Sunkist (soft drink)

Last updated
Sunkist
Sunkist logo.svg
Sunkist orange 1.jpg
20oz bottle of Sunkist Orange
Type Soft drink
Manufacturer Keurig Dr Pepper [1]
Origin New Mexico, United States
Introduced1979;46 years ago (1979)
Related products Fanta, Mirinda
Website www.sunkistsoda.com

Sunkist, also marketed as Sunkist Soda, is a brand of primarily orange-flavored soft drinks that launched in 1979. [2] Sunkist primarily competes with The Coca-Cola Company's Fanta brand and Keurig Dr Pepper's Orange Crush brand.

Contents

Produced by Keurig Dr Pepper, a variety of Sunkist flavors are made. In addition to Orange, there is Diet Orange, Grape, Strawberry, Cherry Limeade, Pineapple, Lemonade, Diet Lemonade, Peach, Fruit Punch, Pink Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Berry Lemonade, Watermelon Lemonade [3] and Orange Mango. [1]

History

Sunkist was first licensed by Sunkist Growers to the General Cinema Corporation, the leading independent bottler of Pepsi-Cola products at the time. The soft drink was the idea of Mark Stevens, who foresaw the potential based on market research which indicated that, worldwide, orange was the third-best-selling soft drink flavor (largely due to Fanta).[ citation needed ]

After extensive R&D during 1977 and early 1978, in which research was conducted on taste, color and carbonation levels, Sunkist made a grand introduction in New York by franchising it to The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York City, where Edward F. O'Reilly was president. At the time of introduction, Sunkist Soft Drinks had only five key employees: Mark Stevens, President; Peter Murphy, VP Sales; Dr. John Leffingwell, VP R&D; Ray Sissom, VP Finance; and Jim DeDreu, NE Regional Manager. It went national soon thereafter by being franchised mainly to leading Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola bottlers. The advertising slogan was "fun, sun and the beach" using TV and radio commercials with the Beach Boys' hit song "Good Vibrations" as the brand's theme. In 1980, Sunkist Orange Soda became the #1 orange soda in the US and the tenth-best-selling soft drink.[ citation needed ]

In 2010, there was a consumer recall after a batch was accidentally mixed with six times the amount of caffeine, sickening consumers. [4]

In late 1984, Sunkist Soft Drinks was sold to Del Monte. From late 1986 until 2008, it was produced by Cadbury Schweppes under license through its Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages subsidiary. Following the demerger of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from Cadbury Schweppes, it is now produced by Keurig Dr Pepper in the US.[ citation needed ]

Sunkist (as a carbonated soft drink) was also produced under license in other markets around the world. Nichols plc sold it in Britain, while Asahi Beverages sold it in Australia, [5] (with a caffeine-free formulation). In the Philippines, it was sold by Cosmos Bottling until 2001, when San Miguel Corporation acquired Cosmos and sold its brands to Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. As of 2013, Sunkist is sold by Asia Brewery.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Sunkist 'Orange'
Nutritional value per 1 can (375-millilitre)
Energy 833 kJ (199 kcal)
48.4 g
Sugars 48.4 g
Fat
0 g
0 g
Vitamins and minerals
Minerals Quantity
%DV†
Sodium
1%
34 mg
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [6] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies [7]
Sunkist 'Orange'
Nutritional value per 1 can (355-millilitre)
Energy 711.28 kJ (170.00 kcal)
44 g
Sugars 43 g
Fat
0 g
0 g
Vitamins and minerals
Minerals Quantity
%DV†
Sodium
3%
70 mg
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [6] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies [7]

Unlike many other competing orange sodas, Sunkist (at least the original formulation in the US) contains caffeine (19 mg per 12 fl oz). [8] In Canada, a caffeine-free version of the orange drink is marketed as C'Plus. [9]

Slogans

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Sunkist Soda - Dr Pepper Snapple Group". Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  2. ↑ "Sunkist Diversifies With Orange Soda". The New York Times. February 20, 1979.
  3. ↑ Danley, Sam (October 12, 2022). "Slideshow: New products at NACS". Food Business News. Sosland Publishing. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022.
  4. ↑ Carpenter, Murray (2014). Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us. p. 120.
  5. ↑ "Soft Drinks".
  6. 1 2 United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  7. 1 2 "TABLE 4-7 Comparison of Potassium Adequate Intakes Established in This Report to Potassium Adequate Intakes Established in the 2005 DRI Report". p. 120. In: Stallings, Virginia A.; Harrison, Meghan; Oria, Maria, eds. (2019). "Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. pp. 101–124. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN   978-0-309-48834-1. PMID   30844154. NCBI   NBK545428.
  8. ↑ "Caffeine Content of Drinks". www.caffeineinformer.com. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  9. ↑ "C'Plus". Canada Dry Mott's Inc. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.

Further reading

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