A Major Florida Orange Juice Company Could Be Headed For Bankruptcy
Got an open bottle of orange juice in your fridge? If it's from the major brand Tropicana you should maybe enjoy it while you can because the company, technically Tropicana Brands Group (which also owns Naked, plus other juice beverages like KeVita Kombucha and Izze sparkling water) is in dire straits financially, and it might be looking down the barrel of bankruptcy.
CNN reports that the French private equity firm that has the controlling stake in Tropicana, PAI Partners, actually had to loan the company $30 million to help it stay solvent while its revenue dropped 4% in just the last quarter alone. In September 2024, the company reported to its backers that its profits would stay about the same as the previous year's, which was nearly $40 million less than it had anticipated. This is despite Tropicana Brands Group's attempts to bring its other, non-OJ drinks, like Naked smoothies, to consumers' attention. Might it be time to start sourcing your juice from concentrate?
Why Tropicana is going through it
Tropicana is unfortunately caught in the perfect storm of conditions for financial insolvency; the main crop on which it relies for many of its juice products, oranges, are seeing their lowest production in decades, due to increased hurricanes — and increases in their severity — in Florida. And the other geographical location from which the company sources many of its oranges, Brazil, has been hit with droughts. Add to that widespread citrus greening disease, a bacterial blight that affects the taste and size of oranges, which eventually kills off the tree.
Then there are also ever-changing consumer habits. Where once nearly everyone sat down to breakfast with a glass of OJ, diets have shifted, and people are aware of the high sugar content in beverages with even 100% juice labels. In 2024, Tropicana tried to hold off on raising its prices (again) by making its bottles smaller — just 46 ounces, versus the industry standard 52, and consumers, naturally, took notice. "It looks so small compared to other 52 [fluid ounce] orange juices," one Redditor lamented. The loss of that six ounces may seem small, but every glass adds up to consumers trying to save money at the grocery store.