Another one that bites the dust. From subway subs to Frito-Lay snacks and dozens of restaurant chains, the coronavirus has forced countless fast food items, food products and restaurants to be discontinued or closed its doors. Now we can add another one to the list, and it’s one of the biggest brands we’ve seen so far.
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On Wednesday, July 1, The Coca-Cola Company announced that it would suspend a full beverage brand and lay off more than 300 employees. At the end of July, you will no longer see Odwalla smoothies and juices on your supermarket shelves.
This beverage brand, which has been in business for over 40 years, but has only been operated by Coca-Cola since 2001, has apparently been struggling in recent years. Odwalla has experienced more competition in the smoothie and bottled juice space, and we can’t say that we’re so surprised. While there are actually healthy bottled smoothies you can buy, Odwalla has consistently landed a spot on our “worst” store-bought list of healthy smoothies. Despite the latest effort to launch a “zero sugar” line, the brand has been bottling drinks that average 40 grams of sugar for as long as we can remember.
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A drink with 30 to 50 grams of sugar is no longer enough. There has been an overwhelming change in consumer spending habits for groceries over the past decade as more people are understanding how a high sugar diet can have drastic health consequences. As a result, new categories, like healthy soda alternatives and low-sugar yogurts, are skyrocketing in popularity. Odwalla’s sales have reflected this change, and The Coca-Cola Company acknowledged that this was the reason for the brand’s demise.
After several years of evaluating Odwalla’s performance, “we couldn’t get it working, we couldn’t determine profitability,” a company spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. “It really is the result of consumers changing what they want so quickly.”
Hopefully Coca-Cola reinvests Odwalla’s resources into products that are actually healthy for us, so we are less likely to be susceptible to The Sneaky Way grocery stores helping you buy more unhealthy foods .
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