Memories of Cambodia’s first Pepsi Factory.

Many people are unaware that the first Pepsi factory opened in Battambang, Cambodia in the early 1960s, under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime of the country’s then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

It was known as “Seng Thai” and was the property of a rich man named Eab Lean Huo.

At that time, a factory was constructed in Battambang by Pepsi Thailand and a local joint venture in order to supply all of Thailand with their products.

The factory produced the beverage using a powder mixture that was imported from Thailand, which also provided the bottles. When it was at its peak, it operated day and night, which was common during the Sangkum Reah Niyum rule (1955 and 1970).

When Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime came to power in 1975  the Pepsi factory was taken over.

When the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) arrived in Cambodia in the early 1990s, the Pepsi factory reopened. Refugees from Cambodia used the plant to produce ice blocks and drinking water after leaving the camps in Thailand.

The Battambang Pepsi factory was torn down to make way for a water-treatment facility in 2013.