• Detroit News/Cox News Service, Monday, January 22, 2007 12 PM

For the past nine months, McDonald's has been running a test in two markets that threatens Coca-Cola's 50-year monogamous relationship with the fast-food giant. If a customer in College Station, Texas, or Kansas City wants a Pepsi-made Mountain Dew, the clerk will reach over to a cooler case and pull out a frosty bottle.

McDonald's it trying to win back revenue from burger-buying customers that get their bottle of pop from nearby convenience stores, or that prefer energy and sports drinks to carbonated soft drinks. In Kansas City, the McDonald's test includes Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Propel Fitness Water, Lipton tea and Tropicana Pure Premium juice, all lead their categories in the United States.

It's unlikely Pepsi could steal the lucrative McDonald's account from Coke. But if the bottled drink test is expanded nationwide--especially with Pepsi products--it could chip away at Coke's profitable fountain drink business, which accounts for an estimated one-third of the company's U.S. profits.

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