Sunkist is a brand of primarily orange flavored soft drinks launched in 1979.
History
Sunkist was first licensed by Sunkist Growers to the General Cinema Corporation, the leading independent bottler of Pepsi-Cola products at the time. The soft drink was the idea of Mark Stevens, who foresaw the potential based on market research which indicated that, worldwide, orange was the third best selling soft drink flavor. After extensive R&D during 1977 and early 1978, in which research was conducted on taste, color and carbonation levels, Sunkist made a grand introduction in New York by franchising it to The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York City, where Edward F. O'Reilly was president. At the time of introduction, Sunkist Soft Drinks had only five key employees: Mark Stevens, President; Peter Murphy, VP Sales; Dr. John Leffingwell, VP R&D; Ray Sissom, VP Finance; and Jim DeDreu, NE Regional Manager. It went national soon thereafter by being franchised mainly to leading Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola bottlers. The advertising slogan was "fun,sun and the beach" using TV and radio commercials with the Beach Boys' hit song "Good Vibrations" as the brand's theme. In 1980, Sunkist Orange Soda became the #1 orange soda in the US and the 10th best selling soft drink. Unlike many other competing orange sodas, Sunkist contains caffeine. After finding two different labels for the same SKU of Diet Sunkist in WV and OH retail stores, a call to the Sunkist consumer hotline on December 11, 2018 confirmed that Sunkist was in the process of introducing a slightly changed formulation with a slightly different order of ingredients and a reduction in caffeine content from 41 mg / 12 oz can to 19 mg per can for Diet Sunkist; this version still has the same SKU number, but the formulation change is shown on the packaging with a new logo "Diet Sunkist Orange" on cans and boxes. In 2010, there was a consumer recall after a batch was accidentally mixed with 6 times amount of the caffeine, sickening consumers. In late 1984, Sunkist Soft Drinks was sold to Del Monte. From late 1986 until 2008, it was produced by Cadbury Schweppes under license through its Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages subsidiary. Following the demerger of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from Cadbury Schweppes, it is now produced by Keurig Dr Pepper in the US. Sunkist is still the most popular orange soda in the United States. Sunkist is sold in the UK by Vimto Soft Drinks under license from Sunkist Growers. It is also sold in Australia by Schweppes Australia, but the Australian formulation is caffeine free. In Canada, a caffeine free version of the orange drink is marketed as C'Plus. The package indicates that there is a small amount of Sunkist Juice. In the Philippines, it was sold by Cosmos Bottling until 2001, when San Miguel Corporation acquired Cosmos and sold its brands to Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. As of 2013, Sunkist is sold by Asia Brewery. Keurig Dr Pepper makes a variety of Sunkist flavors. In addition to Orange, there is Diet Orange, Grape, Strawberry, Cherry Limeade, Pineapple, Lemonade, Diet Lemonade, Peach, Fruit Punch, Pink Lemonade, and Strawberry Lemonade.
