Snapple jumps into diet drink market

By Sherri Day, The New York Times
January 31, 2003

Trying to take some of the public embarrassment out of dieting, Snapple on Thursday announced a new meal-replacement product that looks less like a weight-loss aid and more like, well, a Snapple.

Snapple-a-Day, a fortified juice smoothie that will be on store shelves next month, is the beverage company's entry into the $1-billion meal replacement business, which is dominated by Unilever's Slim Fast and includes products like Ensure and protein-laden powder drinks for the Atkins Diet.

Snapple-a-Day has 210 calories - 10 fewer than Slim Fast - plus vitamins and minerals, including calcium, zinc, potassium and folic acid.

Snapple's drink may also represent the first wave of new products from soda companies that are targeted at consumers, particularly women ages 22 to 44, who worry as much about their waistlines as about flavor. The Coca-Cola Co. is working on a whey-based drink called BeginIt.

Snapple's edge, CEO Jack Belsito said, is that it will not be marketed as a diet product. By packaging Snapple-a-Day in 11.5-ounce plastic bottles swathed in bright red, yellow and peach labeling and promising better taste, the company hopes to remove the stigma associated with frothy meal replacement drinks in stubby metal cans.

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