Coca-Cola is upgrading role of Athens

The Coca-Cola Company is upgrading Athens’s role in its system, as its local unit will control activities in 26 countries, including Russia’s particularly sizable market.

Based on the new structure, to apply as of August 1, the world’s biggest non-alcoholic beverage enterprise has announced the new Athens-based Central and Eastern Europe unit (hitherto known as the Central and Southern Europe unit) will now be responsible for three more markets: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

It also controls activities in Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Estonia, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Athens is therefore turning into one of the Coca-Cola Company’s biggest controlling units in the world, covering 417 million people across 11 time zones.

The shift is in harmony with the region where the local Coke bottler, the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC), is active.

At the head of the new unit will be Nikos Koumettis, who since 2011 has been the president of the Central and Southern Europe unit.