A 23-ounce can of AriZona iced tea has been the same price for 30 years — 99 cents. Adjusted for inflation, it costs less than ½ as much as it did in 1992.
How does AriZona manage this?
Don Vultaggio, the 6-foot-8 co-founder and chairman of the private company, is reportedly a stubborn man, according to the
Vultaggio’s take is that raising prices to meet inflation will net a short-term profit but push away customers. AriZona commands a 16% market share in the ready-to-drink space and sells ~1B cans annually.
Plus, whereas AriZona loses money on things like aluminum — at $3,250 per ton from $1,750 just 18 months ago — it saves money in areas like marketing. (The company has 506.3k TikTok followers vs. Coke’s 208.4k.)
The brand even pokes fun at its inflation defiance, recently