Yoo-hoo

For other uses, see Yoo-Hoo (disambiguation).
Yoo-hoo
Type Chocolate beverage
Manufacturer Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Country of origin United States
Introduced 1926
Website www.yoo-hoo.com

Yoo-hoo is an American, originally flavored chocolate beverage. Upon distribution, additional flavors were added. The ingredients are water, high fructose corn syrup, whey (from milk) and less than 2% of: cocoa (alkali process), nonfat dry milk, natural and artificial flavors, sodium caseinate (from milk), corn syrup solids, calcium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, palm oil, guar gum, xanthan gum, mono and diglycerides, salt, spice, soy lecithin, niacinamide (vitamin B3), sucralose, vitamin A palmitate, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D3.[1]

History

Yoo-hoo originated in New Jersey in the 1920s, when Italian-American Natale Olivieri sold "Tru-Fruit" soft drinks in his small store. Olivieri discovered a process to produce a chocolate soft drink that would not spoil.[2] The name Yoo-hoo, already being used for Olivieri's other fruit drinks, was applied to the chocolate-flavored drink as well.

A bottling plant was opened up in Batesburg, South Carolina by Tommy Giresi in the 1940s.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Yoo-hoo went through a large promotional campaign that included Yogi Berra and the New York Yankees officially sponsoring the drink. The image of Berra drinking a bottle of Yoo-hoo while wearing a suit, in particular, became famous. The ads featured Berra holding the bottle next to his face and saying with a smile, "It's Me-He for Yoo-Hoo!"

Also during the 1950s, B.B.C. Industries took over Yoo-hoo. They held ownership until 1976, when it was bought by Iroquois Brands. Yoo-hoo was sold again in 1981 to a group of private investors, which in turn sold Yoo-hoo to Pernod Ricard in 1989.

In 2001, Pernod Ricard sold Yoo-hoo to Cadbury-Schweppes, with production responsibilities falling to CS's Mott's group, and marketing and advertising responsibilities under Snapple. This led to an increased awareness of the once-popular beverage.

The soft drink company's headquarters are in Rye Brook, New York, with plants in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and Opelousas, Louisiana. Yoo-hoo owns other chocolate drink brands, which include Choc-Ola, Brownie, Cocoa Dusty and Chocolate Soldier.

In May 2008, Cadbury-Schweppes split into Cadbury and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, of which Yoo-hoo is now part.

According to a February 2009 ABC News report, "Pope Loves Yoohoo!" headlines flooded the wires after a Vatican spokesman accompanying Pope John Paul II on a U.S. tour casually mentioned to reporters having to pick up "a couple of cases of that American chocolate drink he likes." As Popes do not give commercial endorsements, a subsequent statement denied that the Pontiff had any particular preference among American soft drinks.[3]

Flavors

Yoo-hoo comes in several flavors,[4] including Chocolate, Lite Chocolate, Double Fudge and Strawberry. Over the years, other flavors have also been introduced but are no longer in production, or were released for limited times only.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "All About Chocolate". Yoo-Hoo website. Mott's LLP. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ "About Yoo-hoo". Yoo-hoo.com. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  3. ↑ Blakemore, Bill (2009-02-11). "Does the Pope Wear Prada?". ABC News. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  4. ↑ Yoo-Hoo Products List

External links