Sunkist Growers, Incorporated

Last updated
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated
Company type Agricultural marketing cooperative
Industry Agriculture
Founded1893 in Claremont, California
FounderP.J. Dreher and Edward L. Dreher
Headquarters
Valencia, California
,
United States
Area served
California and Arizona
Products Citrus
Website www.sunkist.com

Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is an American citrus growers' non-stock membership cooperative composed of over 1,000 members from California and Arizona headquartered in Valencia, California. [1] Through 31 offices in the United States and Canada and four offices outside North America, its sales in 1991 totaled $956 million. It is the largest fresh produce shipper in the United States, the most diversified citrus processing and marketing operation in the world, and one of California's largest landowners. [2]

Contents

History

Women packing oranges at the Sunkist packing plant, Redlands, California, 1943 Redlands, California. Packing oranges at a cooperative packing plant..jpg
Women packing oranges at the Sunkist packing plant, Redlands, California, 1943

In the late 1880s, California citrus growers began organizing themselves into cooperatives, with the goal of increasing profits by pooling their risk and increasing their collective bargaining power with jobbers and packers. The economic depression that began in 1893 worsened farmers' situations, and intensified their desire to self-organize to their own benefit. [3]

In 1893, P.J. Dreher and his son, Edward L. Dreher, who became the "father of the California citrus industry" (1877–1964), along with several other prominent citrus farmers and land owners formed the Southern California Fruit Exchange in Claremont, a small college town near Los Angeles. The exchange originally represented only orange growers; in 1896 lemon growers joined. [3] Growers from Los Angeles County, Orange County, and Riverside County were among the original members and later expanded to growers and groves in San Bernardino and Ventura Counties. By 1905, the exchange represented 5,000 members, 45% of the California citrus industry, and renamed itself the California Fruit Growers Exchange. Between 1927 and 1939, the exchange sold more than 75% of all California citrus. In the 1947-48 season, the exchange had around 15,000 citrus growers. [4] In 1952, it changed its name to Sunkist Growers, Inc.

Organizational structure

The Sunkist organization features three levels in its hierarchy: local, district, and central associations. Individual growers belong to their specific local organization; local organizations are part of a district organization, and districts participate in a central organization. The cooperative's main purpose is to create systems enabling fruit from multiple growers to be efficiently harvested, sorted into various sizes and grades, and packed and shipped across the United States in response to shifting demand. [5]

Each level of the exchange had its own distinct purpose. By joining the exchange, citrus growers pledged to deliver all their fruit to their local packing unit.[ citation needed ] The local packing unit was responsible for helping growers to harvest their citrus, then place the citrus through a packinghouse system to treat, grade, and pack the product. The local exchanges pooled the grower fruits and later redistributed profits back to growers.[ citation needed ] The district exchanges served as the selling agent for its local packing units by setting pricing and determining markets. The district exchange utilized sales offices and infrastructure provided by the central exchange. The central exchange unified the cooperative with research and guidance for the local and district exchanges.[ citation needed ] It featured departments such as the treasury department which ensured proper accounting and the advertising department which created advertising materials, managed public relations, and encouraged nutritional research. Additionally, the central exchange fostered scientific research on citrus through its field department and collaborations with the University of California and USDA's Citrus Experiment Station in Riverside. [6] [7] [8]

Since its inception, the organization has significantly expanded its activities. In 1906, the CFGE launched the Citrus Protective League, a lobbying arm. [9] In 1907, it formed the Fruit Growers Supply Company to provide growers with materials such as radios, tires, shooks (components for fruit crates), insecticides, and fertilizers at wholesale prices. [10] It later formed the Sunkist's Exchange By-Products Company, which developed markets for by-products such as citric acid, sodium citrate, lemon oil, pectin, orange oil and orange pulp. [5] [11]

The Sunkist brand

Fruit crate label for Sunkist California Oranges Sunkist Californian Oranges ol344.jpg
Fruit crate label for Sunkist California Oranges

In its early years, the primary problem facing the California citrus industry was an oversupply of fruit. By 1907, California was producing five times as many oranges as fifteen years earlier. Orange production continued to grow as newly planted orange groves began to bear fruit. In response, in 1907 the CFGE approved the first-ever large-scale advertising campaign aimed at marketing a perishable commodity. The March 1907 campaign, promoting oranges to Iowans as "healthy" and "summery" resulted in a 50% increase in orange sales in that state. It also launched the Sunkist brand: the ad agency Lord & Thomas originally proposed using the adjective "sun-kissed" to describe the CFGE oranges; the word eventually used in the campaign was Sunkist, created by the agency as a mnenomic device which would be easier to defend if used as a trademark. [12]

