Hi-C facts for kids
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| Type | Fruit drink |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Minute Maid |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1947 |
| Color | Colorless (juice boxes) Colored (fountain) |
| Variants | See variations below |
Hi-C is a popular American fruit-flavored drink. It is made by the Minute Maid company, which is part of The Coca-Cola Company. A person named Niles Foster created Hi-C in 1946, and it first came out in 1947. The very first flavor was orange. Over the years, many more exciting flavors were added!
Contents
The Story of Hi-C
Niles Foster, who used to own a bakery and a bottling plant, invented Hi-C in 1946. It took him more than a year to get the orange drink recipe just right. The special recipe included orange juice, orange oils, sugar, water, and vitamin C. The name "Hi-C" was chosen because the drink had a lot of vitamin C in it.
The drink was packaged in large cans that did not need to be kept cold before opening. After testing it in 1947, Hi-C orange drink was officially launched in 1948. They spent a lot of money each week to promote it! Foster made a deal with Clinton Foods, Inc., to help make and sell Hi-C. Foster himself managed the Hi-C business.
Hi-C was first sold in the southern parts of the United States. Then, in 1949, it was introduced in big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. As Hi-C became popular across the country, more factories were set up to make it. These factories were placed close to major cities. This helped get the drinks to stores quickly.
New flavors of Hi-C were created because of these factories. For example, grape was the second flavor. It came about because a factory in Ohio was also processing fresh grapes. Apple and cherry drinks were added after a factory in Michigan started working with those fruits.
As Hi-C grew, the Minute Maid Corporation became interested. In 1954, Clinton Foods, Inc. sold its Florida businesses, including Hi-C, to Minute Maid. Niles Foster left the company soon after. George Roberts, who was Foster's assistant sales manager when Hi-C first started, stayed with Minute Maid. He helped make sure Hi-C was sold and promoted well.
The Hi-C business kept growing with new flavors like orange-pineapple and peach. They also used new ways to market the drinks. By 1958, Hi-C drinks were a common item in American supermarkets. You could find them in almost every grocery store nationwide.
Hi-C Flavors and Products
Today, you can find Hi-C in juice boxes, at soda fountains, and as a drink mix. There are even more flavors available at special Coca-Cola Freestyle machines. In the past, you could find frozen versions of Flashin' Fruit Punch and Orange Lavaburst. There were also Hi-C fruit snacks and orange slices made by another company called Brach's.
For a while, Hi-C juice boxes were clear and yellowish. This was done so they would not stain clothes. Because of this, flavors like Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen lost their bright colors. However, the soda fountain versions of Fruit Punch, Poppin' Pink Lemonade, and Orange Lavaburst still have their red, pink, and orange colors. There is also a "light" version of Flashin' Fruit Punch for soda fountains.
In 2013, the size of the juice boxes became a little smaller. A new logo for Hi-C started appearing in 2017. In early 2019, new packaging came out for the drink boxes. The amount of calories and sugar was cut in half by using a new type of sweetener. Since 2020, a company called Jel Sert has been making Hi-C in drink mix form.
Drink Box Flavors
- Flashin' Fruit Punch (a mix of orange and pineapple juices)
- Orange Lavaburst (a mix of orange and pear juices)
- Torrential Tropical Punch (a mix of orange and pineapple juices)
- Boppin' Strawberry (a mix of pear and strawberry juices)
- Grabbin' Grape (a mix of pear and grape juices)
- Strawberry Kiwi Kraze (a mix of pear, apple, strawberry, and kiwi juices)
- Poppin' Lemonade (no longer made)
- Blazin' Blueberry (a mix of apple, grape, and blueberry juices) (no longer made)
- Wild Cherry (a mix of pear and cherry juices) (no longer made)
- Smashin' Wild Berry (a mix of apple, pear, blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry juices) (no longer made)
- Ecto Cooler (no longer made)
- Candy Apple Cooler (no longer made)
- Double Fruit Cooler (no longer made)
- Hula Punch (no longer made)
Drink Mix Flavors
- Flashin' Fruit Punch
- Grabbin' Grape
- Mashin' Mango Melon
- Blazin' Blueberry (no longer made)
Coca-Cola Freestyle Flavors
- Cherry
- Fruit Punch
- Grape
- Lemon
- Orange
- Orange Vanilla
- Raspberry
- Raspberry Lime
- Strawberry
- Blueberry
Fountain Drink Flavors
- Flashin' Fruit Punch
- Orange Lavaburst
- Poppin' Pink Lemonade
Hi-C Blast (no longer made)
- Berry Blue
- Blue Watermelon
- Fruit Pow
- Fruit Punch
- Orange Supernova
- Raspberry Kiwi
- Strawberry
- Strawberry Kiwi
- Wild Berry
- Wild Cherry
Ecto Cooler: A Special Flavor
Ecto Cooler was a special Hi-C drink that was connected to the cartoon show The Real Ghostbusters. This cartoon was based on the 1984 Ghostbusters movie. Ecto Cooler was actually a new name for an older Hi-C drink called Citrus Cooler, which had been around since 1965.
Hi-C made a deal in 1987 to promote The Real Ghostbusters by creating this special drink. They thought it would only last as long as the cartoon show. But the drink became much more popular than expected! It continued to be made for over ten years, even after the show ended in 1991. The Ecto Cooler box and commercials featured the Ghostbusters character Slimer.
Slimer was removed from the box around 1997. Minute Maid stopped making Ecto Cooler in 2001. At that time, it was renamed Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen. A blob with lips replaced Slimer on the packaging. Even then, many store receipts still called the product "ecto cooler." In 2006, Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen was renamed Crazy Citrus Cooler. This flavor was then stopped in 2007.
In April 2016, Coca-Cola announced that Ecto Cooler would return for a short time. This was part of a promotion for the 2016 Ghostbusters movie. The new drink had a simpler recipe but still had the right amount of tartness. Ecto Cooler was re-released on May 30, 2016. The drink was green, just like the original. The can even changed from dark green to bright slime green when it was cold!
Many fans were upset because the drink was hard to find. The special cans were only sold online at a few websites. These sites could not keep it in stock because so many people wanted it. Because it was hard to find, people started selling it online for very high prices. A representative for the drink told fans on Facebook to ask their local stores to carry the product. Some physical stores, like Walmart and Meijer, did carry them.
In October 2016, the Ecto Cooler Facebook page announced that the drink would be stopped again at the end of that year. Fans were told to buy the drink while they still could. However, many fans were unhappy because it was never easy to find in stores during its limited run from May to December.
When the movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife came out in November 2021, Ecto Cooler was re-released again, but in a very limited way. You could not buy it in stores at all. The only way to get it was to win it by responding to official Hi-C and Ghostbusters social media posts. People who bought it from others online sometimes paid hundreds of dollars for just one bottle!
Hi-C at McDonald's
In April 2017, McDonald's restaurants announced they would stop selling Hi-C Orange Lavaburst. They replaced it with Fanta and Sprite TropicBerry sodas as part of a new deal with Coca-Cola. However, in February 2021, McDonald's announced that Hi-C Orange Lavaburst would return to their menu by the summer of 2021. It is now available again at McDonald's.
