Coca-Cola is discontinuing its struggling Odwalla juice brand as it looks to adapt to people's shifting tastes
- Coca-Cola is discontinuing its Odwalla brand and selling a refrigerated trucking fleet that delivered the beverage.
- The loss of the smoothie and juice brand will involve slashing 300 jobs at the company.
- A company spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Coca-Cola ultimately "couldn't figure out the cost-effectiveness" of continuing to sell the beverage.
- "It really is the result of consumers changing what they want so rapidly," the spokesperson said. "By freeing up those assets, we can reinvest those costs in what consumers want today."
Coca-Cola is saying goodbye to Odwalla and cutting 300 jobs in the process.
The company announced on Wednesday that it would discontinue the smoothie and juice brand, along with a refrigerated-truck fleet that transports the drinks and Simply and Fairlife beverages, at the end of July. The brand is the latest to feel the sting of shifting consumer preferences toward comfort and processed foods during the pandemic.
However, Odwalla had been in decline for several years now, in part because of increased competition in the juice and smoothie sector and changes within the beverage category at large. A company spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Coca-Cola, which acquired Odwalla in 2011, ultimately "couldn't figure out the cost-effectiveness" of continuing to sell the beverage.
"It really is the result of consumers changing what they want so rapidly," the spokesperson said. "By freeing up those assets, we can reinvest those costs in what consumers want today."
The spokesperson also confirmed to The Journal that Odwalla's discontinuation would result in a total of 300 job cuts at the company. Coca-Cola plans to sell its fleet of 230 refrigerated trucks, the spokesperson said.
"This decision was not made lightly," John Hackett, the president of Coca-Cola's Minute Maid business unit and juice brands, told CNN Business.