PepsiCo's real product is not cola or chips. It is a portfolio-and-distribution system built to win the entire snack break - then repeat that trick more than a billion times a day.
How a bankrupt pretzel maker bought for $72,100 in 1971 became the quiet $1.58 billion supplier behind the ICEE at the ballpark, the Dippin' Dots at the fair and the pretzel in the freezer aisle.