Fuze Beverage facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Beverage |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Lance Collins |
| Headquarters | Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA |
| Products | Alternative beverages |
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Number of employees
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1500 (2020) |
| Parent | The Coca-Cola Company |
Fuze Beverage, often just called Fuze, makes different kinds of teas and fruit drinks. These drinks are special because they often have extra vitamins. In some countries like Switzerland and Turkey, it's known as Fuse. It was also called Heaven and Earth in Malaysia and Singapore, and Frestea in Indonesia.
Fuze drinks are known for being part of the "new age" beverage group. This means they use things like vitamins, amino acids, and herbs. They also use different kinds of sweeteners, like crystalline fructose.
Contents
The Story of Fuze: How It Started
Fuze Beverage began in the year 2000. It was founded by a person named Lance Collins and a creative director named Paula Grant. They started the company right in the basement of Collins' home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
In 2001, Bruce Lewin helped the new company get money. He then joined Fuze's board, which is like a group of advisors, and became a big owner. Joe Rosamilia was also one of the first investors and directors.
Early Flavors and Growth
The first Fuze drinks came out in Northern California in 2001. They had three flavors: mixed berry, banana colada, and cranberry raspberry. The bottles even looked like fruit!
In 2002, two more flavors were added: peach mango and tropical punch. That same year, the company grew a lot. They had 30 employees and moved out of Collins' basement into a bigger space.
Fuze kept growing fast, adding new flavors in 2004 and 2005. By 2005, you could find Fuze products in most big stores. By 2006, they had sold over 11 million cases of drinks!
Joining The Coca-Cola Company
Fuze's quick growth caught the eye of The Coca-Cola Company. In February 2007, Coca-Cola bought Fuze Beverage. This was a big deal, costing about $250 million.
With this purchase, Coca-Cola also got the rights to NOS Energy Drinks and WaterPlus. This was one of Coca-Cola's biggest purchases in years. It helped Coca-Cola offer more non-fizzy drinks. They wanted to compete with other companies, like PepsiCo's SoBe drinks.
This also showed a new way Coca-Cola was doing business. Instead of always creating new drinks themselves, they started buying other successful drink companies. After the purchase, Fuze launched over 40 new products!
Coca-Cola put Carl Sweat in charge of Fuze. He had worked in sales and marketing for Coca-Cola before. Lance Collins, the founder of Fuze, became the head of new ideas and plans.
Fuze's Expansion with Coca-Cola
Thanks to Coca-Cola's huge distribution system, Fuze's sales more than doubled between 2007 and 2008. This meant a lot more people could buy Fuze drinks.
In 2009, Fuze made a deal to sell its drinks in over 22,000 Subway sandwich shops. You could get them from a fountain-style machine. Carl Sweat left Fuze in 2009 to work for Starbucks.
Understanding Fuze's Health Claims
Fuze drinks are often advertised as healthy products. They have added vitamins, antioxidants, and electrolytes. These are generally thought to be good for your health.
Fuze drinks are labeled as "Enhanced Real Fruit Beverage(s)." They contain a mix of fruit juices and fruit purees. However, it's not always clear how much actual fruit juice is in each bottle. The labels separate ingredients into "medicinal" and "non-medicinal" lists, which can make it hard to tell. Some estimates suggest Fuze drinks might contain between 1% and 5% real fruit.
Claims About Weight Loss and Health
The "Slenderize" line of Fuze products has many flavors. It is suggested that these drinks might help with weight loss. For example, they might help satisfy cravings for sweets. Or, you could mix them into a smoothie with fresh fruit and yogurt to feel fuller.
However, there is no scientific proof to support these claims. Also, there is no evidence for earlier ideas that Fuze products could help prevent serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease, colds, or infections.
What's in Fuze Drinks?
Some Fuze products, like Fuze Iced Tea, use certain sweeteners. These include HFCS and sucralose. HFCS is a common sugar substitute, and sucralose is an artificial sweetener.
