- Minute Maid’s frozen juice concentrates are officially out of the market, with parent company Coca-Cola announcing it planned to cease production this spring.
- Frozen juice concentrate was an innovation when it came to market 80 years ago, prompted by the US Army’s desire to provide troops with a palatable source of vitamin C.
- The WWII-era innovation made orange juice at breakfast popular for decades, before consumer preferences shifted away from sugary, processed foods.
Older consumers with memories of cracking open a can of frozen juice concentrate and letting the orange slush plop into a carafe before mixing with water will probably feel a slight tinge of nostalgia now that Minute Maid’s OG flagship product has exited the market. However, the truth is, most folks weren’t buying it anymore, and younger consumers aren’t opting for any kind of sugary OJ for breakfast. And if they are drinking orange juice, they can easily choose something that isn’t in a frozen concentrate format.
So, yes, it only makes sense that Minute Maid’s parent company, Coca-Cola, has discontinued frozen juice concentrate. The brand, of course, isn’t going away, and it will very much continue making OJ and other fruit-based beverages under the Minute Maid banner. Still, the frozen slushy concentrated segment of the market that many of us grew up with has likely been relegated to the past, with other brands continuing to fall by the wayside, as Minute Maid’s departure is largely due to weak demand for the product category itself.
