| Type | Public (NASDAQ: FIZZ) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Beverages (non-alcoholic) |
| Founded | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA (1985) |
| Headquarters | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA |
| Key people | Nick A. Caporella, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Soft drinks |
| Revenue | 518.6 million USD (2006) |
| Net income | 22.23 million USD (2006) 4.3% profit margin |
| Owner(s) | Nick A. Caporella (77%)[1] |
| Employees | 1,300[2] |
| Subsidiaries | BevCo Sales, Inc. Big Shot Beverage Co. Everfresh Beverages, Inc. Faygo Beverages, Inc. LaCROIX Beverages, Inc. National BevPak National Retail Brands, Inc.; PACO, Inc. PETCO, Inc. Shasta West, Inc. Shasta Beverages, Inc. Shasta Beverages International, Inc. Shasta Food Services Shasta Military Sales Shasta Midwest, Inc. Shasta Northwest, Inc. Shasta Sales, Inc. Shasta Sweetener Corp. Shasta USA Shasta Vending Winnsboro Beverage Packers, Inc.[1] |
| Website | http://www.nbcfiz.com/ [3] |
National Beverage Corp. is a second tier U.S. beverage developer, manufacturer, and distributor based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida focused on flavored soft drinks. [3] National Beverage Corp. is ranked by Beverage Digest as the fifth-largest soft drink company in the United States.[4]
The company was formed in 1985 by Nick A. Caporella to fend off an unwanted acquision by Victor Posner of Burnup & Sims Inc., an installer of cable television and telecommunications systems, through trading stock between the two companies to reduce Posner's ownership level. Caporella, now having an additional company, needed to have a business to go with it and acquired Shasta Beverages from Sara Lee Corporation in 1985 for $40 million USD in cash and Burnup & Sims shares. In order to make National a major player Caporella purchased Faygo, a Midwest regional soft drink manufacturer, from Tree Sweet Products Corp. With its twelve bottling plants, National subsidiaries branch out into bottling store brands.[3]
In 1991, National Beverage went public to sell Burnup & Sims's shares in National Beverage which was partially successful. A Burnup & Sims stock holder sued due to Caporella's salary from Burnup and percentage of revenue from National Beverage, forcing Caporella to spend less time managing the company. In the early 1990s, Spree, an all-natural, carbonated soft drink, and Big Shot, a regional, multiflavored soft drink line, were acquired. In 1992, the US Navy contracted for the manufacture of "Sea", their ship store's brand. In the mid-1990s, juice producer, Everfresh Beverages Inc. and WinterBrook Corp., a carbonated and still water producer, became subsidiaries of National. WinterBrook brought three brands to the National Beverage group of companies: Cascadia, WinterBrook Clear, and LaCROIX.[3]