Bin Ali Beverages, as well as other stakeholders from across the region including the media, attended the event.

The launch of the Aquafina 100% recycled bottles came at a momentous time when PepsiCo. and Ali Bin Ali Holding were marking their 60th anniversary of partnership.

In an interview session with the media, Mr. Sheikh pointed that PepsiCo’s vision aims to make the world a place where packaging never becomes a waste. “To achieve its vision, last year, PepsiCo launched pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) a strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how the company creates value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people,” he stated.

The launch is also an important milestone that sees the private sector contribute to Qatar’s Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals of a sustainable and greener planet. In his speech, the General Manager of Ali Bin Ali Beverages, Mr. Marc Karam, pointed that, “Anything we do to protect our environment is a move towards a more sustainable model, thereby contributing to the Qatar 2030 Vision which is all about sustainability, recyclability, living a better life in our footprint, whether its carbon footprint, plastic, and so forth. This is only a small step with big impact; there are so many other things that we can do more in terms of sustainability. But for us as a leading industry, it is important that we contribute to a more sustainable future in our own field. In fact, we reuse, recycle, and we reduce, that’s how we do it.”

At the end of the meeting, guests were invited to a plant tour where they saw the first run of the product, ahead of the in-market launch. The launch is also a key move in addressing one of the challenges affecting humanity today – environmental degradation. Through it, the brand embraces greener means of manufacturing its products thereby acting on climate change.

The new packaging will launch with the 330ml and 500ml Aquafina bottles.

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Ali Bin Ali Beverages wins two prestigious awards

Ali Bin Ali Holding is delighted to announce that ABA Beverages, the exclusive bottler of PepsiCo in Qatar, has bagged two awards at the 2021 Regional Conference in Dubai. The first, recognizing the top performer in the Total Liquid Refreshment Beverages Growth for the year 2021 and the secondly for the largest most successful water innovation.

The award ceremony hosted by PepsiCo Middle East North Africa (MENA), gathered bottlers from all over the region as well as PepsiCo Regional Leadership and senior executives.  ABA Beverages was congratulated as the 2021 top performer in the below 60 million cases markets category for having achieved the highest share growth in total Liquid Refreshment Beverages. The market share is measured by   Canadean – an independent, global research agency who publishes monthly market survey reports.

The second award recognized the largest, most successful water innovation. ABA Beverages was again selected as a winner for the success of Aquafina in Qatar in 2021, once again confirming the company’s strategic commitment and investment capabilities.

Commenting on the awards, ABA Beverages General Manager, Mr. Marc Karam reiterated that he was delighted to receive the 2 accolades on behalf of the company. Mr. Karam said, “These awards reflect the strong commitment of Ali Bin Ali Holding who have invested ahead of the curve and continued to promote the growth of PepsiCo brands in Qatar. As an organization, ABA has stewarded Pepsi’s brands and range of products with utmost pride and continues to invest in growing the business against all sorts of challenges.”

ABA Beverages General Manager also went on to say “I commend the passion and the drive of ABA Beverages associates. This determined team managed to install and commission a full state of the art line during the pandemic and worked through the lockdown in 2020, gaining 32% Canadean share of market over the course of 18 months. That’s a huge achievement and we can  celebrate it”.

Congratulations to Team ABA Beverages!

 

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PepsiCo awards ABA Beverages for exceptional performance during Covid-19 pandemic

Ending the pandemic-hit year on a positive note, Ali Bin Ali Beverages won the prestigious PepsiCo Award. The award recognized employees and bottling partners for living their professional lives by PepsiCo values. The team leadership, management and frontliners were also recognized for their dedication and performance under Covid-19 duress.

In November 2020, at a special dinner gathering held at ABA Hospitality’s Em Sherif Restaurant, PepsiCo’s Senior Leadership awarded ABA Beverages team for their tremendous efforts since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nothing was more fitting than to recognize the total engagement of ABA Beverages employees and supervisors who were locked in at the Street 2 Plant in the Industrial Area, and had the responsibility to run the two filling lines without being able to return to their homes and families for 10 long weeks.

Ahmad Suleiman, a recently hired young production supervisor, exhibited maturity and composure, making the right decisions on many critical occasions. Julito Calimpong De Asis and Thavaseelan Thangarajah both exhibited admirable motivation, focus and calm. Eracleo Malco Hinola’s wife gave birth to their son while ‘Leo’ was locked up at the plant and doing his duty.

A team of 50 people found themselves unable to leave the site, working diligently to ensure a continuous supply of beverages. As a result, at no point during the Covid-19 crisis did the consumers in Qatar find themselves unable to get their favorite beverages in their regular shopping place.

Even the installation and commissioning of a newly acquired, state-of-the-art filling line was halted by the lockdown. Initially, Madhu Sethumadhavan and his team worked remotely to guide the technicians on site, then eventually joined them to complete the installation and start production of Aquafina water without the planned help of the equipment supplier.

President & General Manager of PepsiCo Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Mr. Aamer Sheikh, said: “The ABA Beverages team’s clear focus to get things done has had a large part to play in our joint success at being able to steady the supply chain, stay the course on make, sell & deliver, and reinforce our commitment to our consumers by providing their favorite beverage at a place of their choice.

“While dealing with various operating restrictions, the team acted with integrity, kept employees and consumers safe, and made donations that have made a positive impact where it was needed. We are pleased to recognize the truly heroic efforts of the ABA Beverages team during these exceptional times. While we may not be fully out of the challenges yet, there is no better time than while it is still fresh in our minds to say a simple thank you to the ‘PepsiCo Heroes’.”

The Division also used the occasion to internally recognize and celebrate the dedication and commitment of many more heroes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sabine Winner Neuhaus, Abdel Hamid Chariout, Ahmed Salmaan, Tarek Hassan Elashry, Hesham Mahmoud Reda, Jerry Moan Koshy, Anan Mahdi Masoud, Antesh Bakshi, Nabil Hassan Ekky, Ihab Moustafa Amin, Dileep Sadasivan Pillai and through them all their teams were awarded for their good work.

After taking on the challenges related to the blockade, the implementation of the excise tax on carbonated beverages and the Covid-19 pandemic, the ABA Beverages leadership and employees are ready for more. Hopefully, these challenges will be positive ones such as the 2022 World Cup as well as the line extensions planned for the next three years.

 Well done Team ABA Beverages, you made the whole Group proud!