La Jolla, California Sep 1, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - Island Sweetwater has rolled out a new line of premium soft drinks that combines the finest ingredients such as pure cane sugar, real fruit pulp, and Island spring water. The new drinks were made to put some focus back on the Island Sweetwater brand. ”The company has extended the Island Sweetwater line with the help of Seaman's Beverages of Prince Edward Island who has been crafting premium soft drinks since 1939,” said John Ramonett Gonzales, President and Chief Financial Officer of Island Sweetwater Beverage Co., Inc., “We decided on Seaman's to co-pack our premium line because they can prepare our classic flavors the olde fashioned way in small batches and in glass bottles and pay close personal attention to quality. Sure, it's more expensive bottling sodas of this quality, but people all over the world are searching for simple soft drink refreshment,” explained Gonzales.
Island Sweetwater Birch Beer will remind you of a root beer-but it's not. Island Sweetwater Root Beer is an original soda fountain root beer that you can taste the Sassafras. If you like the taste of ginger then you'll love Island Sweetwater Ginger Brew and Ginger Ale. It's an authentic English-style ginger brew as opposed to the more common Jamaican style. You will notice the English-style ginger brew has a lighter color and a strong ginger taste and is smoother than the traditional Jamaican style. The Island Sweetwater Ginger Ale is a dry version. Other flavors include Grapefruit and Lime, Orange, Diet Orange, Creme Soda, and Island Sweetwater Lime Ricky. Legend has it that the flavor Lime Rickey originated from the English Colonel Rickey who was stationed in Washington D.C. and frequented many beverage rooms in the 1920s. He was famous for requesting a mixture of citrus flavors and soda which was very refreshing. The drink caught on and became commonly known as lime rickey Island Sweetwater Lime Rickey is one of the last sodas still recreating Colonel Rickey's favorite drink. The Island Sweetwater sodas cost about $1.25 for a 12-ounce bottle in convenience stores and $2 to $3.50 in clubs and restaurants, including the Hard Rock Cafe.
Island Sweetwater has also stepped up its efforts to secure a minority equity partner to help the company expand into nutraceutical beverages. Island Sweetwater has been seeking a minority equity investor for at least the past year. "We have been doing that quietly and selectively," said Gonzales. Within the past few months, however, the company has designated consultant Chuck Brockett of BTI International, formally BroTex Inc., to more actively market the company as an investment. "It was his (Brockett's) idea to take a nutraceutical spin on Island Sweetwater,” said. Gonzales. Brockett has generated a letter that was sent out to beverage executives like Jim Pomeroy, soliciting an acquisition for the company’s NICOLA stop smoking soft drink. Pomeroy had sold his interest in Sunny Delight Beverages, some years back during the company’s heyday to Procter & Gamble. Sunny D was spun off from Procter & Gamble into the Harvest Hill Beverage Company due to the negative publicity that led to a huge drop in the drink's popularity. In December 1998, a four-year-old girl in Rhyl, Wales, turned a distinctive yellowy-orange color after drinking too much Sunny D that contained Beta-carotene, an additive in most tanning pills.
Concurrent with the transaction, Island Sweetwater operating partners Richard H. Davis will serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chuck Brockett will serve as Chief Operating Officer. After holding several executive positions for companies in the banking and hospitality industries, all of which were characterized by increases in profitability of those organizations, Chuck Brockett became Vice-President of Arrowhead Mills, Inc, a manufacturer and distributor of whole and natural foods. In his five years with Arrowhead, Chuck helped increase their sales from $2 million to $10 million. Subsequently, he spent 15 years as National Sales Manager for Health Valley Natural Foods, where sales grew from $8 million to $120 million during that period.
"We are now looking at nutraceuticals that could bring something to Island Sweetwater, which seems to be in the same boat as SoBe or SoHo was a few years back, the product has imagery but the label and package are dated, it isn’t keeping up with current consumer trends of nutraceutical and energy drinks,” noted Gonzales. "Selling Island Sweetwater is a consideration, but an equity position would be our first choice for our expansion into nutraceutical beverages, we're coming up with new products and new uses for existing ones (by adding different 'wellness' ingredients, such as herbs to existing tried and true beverages), we are realizing that refurbishing the Island Sweetwater brands and making them winners once again is a possibility," said Gonzales, he did not provide specifics on what nutraceuticals.
Media Contact
John Ramonett Gonzales *****@vusra.com +1-219-242-7325 https://island-sweetwater.webnode.co.uk/
