Wet Planet Beverages, which owns Jolt Cola, has filed for
bankruptcy protection in a Manhattan court on Monday, after a dispute
with drinks can maker Rexam, Reuters is reporting.
In the bankruptcy notice, Jolt said it had been unable to purchase an agreed-upon count of 90 million 23.5 ounce
resealable cans from Rexam between January 2007 and December 2009. Reuters reported that because of the recession, the company had only purchased 27 million cans.
The company was the first in the U.S. to launch a 23.5 ounce resealable can; as a part of its strategy to be first to market, it agreed to let Rexam market the can design to other energy drink companies soon after the Jolt product came out. Nevertheless, Jolt claimed in the filing that it needed to switch to non-resealable cans in order to continue to compete; the cost of the twist-off product is three times the non-resealables, according to Jolt.
In its Chapter 11 filing, Wet Planet listed assets and debt in the range of $1 million to $10
million. Rexam, which is owed about $2.1 million, was named as the
largest unsecured creditor.
Jolt Cola was created in 1985 by C.J. Rapp as a highly caffeinated
drink and is sold across the United States, Canada and Europe.