Coke Is Coming Out In A New Makeover

If you’re a big fan of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, you may want to brace yourself: The recipe for your beloved drink is changing.

Coca-Cola said Tuesday that it is tweaking the beverage to make the drink taste more like regular Coke. The products can also look different — all red, rather than red and black.

The move comes as Coca-Cola focuses its resources on its trademark products, including Coke, Coke Zero Sugar and Diet Coke after discontinuing some struggling brands. The company hopes the updated version of Coke Zero Sugar will attract more consumers.

“Despite its enormous success, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar still represents a relatively small percentage,” of the Coke brand, said CEO James Quincey during an April analyst call discussing first-quarter results. “The improved recipe brings its taste even closer to that [of] the iconic Coca-Cola,” he said, adding that “this was influenced by consumer insight and our focus on constant improvement.”

The new version, which will replace the current one, is rolling out in the United States this month and will hit Canada in September. Coca-Cola has already updated the product in some international markets, where some customers wonder why Coke is messing with their beloved drink.

“What have you done to my favourite drink coke zero sugar?” one despondent fan tweeted. “The new recipe is shocking. I won’t be buying another can until you fix your mistake and bring back the old flavour.” Another wrote that the new version helped break an addiction to the product because “the new taste is so bad.”