When it comes to selling lemonade, Tim Kezman isn’t exactly trying to befuddle anyone. That’s not how he likes to work and that’s not how lemonade works, he said. Instead, Kezman, the president of King Juice Company, Inc., a Milwaukee-based co-packer that makes Calypso Lemonade, prefers to live by the basics. The same goes for the lemonade, an American staple that he doesn’t think requires a puzzle of good-for-yous.

“It’s not real sexy, it’s not real good for you,” Kezman said. “Our products are high quality. They’re not going to make you run faster, they’re not going to make you sleep better, they’re not going to make you a better lover. The bottom line is, it’s hot out, are you thirsty? Do you want something good to drink?”

It’s this approach, which Kezman said belongs to the majority of consumers from the mainstream channels, such as mass and convenience, not the minority of health-seeking shoppers from the natural channel, that has gradually carried Calypso to its current state: a national footprint and a 40 percent increase in production from the previous year.

The health and wellness fervor has become more of an industry idea than something conceived by the consumer, Kezman said. With an overload of vitamins, nutraceuticals and other hard-to-pronounce details, consumers can feel overwhelmed and unsure of their decisions. This opinion isn’t on-trend, but distributors still boast to Kezman about how there’s no educational process needed with Calypso. Consumers don’t need to be told what it’s going to do for them. Rather, they appreciate the glass bottles, a substantial, familiar format, and understand the flavors, such as Strawberry Lemonade, Raspberry Pink Lemonade and Natural Lemonade.

“We’ll leave the scientific drinks to somebody else,” Kezman said.

One of the lemonade category’s greatest, most consistent challenges remains seasonality. How do you trump the common perception — lemonade is a summertime drink — and stay on shelves for the entire year?

No retailer has ever looked at the calendar, seen that it’s September and discontinued Calypso distribution, Kezman said. Despite regular attempts by companies, especially at a regional level, to knock Calypso into hibernation, the brand has always been able to hold its own during the winter months.

He credits not just the flavors and simplicity of his lemonades, but also the variety. Consumers envision Calypso’s 14 flavors, perhaps even more during the winter, as a fruit drink. This gives the brand an indirect flexibility that steadies sales figures.

“We’ve never lost in a space because of seasonality,” Kezman said.

This durability could also be attributed to Calypso’s brand loyalty, which has been strengthened by the company’s gradual business model. Over a span of 15 years, at the potential cost of progressing at a slower rate, Calypso has expanded at a comfortable pace.

King Juice is privately held, with its own 123,000 square-foot bottling plant, so Kezman doesn’t need to answer to anybody, nor hit any specific numbers. He doesn’t want to pay for space, which he said the industry has been willing to do. He takes it one cold box, one region and one market a time. This strategy, which nurtures each market before too quickly making a move, keeps Calypso on the shelf and deflects competition.

“As the brand matures in the market, there’s less and less seasonal drop-off,” he said.

At the NACS show in Atlanta, Kezman said to look around and take notice of the number of Sparkling ICE imitators (there were many). Companies see success and they want to go for the same thing. Depending on perception, it’s flattering or just a natural development in the industry.

Before Calypso became a national brand, he said that flavored lemonades weren’t as widely spread. Since his product’s national arrival, which includes placements in Walmart, Circle K in the Midwest, Casey’s General Store, Thorntons, Fry’s, Terrible Herbst, QuikTrip and select Walgreens stores, he said that several companies have mimicked Calypso’s portfolio. He didn’t name names, but regardless of who was first to market, or whether or not the extensions were inevitable or sprouted from direct influence, similar portfolios exist. The Pulse Beverage Corporation, makers of Cabana Lemonade, offer blueberry, cherry, strawberry and mango lemonades. Hubert’s Lemonade offers much of the same, except switch blueberry with blackberry and cherry lemonade with cherry limeade. Snapple recently partnered with 7-Eleven to release original, pink and mango lemonades. These are just a few of several more examples.

Pulse CEO Robert Yates admitted that Calypso influenced his company to use a glass bottle and a decorative exterior for Cabana Lemonade when other canned lemonades opted for a more conservative package design. He said that while Calypso’s flavor innovation may not have directly influenced Cabana, he didn’t deny that Calypso was the first to market the products and that the company deserves credit for developing and refocusing the lemonade category.

Cabana Lemonade is made for the natural channel, using a sugar and stevia blend of sweeteners that results in 60 calories and 12 grams of sugar per 8 oz. Meanwhile, Calypso contains 112 to 120 calories and 26 to 28 grams of sugar per 8 oz. However, similar to Kezman’s opinion, Yates doesn’t see the differences as much of a problem. It’s all about catering to your respective market.

“There’s a lot of people out there that are just not interested in better-for-you beverages,” Yates said. “I think it suits their market very well.”

Still, with the competition afoot, and considering that Calypso hadn’t released a new product since 2011, Kezman wanted to preserve his brand’s freshness for consumers, distributors and retailers. This serves as a primary reason for the company’s limeade line, which was launched at NACS after six to seven months of production and development, and includes six flavors: Natural Limeade, Pineapple Peach Limeade, Coconut Colada Limeade, Sweet Cherry Limeade, Tangerine Limeade and Pink Guava Limeade.

Hopes are that the new line could give Calypso full shelf placements or, in places where the full shelf is already in place, it could create a second shelf.

If nothing else, at least it presents a new topic to those poor, repetitive distributors.

“It gives our distributors something else to talk about,” Kezman said.