National Beverage facts for kids
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| Public | |
| Traded as |
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| Industry | Beverages (nonalcoholic) |
| Founded | 1985, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Plantation, Florida, U.S. |
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Key people
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Nick A. Caporella (chairman & CEO) |
| Products | Soft drinks |
| Revenue |  US$1,172.9 million (2023) |
| $142.2 million (2023) 12.1% profit margin |
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| Owner | Nick A. Caporella (77%) |
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Number of employees
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1,640 (April 27, 2019) |
| Subsidiaries |
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National Beverage Corp. is an American company that makes and sells drinks. It is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company focuses on flavored soft drinks. Some of its most famous brands are La Croix, Shasta, and Faygo.
Contents
Company History
How National Beverage Started
National Beverage Corporation began in 1985. It was started by Nick A. Caporella. He wanted to protect another company he led, Burnup & Sims, from being taken over. Another person, Victor Posner, was trying to gain control of Burnup & Sims.
Caporella created National Beverage to help keep control of his business. To make National Beverage a strong company, he bought Shasta Beverages in 1985. He also bought Faygo, a popular soft drink company in the Midwest. With these purchases, National Beverage became a major player in the drink industry. It also started bottling drinks for other companies.
Growing the Business
In 1991, National Beverage became a public company. This means its shares could be bought and sold by anyone. Over the years, National Beverage bought more drink brands. These included Spree and Big Shot soft drinks.
In 1992, the company even made a special drink called "Sea" for the US Navy. In the mid-1990s, National Beverage added juice companies like Everfresh Beverages. It also acquired WinterBrook Corp., which made sparkling and still water. WinterBrook brought popular brands like Cascadia, WinterBrook Clear, and LaCroix to National Beverage. By the end of the 1990s, Home Juice Company also joined the group.
New Products and Focus
In the early 2000s, National Beverage bought Beverage Canners International Inc. This added Ritz and Crystal Bay soft drinks to their collection.
Around 2002, the company changed its plan. It decided to focus more on bottling its own brands. It stopped bottling drinks for other companies. National Beverage also started making new drinks for specific groups of people. For example, in 2003, they launched Shasta Shortz, a soda for kids. They also created Fruitika, a line of fruit nectars. In 2004, Diet Shasta began using Splenda as a sweetener.
Energy Drinks
Launching Energy Drinks
In 2004, National Beverage created Rip It, its first line of energy drinks. Starting in 2006, the company launched more energy drinks. This was because energy drinks were becoming very popular.
Freek was one of these new energy drinks. It was made for teenagers and young adults. Freek was first sold only in Detroit to see how well it would do. Because it sold well, five flavors of Freek were sold across the country by the end of 2006.
Energy Drinks for Women
Also in 2006, National Beverage launched Rip It Chic. This was an energy drink made by women, for women. It was introduced at a big store show in Las Vegas. Rip It Chic even won an award in 2007 for being the Best New Beverage. The company also tried a coffee-based energy drink called Triple Hit.
Lawsuit Over Energy Drink Cans
In 2007, another company, Hansen Beverage Company, sued National Beverage. Hansen said that the Freek energy drink cans looked too much like their Monster energy cans. At first, a court stopped sales of Freek. But National Beverage appealed, and a higher court allowed sales again. Hansen then dropped the lawsuit.
List of Brands
- Shasta
- Faygo
- Everfresh
- La Croix Sparkling Water
- Rip It
- ClearFruit
- Mr. Pure
- Ritz
- Crystal Bay
- Cascadia Sparkling Clear
- Ohana Punch
- Big Shot
- Double Hit
