Tall cans of AriZona iced tea have cost 99 cents since 1992. The family behind the company says it's committed to that price even as the prices of aluminum and corn syrup climb higher.
Gas is nearly six bucks a gallon. Groceries are 8% higher than last year. Dollar stores: now dollar-and-a-quarter stores.
“I’m committed to that 99 cent price — when things go against you, you tighten your belt,” Vultaggio said on a Zoom call in early April from his headquarters on Long Island, N.Y. Even though his costs are higher, “I don’t want to do what the bread guys and the gas guys and everybody else are doing,” Vultaggio said. “Consumers don’t need another price increase from a guy like me.”
The company sells about 1 billion 99-cent cans each year, Vultaggio said, which makes up about 25% of its total revenue. Its fruit drinks, energy drinks, bottled teas, snacks, hard seltzer, and other offerings move less volume, but have higher prices and higher margins. AriZona’s 30-year run at 99 cents is exceptional, but the record for longest-holding beverage price still goes to Coca-Cola, which held the cost of a 6.5-ounce bottle at five cents forThe Nickel Coke phenomenon developed in a different retail era, and grew out of a series of accidents: first, Coca-Cola agreed to sell its syrup to bottlers at a fixed price in perpetuity, thinking bottling was just a fad.
Don Vultaggio co-owns the company with his sons, Wesley, left, and Spencer, who serve as chief creative officer and chief marketing officer, respectively. With about 23 grams of aluminum per Big AZ Can, that means the price of metal alone has gone from nearly 5 cents up to 9.5 cents a pop — when you’re selling a billion cans a year, that’s $45 million down the tubes.
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