Tropicana Tests Dole Juice On Jet Flights

As a precursor to a formal launch of its products here, Tropicana Products has started test-marketing its orange juice, Dole, on the flights of Jet Airways. PepsiCo had acquired Tropicana's juice business from The Seagram Company for $3.3b. It has been decided that Tropicana would remain a separate entity in India.

The nature of Tropicana's corporate structure is still unclear as the company would not be part of PepsiCo's other two operations, Pepsi Foods Ltd, and Frito Lay.

According to industry sources, Tropicana is expected to have a separate country-head. Efforts by Business Standard to elicit a response from Tropicana's local office proved futile as the country-head, Abhay Manglik, according to the company, was not in town.

 

However, sources said the very fact that Dole is being made available to passengers on Jet flights, indicates that Pepsi and Tropicana are preparing the base for a formal launch.

With 1997 revenues of nearly $2 billion, Tropicana's portfolio includes brands such as Tropicana Pure Premium, Season's Best and Dole. Tropicana Pure Premium is among the 10 largest food-brands sold in the US.

The company's portfolio in the US includes Tropicana Pure Tropics 100 per cent juice products and Tropicana Twister juice beverage products.

In Europe, the product-list consists of Fruvita chilled, Hitchcock shelf-stable juices and Looza nectars and juices.

Tropicana's Copella Fruit Juices sells the most popular not-from-concentrate apple juice in the UK.

The operating income of Tropicana has grown at a compounded annual rate of about 15 per cent over the last five years.

In the $16 billion US juice and juice beverage industry, Tropicana is the national leader in the chilled-juice segment. It has a large share in the fastest growing, chilled not-from-concentrate segment, which has grown by more than 8 per cent annually, since 1993.

Outside the US, Tropicana holds leading positions in chilled orange juice in Belgium, Canada, France and the UK. The company has also expanded its businesses in Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

"Tropicana is an absolutely terrific company, the best in the business," Roger Enrico, chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, had announced at the time of the acquisition.

Tropicana plays an important role in PepsiCo's global strategy, and is expected to boost PepsiCo's beverage presence in the mornings, when consumption of PepsiCo's traditional soft drinks is relatively low.