Towne Club

Last updated
Towne Club
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryBeverages
Headquarters,
Parent Intrastate Distributors, Inc.
Website www.towneclub.com

Towne Club is a local brand of soft drink produced and sold primarily in the metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan. It is also sold in Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Traverse City, Tampa, Florida, Indianapolis, Indiana, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio at one time.

Contents

History

Early history

Empty Towne Club crates Towne Club soda crates.jpg
Empty Towne Club crates

Towne Club was founded and operated by Harold Samhat in the mid-1960s. [1] The company first started selling its pop in its own retail outlets in Detroit, known as "pop centers". It was an affordable alternative to bigger brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and often sold well in Detroit's poorer neighborhoods. The pop centers offered many more flavors of soda pop than were typically seen in grocery stores, and the pop was sold by the 24-glass-bottle wooden case. People would enter the store, grab a wooden crate, and walk around the various stacks of pop around the warehouse-type store. Customers would bring back empty bottles and cases and start all over again.

The company carved out its niche by offering multiple flavors in both regular and diet varieties in an attempt to rival its more powerful regional competitor, Faygo. The attempt proved successful, as Towne Club was able to expand its reach further North in Michigan, South into Central Indiana, parts of Northwestern Ohio, Upstate New York and Florida.

Samhat sold the company in 1978 to Pop Shoppes of Toronto, Canada (controlled by Venturetech of Toronto, Canada). He remained with the company until 1982. The company began falling on hard times in the mid- to late-1980s, after the decision was made to close its retail pop centers, though Towne Club was still available. Sales continued to slide, not out of disloyalty, but buyers of the products were left wondering what outlets still sold it.

Comeback

Towne Club Bottling announced a comeback in the mid-1990s (though they had never really left) and through a very aggressive media campaign, made an effort to make fans of the soft drinks aware of where to purchase the products. Returning in 1997, Towne Club had changed little of its product or its packaging. Unlike many of its multinational competitors, Towne Club pop was still sold in 12 ounce returnable crowned glass bottles, which, in keeping with Michigan's deposit law, are worth ten cents each when returned to retailers.

The Towne Club brand is now controlled by Intrastate Distributors, Inc., known as IDI, Inc. Within a couple of years, the Towne Club brands switched to plastic re-sealable bottles and new labeling. IDI also bottles other beverages, including Orange Crush, Frostie Root Beer and Stewart's Root Beer. The bottles required a standard bottle opener to be used in order to consume the product. In 2014, Detroit Style Pizza Co. began to serve Towne Club in its restaurants. [1]

Flavors

Towne Club has a variety of regular soda, diet soda and seltzers in their current lineup. [2]

Regular

  • City Rush (compared to Mountain Dew)
  • Cola
  • Ginger Ale
  • Grape
  • Honolulu Blue Cream (Detroit Lions color)
  • Lemonade
  • Mango Orange
  • Michigan Berries
  • Michigan Cherry
  • Orange
  • Pineapple Passion Fruit
  • Root Beer
  • Strawberry
  • Strawberry Lemonade
  • Strawberry Melon
  • Tiger Citrus Punch
  • Tropical Punch
  • Vanilla Cream

Diet

Seltzers

Related Research Articles

Faygo American soft drink company

Faygo Beverages, Inc., is a soft drink company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The beverages produced by the company, branded as Faygo or Faygo Pop, are distributed in the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Central Southern regions of the United States, as well as southern and western Canada. Faygo is exported to Europe by Keeptain Distrib, a French distributor, an official distributor of Faygo. Faygo Beverages, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Beverage Corporation and started in Detroit, Michigan, in 1907 as Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works.

Crush (soft drink) Line of fruit flavored carbonated beverages

Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. Crush mainly competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta, and Sunkist. It was created in 1911 by beverage and extract chemist Neil C. Ward. Most flavors of Crush are caffeine-free.

Jones Soda Co. is a beverage company based in Seattle. It bottles and distributes soft drinks, non-carbonated beverages, energy drinks, and candy.

Double-Cola is the name of a carbonated soft drink. It is manufactured by The Double Cola Company, headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Shasta (soft drink)

Shasta Beverages is an American soft drink manufacturer that markets a value-priced soft drink line with a wide variety of soda flavors, as well as a few drink mixers, under the brand name Shasta. The company name is derived from Mount Shasta in northern California and the associated Shasta Springs.

Ice cream float Beverage that consists of ice cream in a soft drink

An ice cream float or ice cream soda, is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.

Dr. Browns Soft Drink Brand

Dr. Brown's is a brand of soft drink made by J & R Bottling. It is popular in the New York City region and South Florida, but it can also be found in Jewish delicatessens and upscale supermarkets around the United States and in English-speaking neighborhoods in Israel. Slogans for the products have included "Imported From the Old Neighborhood" and "Taste of the Town."

The Pop Shoppe is a soft drink retailer originating in 1969 at London, Ontario, by Gary Shaw in Canada. The Pop Shoppe avoided using traditional retail channels, selling its pop through franchised outlets and its own stores in refillable bottles in 24-cartons.

Fitzs

Fitz's Bottling Company is a regional soda brand in the St. Louis area. The flagship brand is its root beer popularized by its microbrewery and restaurant in University City, Missouri, on the historic Delmar Loop.

Monster Beverage 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, and then sold their Hansen's juices and sodas and their other non-energy drink brands to The Coca-Cola Company in 2015.

The A-Treat Bottling Company was a beverage company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States that manufactured and bottled the A-Treat brand of carbonated soft drinks. A-Treat stopped production on January 23, 2015, but the brand was purchased by Jaindl Companies and production resumed.

Catawissa Bottling Company is a producer of soft drinks located in Catawissa, Pennsylvania. The company also distributes beer, ice, cups, taps, and related items.

Sun Crest. is a brand of flavored carbonated soft drink manufactured by The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC. of Jasper, Indiana and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC, except for 6 countries in Asia owned by The Monarch Beverage Company, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia. Sun Crest Orange is currently available in fountain service and glass bottles in select markets in the U.S.

Leading Edge Brands is a soft drink marketing and manufacturing company based in Temple, Texas.

Filberts Old Time Root Beer

Filbert's Old Time is a beverage company based in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1926, it has bottled and distributed soft drinks as well as non-carbonated beverages.

Zevia American food company

Zevia is a Los Angeles-based company that produces soft drinks, organic tea, energy drinks and mixers sweetened with stevia. All Zevia products are zero-calorie, sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan, certified kosher, and certified by The Non-GMO Project. In June 2021, Zevia filed to go public with an IPO.

References

  1. 1 2 "Detroit Style Pizza Co. Adds Michigan-made Faygo, Towne Club Soda and Great Lakes Potato Chips to Menu". PRWeb . Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  2. "Products Archive". Towne Club Soda. Retrieved 2022-07-13.