In an effort to distinguish Sunkist oranges from others, the CFGE wrapped its oranges in paper stamped with the Sunkist brand name. In 1909, after Sunkist learned that merchants were selling non-Sunkist oranges as Sunkist, it began to offer consumers a free Sunkist-branded spoon in exchange for mailing in twelve Sunkist wrappers. One million spoons were claimed in the first year of the promotion, further establishing the brand in consumers' minds and giving merchants a reason to want to display Sunkist oranges in their original wrappers. By 1910, because of the promotion, Sunkist had become the world's largest purchaser of cutlery. [13]

The success of early campaigns prompted Sunkist to invest heavily in advertising, and in coming decades the brand was advertised in magazines and on radio, on billboards, streetcars and railroad cars, on the sides of speedboats, in school curricula and essay contests, and in pamphlets distributed in doctors' offices. Its messaging was aimed to reposition oranges in the minds of consumers. Rather than a luxury to be enjoyed only at Christmas, Sunkist wanted people to believe oranges were essential for good health and to eat one every day. [14]

A 1928 ad featuring Santa Claus Santa Claus - Sunkist Ad (1928).jpg
A 1928 ad featuring Santa Claus

Sunkist also invested in marketing fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemonade as superior alternatives to "artificial" beverages such as Coca-Cola. By the mid-1930s, one Sunkist orange in five was being consumed in juice form, often at soda fountains, and Sunkist juice was the second-most-popular soda fountain drink, after Coca-Cola. [15]

By 1914, Americans were consuming about forty oranges per person every year, up 80% from 1885. [16]

In 1915, in response to competition from imported Italian lemons, which at that time had nearly half the American market, Sunkist started aggressively marketing the benefits of Sunkist lemons, promoting their use as a hair rinse, in tea, in pie and as a food garnish. By 1924, California lemons had 90% of the American lemon market. [17]

Today

In 2023, Sunkist celebrated its 130th anniversary as the "...longest standing agricultural co-op in the US" on "Sunkist Citrus Day" on 1 March 2023 commending its over 1,500 members (many small family farmers) and the more than 40 citrus products in its offering. [18]

As of 2007, Sunkist markets fresh oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, and tangerines to 12 states and three Canadian provinces, from 6,000 growers in California and Arizona. From 1971 to 2014, Sunkist was based in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles; in September 2014, it relocated to the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita. [1] Through trademark agreements, Sunkist has licensed its trademark to other firms such as General Mills and Snapple, for marketing more than 600 mainly citrus-flavored products including soft drinks and juice drinks, vitamins, and jellies and candies in more than 50 countries. Sunkist also owns two citrus processing plants which manufacture juice, oils, pulp and peels. Sunkist's subsidiaries for marketing, international sales and fruit purchasing include SunMac Hawaii Ltd., Sunkist Global, LLC in California, Sunkist Pacific, Ltd., in Japan, Sunkist (Far East) Promotion Ltd., in Hong Kong, and Sunkist Real Estate Ltd., in California. [19] Sales in 1991 totalled $956 million, [2] with nearly half of revenues generated outside the United States. [19]

Examples of Sunkist trademark licensing

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calamansi</span> Hybrid species of citrus

Calamansi, also known as calamondin, Philippine lime, or Philippine lemon, is a citrus hybrid cultivated predominantly in the Philippines. It is native to the Philippines, parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as parts of southern China and Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tango (drink)</span> British fruit-flavoured soft drink brand

Tango is a carbonated soft drink originating in the United Kingdom, primarily sold in the UK and Ireland. It was first launched by Corona in 1950. Corona was purchased by the Beecham Group in 1958, and Corona Soft Drinks by Britvic in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minute Maid</span> American beverage company

Minute Maid is an American product line of beverages, usually associated with lemonade or orange juice, but which now extends to soft drinks of different kinds, including Hi-C. Minute Maid is sold under the Cappy brand in Central Europe and under the brand "Моя Семья" in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Minute Maid was the first company to market frozen orange juice concentrate, allowing it to be distributed throughout the United States and served year-round. The Minute Maid Company is owned by The Coca-Cola Company, the world's largest marketer of fruit juices and drinks. The firm opened its headquarters in Sugar Land Town Square in Sugar Land, Texas, United States, on February 16, 2009; previously it was headquartered in the 2000 St. James Place building in Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starburst (candy)</span> Chewy fruit-flavored candy/sweet

