n 1993 from $24 million in 1989. Snapple was sold to a Boston investment firm, Thomas Lee, in 1992 (Berkowitz, 1997, A44). Lee made Snapple a national brand and took the company public in December 1992. At the time, Snapple stock was one of the hottest new stock offerings on record (Muller, 1996, 1D).
The partners were paid nearly $50 million each when they sold 70 percent of Snapple to the Boston-based investment firm Thomas H. Lee Co. in 1992, and they received an additional $127 million each for the rest of their interest when Quaker acquired Snapple in 1994 for $1.7 billion.
Industry Background/Environmental Influences
Beverages take in annual US retail sales of an estimated $177 billion, growing 1.2% per year (not including milk or brewed coffee and tea, which are, strictly speaking, foods). Beverage sales amount to about $1.80 spent per day for each and every person (Stat, Abs, 1997).
The majority of the nonalcoholic beverage dollar is spent on carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) -- also called soda, pop, and, generically, "Coke" in the South. Americans consume more than 53 gallons of CSDs per person each year, compared to 22 gallons of beer and three gallons of wine and distilled liquor combined.
A panoply of nonalcoholic, non-CSD drinks amounts to about 13% of beverage retail sales. Fruit juices from companies such as Tropicana (owned by PepsiCo), Coca-Cola's Minute Maid, Cadbury's Welch's, and Ocean Spray Cranberries have seen steady growth. Alternative beverages include ready-to-drink (RTD) teas, sports drinks, fruit beverages (such as juice sparklers and flavored waters), and bottled water
In 1994, U.S. retail sales of ready-to-drink iced teas were $2.6 billion. The single-serve fruit beverages drove growth in the overall U.S.new age fruit drink market. There are four segments included in the UnitedStates market for fruit-based new age beverages: alternative fruit drinks, juice sparklers or
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