So long, frozen juice from concentrate. The once-popular canned drink is flying off the shelves this year

Attention, lemonade stand vendors: You’ve got to squeeze the fresh stuff this summer. Minute Maid is discontinuing its line of frozen juices due to declining consumer demand and changing tastes, and it may be the only company selling the concentrated products in the Canadian market.

A spokesperson for parent company Coca-Cola confirmed to CBC News that the brand’s frozen canned orange juice, lemonade, Fruitopia Fruit Punch and Five Alive juice mixes will be discontinued by April.

The company is dropping the frozen can category in both Canada and the U.S. “in response to changing consumer preferences,” the spokesperson said, as it focuses on products that “better match” what its customers want.

While it’s certainly the biggest, Coca-Cola isn’t the only juice maker changing priorities. Coca-Cola’s withdrawal less than a year after another major Canadian juice producer did the same could functionally mean that Canadians will be unable to purchase frozen concentrated juice after decades of availability.

Lassonde, the Canadian company that makes juice labels such as Oasis, Kiju and Rougemont, told CBC News it left the category last year after declining demand for frozen-from-concentrate juices.

In addition to its own brands, Lassonde produces products for grocers such as Sobeys, Metro, Loblaws and Walmart. this also Owner And Old South frozen-from-concentrate orange juice was previously produced in Canada. Old South, along with store brands for Canada’s largest retailers, was confirmed to be unavailable for purchase at many retailers.

When major brand-name and generic competitors both exit the market, “it sends a clear signal that the problem is not branding or pricing, but that there is little market demand for the product,” said Zhe Zhang, an assistant professor of marketing at Western University’s Ivey Business School.

“Even the most basic version of the product will no longer be sustainable in the market. This actually indicates that the product is approaching the end of its lifecycle.”

Why aren’t consumers feeling juicy?

Frozen juice from concentrate was invented during World War II, when food scientists task assigned Along with improving the quality of food and drink for American troops.

But it was the Bing Crosby-Minute Maid partnership in the late 1940s he transformed The product can be made into household item and money making product.

Fast forward nearly 80 years, and consumer taste for juice — frozen or otherwise — isn’t quite what it was, according to Emma Balment, director of market strategy and understanding at Ipsos, a Toronto-based market research firm.

Juice brands are losing what beverage analysts call “share of neck.” But frozen and canned are bearing the brunt of that loss. “Only seven per cent of the cups of juice Canadians are consuming are from frozen concentrate,” Balment told CBC News. He said it is the smallest and least profitable juice subcategory.

As other beverage manufacturers become more innovative, frozen juice has remained largely the same, he said. This is one of the trends that has impacted the juice industry in recent years.

Canadians are drinking more tap water now than they did a decade ago; Parents are more sensitive to their children’s sugar intake; And the functional beverage market – which includes drinks that promise some sort of health benefit (e.g. kombucha or prebiotic soda) – has become According to Balment, is becoming increasingly popular.

“There are all the emerging new beverage trends for people who want cool, refreshing, fruity flavors. So juices are particularly targeted,” he said.

Discontinued Products ‘One Opportunity’

Over the past few years, several well-known food brands have disappeared from Canadian shelves – such as Yves Veggie Cuisine and Delicio Pizza, both of which are sold in Canada but are owned by parent companies operating in the US.

“When you have fewer choices for consumers, it’s always an issue,” said Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

Smaller grocers “will have to differentiate,” Sands said, adding that it would be difficult for an independent to develop its own generic product line to fill the void, for example, left by Minute Maid frozen juices.

“As we’re seeing multinationals discontinuing product lines in Canada, I think the way we have to look at it now is that the orange juice glass here is half full, not half empty,” he said.

“When product lines like this disappear, it provides an opportunity for small and medium-sized Canadian companies to enter the market or develop a product line.”

a nostalgic drink

For some Canadians, the drink is nostalgic. Bins are a component, for example, “mud” – a cocktail of frozen juice, sugar and alcohol that is prepared in a bucket and is popular among Newfoundlanders at Christmas time.

“Oh, we have to change our slush recipe!” said Jenna Hopkins, who spoke to CBC News outside a grocery store in St. John’s. “We’ll have to find something new to use. It’s very sad.”

Marilyn O’Grady admitted she also had to change her slush recipe: “I guess I could use fresh juice. I’d have to, wouldn’t I? Maybe not exactly the same.”

Elsewhere, the frozen juice tip can be ignored. Munther Zied, owner of grocery store Food Fare in Winnipeg, said he suspects the drink will be discontinued for some time.

“It’s been a dying category for the last few years,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone will even notice it’s gone.”