Starburst is the brand name of a box-shaped, fruit-flavoured soft taffy candy manufactured by The Wrigley Company, which is a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Starburst has many different varieties, such as Tropical, Sour, FaveREDs, Watermelon, Very Berry, Superfruit, Summer Blast and Original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaiian Punch</span> Fruit punch brand

Hawaiian Punch is an American brand of fruit punch currently manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally invented in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yeats, and Ralph Harrison as a topping for ice cream. It was started from an original syrup flavor called Leo's Hawaiian Punch, containing orange, pineapple, passion fruit, guava and papaya, and is currently offering 14 different flavors since 2020. Though earlier versions contained 10% fruit juice, the drink is currently made with 3% fruit juice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange soft drink</span> Type of carbonated drinks

Orange soft drinks are carbonated orange drinks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welch's</span> American company

Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers, since 1956. Welch's is particularly known for its grape juices, jams and jellies made from dark Concord grapes and its white Niagara grape juice. The company also manufactures and markets an array of other products, including refrigerated juices, frozen and shelf-stable concentrates, organic grape juice, fruit snacks, and dried fruit. Welch's has also licensed its name for a line of grape-flavored soft drinks since 1974. Welch's grape and strawberry soda flavors are currently licensed to Global Beverage Corporation. Other popular products that use the Welch's name are the fruit snacks made by The Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida's Natural Growers</span> Agricultural cooperative based in Florida

Florida's Natural Growers is an agricultural cooperative based in Lake Wales, Florida. It is currently owned by over 1,100 grower members. It was the only national orange juice maker that used only US-grown fruit in its products; however, this policy changed starting in May 2022. After that time, Florida's Natural products included concentrated orange juice from Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Lasker</span> American businessman (1880–1952)

Albert Davis Lasker was an American businessman who played a major role in shaping modern advertising. He was raised in Galveston, Texas, where his father was the president of several banks. Moving to Chicago, he became a partner in the advertising firm of Lord & Thomas. He created and produced many successful ad campaigns. He made new use of radio, changing popular culture and appealing to consumers' psychology. A Republican, he designed new ways to advertise election campaigns, especially the Warren Harding campaign of 1920, and became a philanthropist.

Donald Duck is the name of a brand of frozen and refrigerated orange juice by the Florida's Natural Growers agricultural cooperative, which was known as Citrus World from 1969 to 1998, and before that as the Florida Citrus Canners Cooperative. The brand was introduced in 1940 and is the cooperative's oldest brand. Donald Duck, one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters, is the mascot for the brand. He appears on the packaging and marketing, and in its advertising. For many years Donald Duck also appeared on the juice plant's water storage tank in Lake Wales, until 1998, when the cooperative decided to remove the Donald Duck logo as part of its name change and rebranding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slice (drink)</span> Fruit flavored soft drink

Slice was a line of fruit-flavored soft drinks originally manufactured by PepsiCo and introduced in 1984 but discontinued by PepsiCo in North America in the late 2000s. Slice was reintroduced in the United States and Canada as a brand of Organic food by "New Slice Ventures LLC", which acquired the trademark rights in those countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster Beverage</span> American beverage company

Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless and Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southern California, originally selling juice products. The company renamed itself as Monster Beverage in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Tibbets</span> California founder of the citrus industry

Eliza Tibbets was among early American settlers and founders of Riverside, California; she was an activist in Washington, D.C., for progressive social causes, including freedmen's rights and universal suffrage before going to the West Coast. A spiritualist, she led seances in Riverside. She became known for successfully growing the first two hybrid Washington navel orange trees in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemon</span> Yellow citrus fruit

The lemon is a species of small evergreen tree in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar, and China.

