Coke signs five-year deal with Tex-Mex chain Baja Fresh

<p>Privately held Tex-Mex chain Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, which operates in 23 states mostly in the West, has signed a five-year agreement to sell Coca-Cola products in its restaurants, replacing Pepsi as its exclusive beverage vendor.</p><p>The deal between Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Baja Fresh and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is worth about $10 million to $20 million over the life of the contract, Baja Fresh spokesman Mike Pietro said Monday.</p><p>Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo. Inc. had been the exclusive beverage vendor at Baja Fresh's 291 restaurants for the last five years, Pietro said, adding that the Pepsi contract expired in February.</p><p>Coca-Cola previously had a contract with Baja Fresh in the 1990s, Pietro said.</p><p>"They were offering a better deal and we just felt that the brand was a better fit for Baja Fresh as well," Pietro said of the decision to switch back to Coca-Cola.</p><p>A Pepsi spokesman did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment.</p><p>The Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest beverage maker, said the new agreement calls for various Coca-Cola brands, including Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Minute Maid and Dasani, to be sold at Baja Fresh restaurants.</p><p>Baja Fresh is owned by a group of private investors, who bought the chain from Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc. last year for $31 million. About half of its restaurants are company-owned, while the other half are franchises.</p>