Among the processed food companies, PepsiCo is not just the largest; its budget is that of a modest-sized republic. It has so many products selling so well that it flies its own flag—a globe encircled with colored stripes—next to the Stars and Stripes at its headquarters north of New York City. Were it a country, PepsiCo’s worldwide sales of $98 billion in 2007 would have placed it fifty-sixth, after Peru. Thus, when that same year PepsiCo decided to do some very special research, it had the resources to recruit the best scientist it could get.
