Decline and Retirement
By the 1960s, Fooks believed that he had reached his limit with Grapette, and was ready to move on. By the end of the decade, Fooks had begun talks with groups interested in purchasing Grapette. Fooks ultimately sold Grapette to the Rheingold Corporation in 1970, which marketed the Rheingold, Ruppert-Knickerbocker, and Gablinger's lines of beers, as well as several regional brands of soft drinks in California, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Rheingold changed the name of the company from Grapette to Flavette, and relocated the company headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Grapette's bottle was changed to one with smooth sides and colored dots. The slogan became "The Juicy Soda". Grapette's advertising model also changed. Previously, advertising was funded by a surcharge on sugar, which was to be spent by the distributor for advertising only. This plan was dropped by Rheingold, placing advertising solely in the hands of Grapette's distributors, resulting in an immediate drop in sales. During this period, Flavette purchased the Dr. Wells soda pop brand and Mason & Mason, Inc., the makers of Mason's Root Beer.
In 1975, Rheingold was purchased by PepsiCo, Inc. in a hostile takeover, acquiring 80% of the company's stock. However, the Federal Trade Commission determined that PepsiCo controlled too many soft drink companies, and thus ordered that PepsiCo divest several prominent brands. When the divestiture was complete in 1977, Grapette was in the hands of The Monarch Beverage Company, which manufactured NuGrape. As Monarch already manufactured a grape soda, it was determined that they did not need a second. Representatives from Monarch flew to Grapette's headquarters and essentially fired the Grapette team. As such, the Grapette name was shelved, and the flavor was retired in the United States.
Despite the brand's retirement in the United States, May retained ownership of Grapette International, and Grapette was still produced internationally, remaining a popular drink. When May died in the early 1970s, control of Grapette International was passed on to May's son-in-law, Brooks Rice.
In the United States, Grapette may have been gone, but it certainly had not been forgotten. Rice had made many offers to buy the American rights to Grapette back from Monarch, but regardless of the amount of money offered, Monarch refused to sell the name. Despite this setback, Rice continued to grow Grapette's market share elsewhere in the world, with sales in the tens of millions in countries in South America and the Pacific Rim.
Read more about this topic: Grapette
Famous quotes containing the words decline and, decline and/or retirement:
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Douglas. Now remains a sweet reversion—
We may boldly spend, upon the hope
Of what is to come in.
A comfort of retirement lives in this.
Hotspur. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)