The U.S. Army wanted to extend this technological advance into the area of providing its troops nutritious food, especially orange juice. Previous attempts to concentrate orange juice through boiling the water out of the juice failed because the boiling process destroyed the flavor.
In 1945 National Research Corporation organized Florida Foods Corporation to build a production plant in Plymouth Florida. The plan was to fulfill contract with army. As the war ended, Florida Foods Corp. discovered that there was a domestic demand for great tasting orange juice in the months when fresh oranges simply weren’t available. Therefore, the company diverted its focus to consumer market. They explored the possibility of marketing an “intermediate step” in the production process – frozen orange juice concentrate. Florida Foods, renamed Vacuum Foods Corporation, ships the first frozen concentrated orange juice product in the U.S., which is named Minute Maid® and it was success.
A few years later Florida Foods Corporations was renamed as The Minute Maid Company. The name Minute Maid® was originally created by a Boston marketing firm back in 1946, implying the convenience and ease of preparation of this delicious orange juice
By 1960, Minute Maid had become a household name. This popularity drew the attention of yet another household name and later that year The Coca-Cola Company acquired Minute Maid, which served as the Company’s first foray outside the soft drinks category.
The Coca-Cola Company acquired Minute Maid through a stock swap. The Coca-Cola Company then introduced ready to drinks chilled juice in 1973 and in 1996 ‘Minute Maid Premium, 100% Pure Squeezed Juice.
History of Minute Maid®
