A customer at
Hollywood Market
in Royal Oak tries
to decide which
flavor of Snapple
to purchase.
I
he story sounds like
one of those old
movies when a cou-
ple of ordinary folks
beat out the big
guys and make
good, or the final
episode of the "Honey-
mooners," with one of Ralph
and Ed's get-rich-quick
schemes finally paying off.
Only in the case of
Snapple, founded by three
Jewish men from Brooklyn,
it really happened. Now the
success story that's been
sweeping the country as
the line of iced teas and
natural sodas goes
national is being repeat-
ed once again in Detroit
and throughout the
Midwest.
Just ask Tim Dabish,
president of Detroit-
based Intrastate Dis-
tributing, which handles
Snapple in the Motor
City.
"Snapple's going bonkers
in Detroit right now," he
says. "It's the most popular
tea in the trade."
Snapple's beginnings are
more humble than those of
some businesses. A couple
of window washers from
Brooklyn get together with
a friend who runs a health
food store and decide to
start selling fresh juice. The
initial idea fizzled, but,
eventually, the trio brewed
an iced tea.
Today, two decades later,
Snapple is the No. 1 product
in the ready-to-drink tea
segment, easily beating out
more established producers
including Lipton and Tetley.
In fact, Snapple is the
fastest growing company
among the Top 50 beverage
companies in the -United
States, according to
Beverage World magazine, a
trade journal.
That doesn't reflect badly
at all on Leonard Marsh
and Hyman Golden, the
J EWIS H NEWS
The volatile
business climate of the 1990s
has brought success to three
Jewish guys from Brooklyn,
founders of the
Snapple iced tea company.
w
w
32
window washers — and
brothers-in-law — or Arnold
Greenberg, the health food
aficionado. Today, Mr.
Golden is chairman of
Snapple's board, Mr. Marsh,
president and chief execu-
tive officer, and Mr.
Greenberg, vice president
and chief operating officer.
This last year has been a
busy one for the company,
which went public with an
offering of 4 million shares
in December 1992. Shares
were offered at $20 and
were up to $29 by the clos-
ing of the first day. Stock
has been hovering around
$34 since January.
In terms of the top 25
publicly held beverage com-
panies, Snapple ranked
Number 21 by the end of
1992 with revenues of about
$232 million. By compari-
son, Number 17 Dr. Pepper/
Seven-Up Companies gar-
nered revenues of $659 mil-
lion and Number 24 A&W
Brands earned about $131
million.
In terms of sales
growth, Snapple again
was No. 1, up 144 per-
cent from $95 million in
1991.
Up until 1991, Snapple
was considered a North-
eastern phenomenon.
Then, it was introduced
in California, and all
across the nation, the
news was flashed about a
second Golden State
drought. First, it wouldn't
rain, then, on top of that,
there was a Snapple short-
age. Talk about adding
insult to injury, the compa-
ny just couldn't get enough
product through the
pipeline to satisfy all the
thirsty Valley girls and
boys.
Distribution has been
something of a problem for
Snapple, at least until
recently. The best beverage
wholesalers are pretty sus-
picious of a new thing, con-
TEA page 36
The
Tea
That
Dreams
Are
Made
MIKE DUFF
SPECIAL TO THE
JEWISH NEWS
A bottle of Snapple Pink Lemonade.