AriZona Beverages today unveiled its latest venture: Santa Fé (stylized “SANTA FÉ”), a sparkling water line flavored with a “splash of real fruit.”
Santa Fé will debut in 16 oz. cans in five flavors: Lemon, Pink Grapefruit, Raspberry Lime, Orange Mango and Arnold Palmer. The latter, billed as the category’s “first and only Arnold Palmer,” carries the exclusive license for use of the legendary golfer’s name on his signature cocktail of sweet tea and lemonade. The line will be sold in stores in singles ($1.99-$2.49) and online in 12-packs for $22.99 ($21.84 with subscription).
In an email, AriZona Beverages CCO Wesley Vultaggio said the launch is the brand’s “answer to fans looking for health conscious beverage options” and has been in development for several years.
“AriZona Beverages prides itself on being ahead of the curve and carving out industry trends when they start to emerge,” Vultaggio wrote. “SANTA FÉ is an example of that strategy. We foresee the sparkling water category to continue to grow over the next few years and we see SANTA FÉ being a leader in it.”
In addition to online, consumers will be able to pick up Santa Fé at select bodegas, grocery stores and delis within AriZona territories this summer.
“We know our consumers live and shop online and the trend will just keep growing, which is why we launched SANTA FÉ through ecommerce,” Vultaggio wrote. “AriZona has a strong ecommerce presence loved by our fans, and we expect that to carry over to the SANTA FÉ line as well.”
AriZona’s core iced teas have continued to drive the bulk of the New York-based brand’s growth over the last several years, despite moves to diversify its portfolio with premium teas (Good Brew) and beef jerky (Crazy Cowboy). One of those innovations included a line of flavored, zero calorie sparkling mineral waters under the AriZona label that has since been rebranded as SOHO Seltzer.
“Through our other seltzers, we’ve learned a lot about product consistency, which is why we use rosemary to naturally stabilize the fruit juice and maintain consistency,” Vultaggio wrote. “We have another seltzer under our umbrella, and they are designed to complement, not compete against, each other in the market.”
According to sales data from IRI, AriZona’s shelf-stable juices saw the biggest jump in year-over-year sales through May 24, increasing 20.7% to around $78.3 million. The brand’s canned and bottled teas (not including Arnold Palmer and Rx Energy products) saw sales dip slightly less than 1% during that period, falling to $568.1 million.
In contrast to SOHO, Santa Fé is positioned as more of a premium play that will see it come up against products that also highlight their use of real fruit juice over natural flavors, such as Spindrift. That brand, notably, released an unsweetened “half tea & half lemon” flavor in 2018.