RICHMOND, Va., January 19, 2010 – Fruit 66, the low-calorie, nutritious sparkling juice brand that started appearing in school cafeterias throughout the country about a year ago, is now broadening its retail distribution, driven in large part to growing consumer demand (read: kids are clamoring for the stuff). The nation’s most popular juice in schools has announced the addition of two major new sales partners: national supermarket retailer Publix Super Markets, Inc. and Gordon Food Service, North America’s largest family-owned foodservice distributor.
Florida-based Publix has more than 1,000 stores throughout the Southeast with sales topping $24 billion annually. The supermarket chain is the largest employee-owned grocer in the country and one of the top 10 biggest overall. Publix joins other retailers in offering Fruit 66, including Ukrop’s Super Markets, Market Street United, Central Market HEB, Akins’s Natural Foods, Chamberlin’s, Hen House Market, Ball’s Price Chopper, Fiesta Mart and Whole Foods Market stores.
Gordon Food Service, with headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a century-old broadline foodservice distributor with operations throughout the Midwest and East Coast. It joins other key trade distributors such as Sysco, U.S. Foodservice, Feesers, DPI Specialty Foods, Tree of Life, Haddon House and a number of other A-B distributors throughout the country.
“My inbox was inundated with emails and calls from parents in every state asking where they could buy our beverage,” says Fruit 66 president Bill Hargis. “We’re responding to retail demand across the US and in 2010 we have a number of new surprises in store for the marketplace.”
Developed in consultation with school nutritionists and foodservice directors, Fruit 66 is a sparkling juice with fewer calories and more nutrients than many juice style beverages on the market. With just 95 calories in an 8-ounce can, and boasting 100 percent of the RDA of vitamin C and 10 percent of the RDA of Calcium, and vitamin A, Fruit 66 is a tasty, healthier alternative to lunch room juices and sodas. It is available in four flavors – Kiwi Strawberry, Fruit Punch, Orange Tangerine and Apple Berry.
About Fruit 66
Fruit 66 is a low-calorie, highly nutritious, sparkling juice brand for kids. Created in response to poor beverage offerings that lack nutritional value and are highly caloric, each can is equal to 1 serving of fruit and has 95 calories per serving. Fruit 66 can be found in school cafeterias across the country as well as many natural food stores nationwide. For more information on Fruit 66, visit www.fruit-66.com.