Grapette facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Grapette

Five different styles of the Grapette bottle
Type	Soft drink
Manufacturer	Grapette (1939-1970) Flavette (USA 1970-1975) Grapette International (Latin America 1942-2000; 2000-)
Country of origin	Camden, Arkansas, United States
Introduced	1939, 2000
Discontinued	1975-2000
Color	Purple
Flavor	Grape
Related products	NuGrape
Website	grapette.com

Grapette is a yummy grape-flavored soda pop. It was first made and sold in 1939 by a person named Benjamin "Tyndle" Fooks. Today, Grapette is made by a company called Grapette International. In the United States, you can find it at Walmart as part of their Sam's Choice drinks.

How Grapette Was Created

Grapette was invented by Benjamin "Tyndle" Fooks. He was a traveling salesman who sold different flavors. He noticed that his grape flavor was very popular. Mr. Fooks wasn't happy with the grape sodas already available. He wanted to make a grape soda that tasted exactly how he thought it should.

He spent two years and did thousands of taste tests. By 1939, he had created a flavor he believed was much better than any other grape soda.

Naming the Drink

To find a name for the new drink, Fooks asked Hubert Owen for help. Owen and his assistant held a local contest, but they didn't find any good names. Owen then traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1939. He looked through the trademark files at the U.S. Patent Office.

There, Owen learned about a man named Rube Goldstein. Goldstein owned trademarks for the names "Grapette," "Orangette," and "Lemonette." It turned out Goldstein had a small bottling company. He made a drink called "Tiny" using one of Fooks' grape flavors. "Tiny" was sold in a small six-ounce bottle in Virginia and North Carolina. Goldstein had never used the Grapette, Orangette, or Lemonette names. By March 1940, Fooks and Owen met Goldstein in Chicago, Illinois. They bought the Grapette, Orangette, and Lemonette names for $500.

Early Days of Grapette

In the spring of 1940, Fooks started selling his soda in Camden, Arkansas. He called it "Grapette."

Grapette sold very well in its first year. This was because of its great flavor and its special packaging. Most sodas at that time came in twelve-ounce bottles. Grapette was sold in a smaller, six-ounce clear glass bottle. This bottle showed off the drink's bright purple color.

Because it sold so well, Grapette was soon sold across much of the United States. The slogan "Thirsty or Not" was created for its advertisements. Other flavors were also made. These included Orangette, an orange-flavored soda with lots of real orange juice. There was also Lemonette, which had a lot of real lemon juice.

When World War II started, Fooks stopped making many of his other brands. These included Botl-O and Sunburst. He wanted to focus only on Grapette. Grapette sales continued to be strong during the war. This happened even with rules and shortages of materials. Sugar was rationed during the war. Fooks got around this by adding water to granulated sugar. This made it a liquid syrup, which was not rationed.

Grapette Goes International

In 1942, R. Paul May, an oil businessman from Arkansas, convinced Fooks. He wanted to sell Grapette in Latin America. May said there weren't many soda options there. May built a great reputation for Grapette in Guatemala. He sold Grapette, Orangette, and Lemonette. These drinks quickly became very popular in the market. In 1962, the part of Grapette that handled exports became a separate company. It was called Grapette International.

In 1962, Grapette also launched a line of cola drinks. These were called "Mr. Cola" and were made to compete with Coca-Cola. Mr. Cola was popular partly because it came in a sixteen-ounce bottle. It was also sold in ten and twelve-ounce sizes. In 1963, "Lymette" was added to Grapette's family of drinks. However, Lymette never became as successful as the other brands.

Changes and Return of Grapette

By the 1960s, Mr. Fooks felt he had done all he could with Grapette. He was ready to move on. By the end of the decade, Fooks started talking with groups interested in buying Grapette. He eventually sold Grapette to the Rheingold Corporation in 1970. This company also sold different beers and sodas.

Rheingold changed the company's name from Grapette to Flavette. They moved the main office to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Grapette's bottle was changed to a smooth one with colored dots. The new slogan became "The Juicy Soda." Grapette's advertising also changed. Before, advertising was paid for by an extra charge on sugar. This money was meant for distributors to use only for advertising. Rheingold stopped this plan. They put advertising completely in the hands of Grapette's distributors. This caused sales to drop right away. During this time, Flavette bought the Dr. Wells soda brand and Mason & Mason, Inc., which made Mason's Root Beer.

Grapette's Break in the U.S.

In 1975, Rheingold was bought by PepsiCo, Inc.. However, the Federal Trade Commission decided that PepsiCo owned too many soft drink companies. So, they ordered PepsiCo to sell off several big brands. When this was finished in 1977, Grapette ended up with the Monarch Beverage Company. Monarch already made a grape soda called NuGrape. They decided they didn't need a second one. Representatives from Monarch went to Grapette's office and basically let the Grapette team go. Because of this, the Grapette name was put aside, and the flavor was no longer sold in the United States.

Even though the brand was stopped in the United States, May still owned Grapette International. Grapette continued to be made and sold in other countries, where it remained a popular drink. When May passed away in the early 1970s, his son-in-law, Brooks Rice, took over Grapette International.

In the United States, Grapette might have been gone, but people certainly remembered it. Rice made many offers to buy the American rights to Grapette back from Monarch. But no matter how much money he offered, Monarch refused to sell the name. Despite this, Rice kept growing Grapette's sales in other parts of the world. Sales reached tens of millions in countries in South America and the Pacific Rim.

Grapette and Walmart

Brooks Rice had invested early in a business called Walmart, started by Sam Walton. As Walmart grew into a famous company, Rice started thinking about how Grapette International could work with Walmart. In 1986, Rice met with Sam Walton. They talked about creating a line of private label soft drinks for Walmart. Rice was especially interested in making a grape soda for Walmart. Walton told Rice exactly what he wanted: "I want Grapette in my stores."

Rice didn't own the American rights to the Grapette name. But he could offer Grapette's special flavor. He also promised that if he could get the rights to the Grapette name back, Walmart could have it.

Ozark Farms Drinks

In 1989, almost three years after that first meeting, Grapette International started making a line of soft drinks for Walmart. These were sold under the Ozark Farms name. The flavors available were cola, lemon-lime, grape, and orange. Each flavor used Mr. Fooks' original recipes. So, Grapette's flavor returned to American stores, but with a new name. However, sales were not as good as hoped, and the Ozark Farms line of soft drinks was stopped.

Sam's Choice Brand

When Sam Walton passed away in 1992, Walmart CEO David Glass felt it would be a good way to honor Walton. He decided to rename Walmart's private label brand "Sam's Choice." In 1993, Rice again began making soft drinks for Walmart, this time under the Sam's Choice brand. Walmart was given the special right to sell these flavors only in the United States. Grapette was brought back at this time too, under the name "Sam's Choice Grape." Sam's Choice Grape quickly became one of the best-selling grape sodas in the country. This seemed to prove Rice's idea that the flavor, not just the famous name, made Grapette so popular.

Grapette Name Returns

In 2000, Rice went to the Walmart Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. He wanted to personally tell David Glass the big news: Monarch was finally selling the Grapette name! Rice told Glass, "This is a tribute to you and Sam for having the vision on this product."

By late 2004, the Grapette and Orangette names (and their original logos) were added to the Sam's Choice line of soft drinks. They completely replaced the Sam's Choice Grape and Sam's Choice Orange brands in Walmart stores.

See also

• List of Walmart brands
• Sam's Choice