Pepsico

Oxford Borough has received verbal approval from HUD for a pivotal federal grant to help the town attract a $40 million investment from UB Foods U.S. for a new snack plant. The $700,000 grant was approved three years ago under a now defunct Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) program. Borough Manager Michael H. Morris said Oxford had applied for the grant to help pay for new roads and sewer and water lines for a Pepsico bottling plant. UB Foods announced earlier this month that it would buy the 125,000-square- foot Pepsico plant, empty for three years.

Plastic bottles. They're everywhere. They're clogging drains, floating in the Schuylkill and way too often being sent to landfills instead of recycling bins. As such, they've become eco-culprits. The industry has responded by coming up with better bottles, lighter bottles. Earlier this month, PepsiCo unveiled a bottle that is "plant-based" and still recyclable. I'm putting it out there as part of a new blog feature running every Friday: Green Gauntlet. Readers get to weigh in on whether a product is as green as purported.

Taco Bell, the nation's leading Mexican fast-food chain with sales of $1 billion last year, yesterday launched a five-year, $500 million restaurant expansion and a new South Jersey center for management trainees. The company plans 50 more Taco Bell restaurants in the Philadelphia area. Most will be owned and operated by Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Pepsico. They will open as soon as the company finds sites, said Ray Cabana, Taco Bell regional vice president. The $300,000 teaching center in Evesham Township will be the management training facility for about 1,000 Taco Bell recruits each year, company officials said.

Thieves netted nearly $40,000 in cash in two separate robberies last week in the Far Northeast. On Oct. 17, police said an employee of PepsiCo Inc., Roosevelt Boulevard and Comly Road, reported that he was robbed of $35,000 by someone who sprayed him in the face with Mace and then knocked him unconscious. The second robbery, police said, occurred the next day at the Bugle Boy store at Franklin Mills mall, 12123 Knights Rd. A man wearing a Santa Claus mask robbed an employee of the clothing store of $3,915, police said.

Constar International Inc., a Philadelphia manufacturer of plastic containers dogged by losses since its 2002 spin-off from Crown Holdings Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The bankruptcy, prearranged with key creditors, will reduce debt by $175 million and eliminate $19.3 million in annual interest payments, Constar said. The deal will wipe out current shareholders, including Crown, which still owned 9.7 percent of Constar's shares. Not that shareholders had much to lose: The stock had already lost most of its value, closing at 15 cents a share Monday.

Arthur J. Winslow, 67, of Downingtown, died Sept. 12 of heart failure at Chester County Hospital, West Chester. Born in Brewer, Maine, Mr. Winslow worked for 40 years for Pepsico Inc. before retiring in 1986. Mr. Winslow worked as a district manager for Pepsi in Purchase, N.Y., until 1973, when he was named general manager of the Pepsi bottling plant in Wilkes- Barre. He left the company in 1976 and opened Pie Pantry, a bakery in Wilkes-Barre. He operated the business until 1979, when he moved to Downingtown to return to work for Pepsi as director of management training in West Chester.

Frito-Lay Inc. said yesterday that it was closing its meat-snack plant in Bensalem as part of the company's effort to become more competitive. The plant, which employs about 70 workers, has made dried-beef snacks under the Rustler's Roundup brand name. Frito-Lay said the plant was too small and lacked space for expansion. The Bensalem plant is to be closed within 90 days. After that, the snacks will be made under contract at the Folcroft plant of GoodMark Foods Inc. GoodMark, which makes such meat snacks as Slim Jims, said the additional business from Frito-Lay was not likely to require expansion at the Folcroft plant.

Arch Clark West, 97, the retired Frito-Lay executive credited with creating Doritos, died Sept. 20 in Dallas. Mr. West had a food-industry reputation when the Frito Co. recruited him as its marketing vice president in 1960. He had worked for Lever Bros. and Young & Rubicam in New York as a liaison between the creative teams and clients that included Jell-O. He was inspired to create Doritos after Frito merged with H.W. Lay & Co. in 1961. During a family vacation to California, "we were near San Diego and he stumbled on some little shack where they were making some interesting kind of chip," his daughter Jana Hacker said.

The Bunting Friendship Freedom House in Darby opened a youth center in October. A $10,000 grant from the Pepsi-Cola Distributing Co. of the Delaware Valley in West Chester enabled the center to furnish and light its new center. "They have been great," said Ethel Smiley, Freedom House founder and executive director. "They have been supportive of all our programs. " The grant was part of a $350,000 corporate giveaway program initiated last year by PepsiCo Inc., through its 350 local bottlers and distributors nationwide.

Add Gatorade to the list of endorsement deals that Tiger Woods has lost. A representative for the drink, sold by PepsiCo Inc., confirmed late yesterday that it had ended its relationship with the golfer, who made a lengthy public apology last week for his infidelities. "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship," a Gatorade spokeswoman said. "We wish him all the best. " She said Gatorade would continue its relationship with the Tiger Woods Foundation.