Tropicana: Leading Producer and Marketer of Branded Fruit Juices

QUICK FACTS Key Facts – Tropicana Headquarters: Chicago, Ill. – Tropicana is the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices. – Tropicana is the largest single buyer of Florida oranges. – More than 400 Florida groves are monitored through a proprietary system that ensures the fruit is harvested at peak of goodness and flavor. – Once the fruit is picked, it is quickly delivered to one of Tropicana’s juice‐making plants. The fresh oranges are hand‐graded and any fruit that does not meet our stringent standards is removed. – Tropicana holds sponsorship rights to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, the home to the Major League Baseball team Tampa Bay Rays. History – Anthony Rossi founded what came to be Tropicana in 1947 in Bradenton, Fla. – The company started as a small company selling fruit gift boxes in Florida and shortly thereafter shipping them to stores in New York City. By 1957, a ship, S.S. Tropicana was taking 1.5 million gallons of juice from Florida to New York each week. – Tropicana was the first to own and operate refrigerated trucks in the 1950s, which allowed for shipment of juice around the country. – A breakthrough innovation occurred in 1954, when Rossi invented and patented a flash pasteurization process which allowed juice to be shipped and stored without refrigeration. Sold in a ready‐to‐serve package, Tropicana Pure Premium became the company’s flagship product. – In 1969, Tropicana became a publicly‐traded company and, in 1978, was sold to Beatrice Foods. – Tropicana was acquired by PepsiCo in 1998, also bringing Dole juice brands into PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio. Health & Wellness – One 8 ounce glass of Tropicana Pure Premium is made from fresh fruit and is a good source of four essential nutrients, including a day’s supply of vitamin C, as much potassium as a medium banana and B vitamins (folate and thiamin). – Launched in 2009, Trop50 offers 50 percent less sugar and calories