Get unlimited access to Bruins cup coverage - Just 99¢

The Boston Globe

Business

Taco Bell mixes Mountain Dew and orange juice, calls it a breakfast drink

NEW YORK — Rise and shine. It’s time for breakfast soda.

Taco Bell said Friday that it’s adding Mtn Dew A.M — a mix of Mountain Dew soda and Tropicana orange juice — to its breakfast menu, which was rolled out earlier this year at select locations. Separately, the industry tracker Beverage Digest said that PepsiCo Inc. next year plans to introduce a drink made with juice, Mountain Dew Kickstart.

Mtn Dew A.M. is mixed in restaurants and only available at Taco Bell; Kickstart would be a packaged drink sold by PepsiCo.

John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, noted that giving consumers drink options for the morning is a way for companies to boost their performance. Overall, per capita soda consumption has been on the decline since hitting its peak in 1998.

Mountain Dew Kickstart would also be a way for PepsiCo to feed off the popularity of energy drinks, which saw sales volume grow by nearly 17 percent last year.

A representative for Taco Bell wasn’t immediately available to provide details on the orange juice-to-soda ratio in Mtn Dew A.M., or its availability. A PepsiCo spokesman declined to comment about Kickstart.