One of the most recognized companies in the world – if not THE most recognized – is Coca Cola. This brand was founded in 1886 and has become the world’s largest manufacturer of non-alcoholic drinks. Many people know that other soft drinks such as Fanta, Sprite, and Minute Maid are part of the Coca Cola family, but there are plenty of other brands that most people are not aware are owned by the Coca Cola company. In fact there are 500 brands that represent 3,500 individual products that belong to Coca Cola. If you tried one new Coca Cola product per day, it would take you over 9 years to try them all. But what are some of these brands that are owned by Coca Cola that would surprise you? Here is a list of ten products that you did not know that Coca Cola owned.
10. Nestea
For many years, Coca Cola was in a partnership agreement with Nestea to manufacture and distribute their tea drinks. That partnership eventually ended and Coca Cola continued to make tea drinks under the Fuze name. Coca-cola purchased Fuze in 2007 for $250 million, making it one of Coke’s largest acquisitions of all time. This line makes 40 different products under the Fuze name.
9. Bacardi Mixers
These products are sold in the frozen food aisle of your local grocery store and all that is needed is the pre-requisite alcohol of your choice. Simply add them in a blender and you have bar quality drinks at the ready. They come in several flavors including strawberry, margarita rocks, margarita base lemon, margarita with triple sec, pina colada, and sweet and sour and are devised with real fruit juices and purees.
8. Barq’s
The “Olde Tyme Root Beer” has built it’s reputation of being a small company with a special root beer recipe when in fact, it belongs under the Coca Cola umbrella. This line also produces Red Creme Soda and French Vanilla Creme Soda in regular and diet formulations.
7. Odwalla
Odwalla was founded in 1980 and was originally a Minute Maid product. Coca Cola acquired the company in 2001 for $181 million. This line also has a selection of energy bars and protein shakes. Quite a difference from soda.
6. Gold Peak Tea
Lest you think that Nestle is the only tea line in this company’s inventory, Gold Peak is yet another that has been satisfying people’s thirst for over 12 years. This tea has won awards for best taste and perhaps some of the reason why is that it is made without preservatives and only with real sugar. You can find this tea in the refrigerated aisle and on the juice shelf.
5. Zico
The latest fade in the healthy drinks market is coconut water and Coca Cola has this covered as well with Zico. It comes in a variety of flavors including Natural, which is gluten-free, dairy-free and lactose-free. They also make a chocolate flavor, which has half the sugar contained in other leading chocolate beverages. They also have latte, mango, pineapple, passionfruit, and tropical flavors.
4. Vault
This drink has been advertised as a drink that tastes like a soda but has the punch and stimulation of an energy drink. It was sold in only 10 states in the country and was eventually pulled from the shelves in 2011. I for one, really liked Vault.
3. Swerve
This fortified dairy drink was created with vitamins A, C and D. It had a distinctive yogurt taste to it and never really caught on. Coca Cola decided to pull it from the market in 2006.
2. Chaywa
Most people have probably never heard of this product and that would be because this coffee drink was introduced to South Africa in 2008 and was mainly sold at gas stations and through vending machines. The brand comes in a several flavors including white coffee, black coffee, espresso, caffe latte, chococcino, cappuccino, and hot chocolate.
1. Enviga
This product is also comes from the Nestle tea joint venture. It is a carbonated green tea with only 5 calories per can and used to boast that it could help you burn 60 – 100 calories due to the high caffeine levels. This was not well received by the Center for Science in the Public Interest which sued the company for trying to market it as a negative calorie drink. The court ruled in favor of the those suing Coca Cola and had to pay restitution as well as cease marketing Enviga as a weight loss product.
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