To celebrate his birthday every year, Don Vultaggio uses pajamas to work and spends the day turning pancakes and tortillas on a portable stove for his employees.
The view is unusual, but again, so is the Taggios business approach.
In 1990, Arizona Beverage Company co -founded. It is now The best -selling ice tea company in the United Stateswith up or $ 4 billion in sales annually.
In spite of everything, the company has remained privately owned and has maintained the price of its iconic highs of the highs of them Only 99 cents.
Vultaggios proves the success of your business, in part, to create a unique corporate culture and retain employees.
At Arizona’s headquarters in Woodbury, New York, the staff not only meets for Vultgio’s annual birthday pajamas party, but there are also annual celebrations for Halloween and five of May, the iced tea launched Mayor Dinnerablure filling the wife Taggios. Families are encouraged to attend.
“The work I do affects the sustenance of all those who work [here]”Vultaggio said.” I take it very personally. “
Here, tea spills in other strategies that have Crucial for Arizona’s success.
Independence at all costs
Arizona is eclipsed by competitors such as Pepsico and Coca-Cola, but the public property of these giants comes with attached chains: regulatory obstacles, pressures of shareholders, compliance costs and bureaucracy layers.
When something is working, executives can spend months with their meeting.
Being family property and private managed allows Arizona to be agile and agile.
If there is a problem, Fillingaggio said: “We change it at lunch.”
In an industry where the development of products usually has been for years, Vultaggio and company. They are able to implement between 12 and 16 new drinks or flavors per year.
This month, two of the most unconventional offer of the brand are the shelves: an iced tea with vodka infusion of 100 calories and a cold coffee of a ball. Vultaggio said that each of them touches about three months to go from conception to store shelves.
The vodka drink, an update on a previous product based on Malt and the first premium alcoholic beverage in Arizona has succeeded in Canada. His goal is to be Arizona’s response to High Noon and other hard drinks aware of health, An increasingly lucrative market.
In the same way, the coffee drink will give Arizona a point of support to a Cold beer marketwhich was valued at $ 3.16 billion in 2024 and was expected to grow at $ 16.22 billion by 2032.
Having spent years perfecting a cold beer elaboration process for teas, and with all the necessary infrastructure that was already in place, the movement was natural for Arizona.
“The elaboration of beer is brewing,” said Vultaggio.
Let the brand speak for itself
Arizona has never published a printed or transmitted ad, but let their drinks speak.
“We do [them] Knew well and price [them] Just, “Vultaggio said about his simplistic approach.” Take care of customs and take care of you. “
While competitors blow millions in Super Bowl ads (and cut the corners in another place to pay them), Arizona relies on merchandise falls, organic buzzing and associations with companies such as Adidas“ Wonder and 7-Eleven – All anxious to take advantage of the company’s cultural prestige and the base of jealous fans.
Is taking to that model one step further when launching “Zone ClubOn May 5, a subscription program of $ 99 a year through which super fans will have early access to limited editing flavors and exclusive products of products.
It is marketing as a community: less about the scope, more about resonance.
Keep consistent prices
While inflation and other external factors have forced competitors to increase prices, the intelligent of Filleraggio has allowed him to play with the order lines and maintain the price of Arizona’s ice tea by $ 0.99 consistent.
When growing in Flatbush as the son of a A&P supermarket manager, he worked in almost all steps on the edible stairs and distribution, even building his own beer delivery service.
This story is part of NynextAn indispensable vision of innovations, lunar shots and political chess movements that matter most to power players in New York (and those who aspire to be).
When Arizona launched, when he was 40, he knew how each part of the supply chain worked and how to adjust the operations and keep the costs of his and customs low.
Around the years in Arizona, aluminum has retired from the cans, the rail has replaced the transport of trucks where possible (and the rowing trucks now drive with the efficiency of night fuel) and the equipment is internal to reduce.
“If you are a manufacturer, who is easy to spend the price to a consumer,” said Vultaggio, “you are joking”?
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