Yahoo Finance The Arizona Iced Tea Founder Just Gave The Best Response Ever As To Why He Won't Raise Prices
A few weeks ago, the internet had a field day after the Chipotle CEO suggested that to get bigger portion sizes, all you need to do is give the employee the look. 👀
His response came after customers online complained that Chipotle has gotten cheap with portion sizes and quality. "First, I can tell you the portions have not gotten smaller," he said in the video.
This week, another food executive is going viral, but for more positive reasons. Meet Don Vultaggio, the chairperson and cofounder of Arizona Iced Tea:
According to Today, Don, who came from a working-class family in Brooklyn, founded the now multibillion-dollar company Arizona Iced Tea in 1992 after seeing the success of Snapple. The name "Arizona" didn't come from the state but from his house, which he said "looked like it belonged in Arizona." His wife, artist Ilene Kutner Vultaggio, designed the cans — those recognizable pink cherry blossoms and yellow, pink, and green logos — which are still the same today.
In an interview with the Today Show, Don explained why he hasn't raised the price on his 99-cent cans (which have been the same price since 1992) for more profit:
"We're successful. We're debt-free. We own everything. Why? Why have people who are having a hard time paying their rent pay more for our drink?"
"Maybe it's my little way to give back," he added.
Note, this man is still reportedly worth $6.5 billion.
Since the interview made the rounds on TikTok and Twitter, hundreds of people have praised Don's surprisingly anti-greed perspective. On Twitter, one user wrote, "this is how ceos should act instead of being so greedy and money hungry."
this is how ceos should act instead of being so greedy and money hungry
— role | fan account (@dvahive) June 29, 2024
In another viral tweet that received 7.1 million views, user @ZwiezenZ wrote, "Imagine not chasing endless growth and squeezing your staff and customers endlessly until it all crumbles. What a fucking concept?!"
Imagine running a business that is successful and healthy and just....being happy with that. Imagine not chasing endless growth and squeezing your staff and customers endlessly until it all crumbles.What a fucking concept?! https://t.co/TsWItKL6x2
— Zack Zwiezen (@ZwiezenZ) June 29, 2024
On TikTok, commenters said they would start buying or switching to Arizona, even if they didn't already buy it.
People were...ridiculously supportive.
Cheap product, no price gauging, anti-corporate greed = happy customers. What a concept, indeed!
Others compared Don's strategy to that of Costco cofounder Jim Sinegal, who once reportedly told CEO Craig Jelinek, "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out," after Jelinek requested a price raise on the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, which has been the same price since 1985.
Costco has also not changed the price of two more items in over a decade — the infamous rotisserie chicken ($4.99 since 2009) and its 12-slice pizza ($9.95 since 1989). The items are considered part of Costco's "loss leader" strategy, which basically bets on these consistently (and now famously) cheap items to bring customers into the store to buy more items.
Don, who said he has "never texted or emailed anybody" (or ever opened up a laptop or computer, according to his son), told Today he's a little old-school when it comes to strategy. He said, "I'm focused on things like if my wife, my mother, my sister worked here, what would I want them to have? Maybe that's an old-fashioned Brooklyn thing, but to me, that's what makes business work."
THE DON pic.twitter.com/TigJKF8487
— AriZona Iced Tea (@DrinkAriZona) July 1, 2024
I mean, it's working!
So, while Don noted he can't promise the can's price will never change, he said, "Not in the foreseeable future. We're gonna fight as hard as we can for consumers because consumers are my friend."
Thanks, Don!
And for that I say thank you.
— EriTron_Jo😬 (@erion_jordan) June 29, 2024
