Biz Inspiration: 7 Small Beverage Companies That Hit It Big
The company’s flagship product is pomegranate juice packaged into a trademark “double-bulb” bottle. It also markets blended juice beverages such as pomegranate juice mixed with juices of blueberry, cherry, mango, or tangerine and markets bottled tea and coffee based beverages of various flavors distributed in more conventional containers. The brand name “POM Wonderful” refers to the “wonderful” variety of pomegranate, which is grown in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley of Central California. It is the leading commercial variety in California being well suited for juicing with its soft seeds, high water content, and wine-like flavor.
Based: Los Angeles, CA
Worth: POM Wonderful, LLC is a privately owned company founded in 2002 by the billionaire industrial agriculture couple Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick. According to her memoir, Rubies in the Orchard, Rae Resnick acquired a pistachio orchard that also contained some pomegranate trees in California’s San Joaquin Valley. In 1996, intrigued by folklore,she began to sponsor medical research regarding the pomegranate’s health effects. Lynda Resnick came up with the POM Wonderful logo and her in-house design team developed an hourglass-shape bottle. The Resnick’s are also affiliated with the companies Teleflora, FIJI Water, pesticide manufacturer Suterra, and Paramount Agribusiness.Although POM Wonderful does not disclose its profits, Newsweek magazine reported annual sales of its juice rose from $12 million in 2003 to $91 million in 2006.