Schweppes Australia is the non-alcohol business of Asahi Breweries operating in Australia. It is now known as Asahi Lifestyle Beverage having originally arrived in the country in 1850. In 1877, the first factory was built in Sydney. After an international merger with Cadbury in 1969, forming Cadbury Schweppes, the company was eventually re-separated on 27 February 2009 and, in April 2009, Schweppes Australia was acquired by Asahi Breweries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunkist (soft drink)</span> Line of fruit-flavored carbonated beverages

Sunkist is a brand of primarily orange-flavored soft drinks that launched in 1979. Sunkist primarily competes with The Coca-Cola Company's Fanta brand and Keurig Dr Pepper's Orange Crush brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tymbark (company)</span>

Tymbark SA, is a Polish fruit- juice beverage company. Its products are mainly available in all of 16 Polish voivodeships as well as in most of Germany. Tymbark is also a fruit and vegetable processing plant. Tymbark is a major producer of fruit and vegetable juices as well as jams, marmalades and fruit wines. In 1999, the company became part of Grupa Maspex Wadowice. The Tymbark brand was listed as Poland's 15th most popular brand in a survey by Wprost magazine. It is known as Topjoy in Hungary or Relax in Czechia and Slovakia.

Limoneira is a public limited agribusiness and real estate development company based in Santa Paula, California, United States. The Company's operations mainly consist of production, sales and marketing of citrus and avocados. The company's real estate holdings and vast water rights support three business segments which are agribusiness, rental operations and real estate development. The company received the IPM Innovator Award at California Legislature Assembly Resolution.

References

  1. 1 2 Wilcox, Gregory (18 August 2014). "Sunkist leaving San Fernando Valley after four decades". Los Angeles Daily News. MediaNews Group. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 Schoenbrod, David (1995). Power Without Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People Through Delegation. Yale University Press. p. 6. ISBN   0-300-06518-3.
  3. 1 2 Cruikshank, Jeffrey L., Arthur W. Schultz (2010). The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century. Harvard Business Review Press. p.  114. ISBN   978-1-59139-308-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Tobey, Ronald; Wetherell, Charles (1995). "The Citrus Industry and the Revolution of Corporate Capitalism in Southern California, 1887-1944". California History. 74 (1): 6–21.
  5. 1 2 Sackman, Douglas Cazaux (2005). Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. University of California Press. p. 93. ISBN   0-520-23886-9.
  6. ↑ Cumberland, William Wilson (1917). Cooperative Marketing: Its Advantages as Exemplified in the California Fruit Growers Exchange. Princeton University Press.
  7. ↑ Gardner, Kelsey Beeler; McKay, Andrew William (1950). The California Fruit Growers Exchange System. US Government Printing Office.
  8. ↑ Jacobs, James A. (1994). Cooperatives in the US citrus industry. USDA Rural Business and Cooperative Development Service Research Report 137.
  9. ↑ American Tariff League (1908). The Tariff review, Volumes 41-42. American Economist. p. 180.
  10. ↑ Nelson, Ted (2006). "Citrus Fruit & Forests: The Story of California's Fruit Growers Supply Company" (PDF). Forest History Today: 24–28.
  11. ↑ McWilliams, Carey (1980). Southern California: An Island on the Land . Peregrine Smith. p.  211. ISBN   0-87905-007-1.
  12. ↑ Cruikshank, Jeffrey L., Arthur W. Schultz (2010). The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century. Harvard Business Review Press. pp.  114–117. ISBN   978-1-59139-308-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Cruikshank, Jeffrey L., Arthur W. Schultz (2010). The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century. Harvard Business Review Press. pp.  114–117–118. ISBN   978-1-59139-308-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Sackman, Douglas Cazaux (2005). Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. University of California Press. pp. 95–101. ISBN   0-520-23886-9.
  15. ↑ Sackman, Douglas Cazaux (2005). Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. University of California Press. p. 101. ISBN   0-520-23886-9.
  16. ↑ Cruikshank, Jeffrey L., Arthur W. Schultz (2010). The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century. Harvard Business Review Press. pp.  114–119. ISBN   978-1-59139-308-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Cruikshank, Jeffrey L., Arthur W. Schultz (2010). The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century. Harvard Business Review Press. p.  119. ISBN   978-1-59139-308-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Collen2023-02-21T09:40:00+00:00, Carl. "Sunkist celebrates 130th anniversary". Fruitnet. Retrieved 2024-01-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. 1 2 Plunkett, Jack W. (2007). Plunkett's Food Industry Almanac 2007: Food Industries Market Research, Statistics, Trends & Leading Companies. Plunkett Research. ISBN   978-1-59392-068-5.
  20. ↑ "Welcome To". Sunkistcandy.com. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  21. ↑ "Jelly Belly to Buy Ben Myerson Candy Business". progressivegrocer.com. 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  22. ↑ "Home". Sunkist. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  23. ↑ Archived December 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ "Soft Drinks, Fruit Snacks, Fruit Gems - Worldwide Licensed Products from". Sunkist. Archived from the original on 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.