Drinks giant celebrates partnership with sports body
DRINKS giant Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has shown its ongoing support for the Special Olympics movement, which uses the power of sport to transform the lives of children and adults with an intellectual disability.
Two leading Scottish stars of Special Olympics GB (SOGB), along with other senior representatives from the organisation, were invited to tour the CCEP plant at East Kilbride last month.
Scottish Grocer was also asked along to find out more about the partnership between CCEP and SOGB, hear the stories of swimmer Taylor MacKenzie and table tennis ace Alex Rae, and learn some of the mind-boggling statistics about the factory.
The tour was followed by a Unified Sports evening of fun at Topgolf Glasgow, bringing together SOGB athletes from the city, CCEP colleagues from East Kilbride and members of the field sales and central teams.
Coca-Cola has been a founding partner and global sponsor of Special Olympics since its inception in 1968. That commitment extended to SOGB when the movement launched in the UK in 1978.
CCEP continues to champion inclusion on and off the field through volunteering, funding Unified Sports events and supporting athlete development.
SOGB assists nearly 12,700 athletes with intellectual disabilities across 27 sports – helped by 5,940 volunteers in 95 grassroots clubs.
Taylor, a double-gold medallist from the 2023 World Games in Berlin, spoke about her drive to win and her journey back to competition following scoliosis surgery, with ambitions for the 2027 World Games in Chile.
Alex, a double silver medallist at Berlin, said his confidence had grown as a result of the experience. He now coaches disability table tennis and is looking to branch into curling.
Alex, who works for Co-op, has also featured in the Meals that Matter retail campaign created by CCEP, SOGB and Co-op to raise funds for the sports organisation. After great success last year, it will return with three further bursts during 2026.
Both Taylor and Alex emphasised how empowered they were to represent SOGB not just as competitors but as leaders and advocates.
During the tour, CCEP process technician Gary McNair, an SOGB ambassador who volunteered at the Berlin games, was on hand to answer their enthusiastic questions.
The 25,605 square-metre site uses 100% renewable electricity and has several 10,000-litre syrup vats that make a wide variety of CCEP drinks. Some 1,100 bottles are produced every minute, which equates to 34million unit cases annually.
The logistics set-up includes a towering, automated storage and retrieval system, holds up to 14,000 pallets, handles more than 800,000 pallets a year and processes about 50 lorry visits every 24 hours.
