Fuze
Encyclopedia
Fuze Beverage, commercially referred to as just Fuze (pronunciation: fyooz), is a manufacturer of tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

s and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize. The use of vitamins, amino acids, and herbs, and alternative sweeteners such as crystalline fructose
Crystalline fructose
Crystalline fructose is a processed sweetener derived from corn that is almost entirely fructose. It consists of at least 98% pure fructose, any remainder being water and trace minerals. It is used as a sweetener in the likes of beverages and yogurts, where it substitutes for high-fructose corn...

 places Fuze products in what is known in the industry as the "new age" beverage category.

Company history

Fuze Beverage was founded by Lance Collins and creative director Paula Grant in the basement of Collins' Englewood Cliffs, NJ home in 2000. The brand was first launched in the Northern California market in 2001 with three flavors packaged in fruit-themed bottles: mixed berry, banana colada and cranberry raspberry. In 2002 the brand launched two additional flavors, peach mango and tropical punch; the same year, the company grew to 30 employees and moved out of Collins' basement.



The company continued to expand rapidly, launching new flavors throughout 2004 and 2005. Since 2005, Fuze products may be found in most major retailers, with sales exceeding 11 million cases by 2006.



The company's growth attracted the attention of The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

, which purchased Fuze Beverage in February 2007 for an estimated $250 million. Coke also gained the rights to NOS Energy Drinks and WaterPlus as part of the purchase. It was one of Coke's largest acquisitions since it bought Odwalla Inc. for $186 million in 2001. The move was seen as a strategic effort to expand the company's portfolio of non-carbonated beverages, and specifically to compete with PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...

's SoBe
SoBe
SoBe is a brand of teas, fruit-juice blends and enhanced water beverages owned by PepsiCo. The name SoBe is an abbreviation of South Beach, named after the upscale area located in Miami Beach, Florida. In the past, the SoBe name has also been licensed for gum and chocolate products...

 line of fruit juice blends and enhanced waters. It also confirmed a strategy shift from Coke's long-time practice of developing new products in house in favor of buying innovative beverage companies. Fuze launched over 40 new products and line extensions since its inception. Coke named Carl Sweat, previously senior vice president of sales and marketing of its retail division, as president and general manager to lead Fuze as a separate entity. Company founder Lance Collins was named head of innovation and strategy.



Leveraging Coke's distribution system and relationships, sales more than doubled from 2007 to 2008. In 2009, Fuze entered into an agreement to sell its products fountain-style in over 22,000 Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...

 sandwich shops. Sweat departed the company in 2009 for a post in the global beverage unit at Starbucks.

Health benefits

Fuze beverages are marketed as natural health products and are fortified with a variety of vitamins, antioxidants and electrolytes, which are usually considered to be a factor in the maintenance of good health. Fuze beverages are labelled as Enhanced Real Fruit Beverage(s) and contain a mix of concentrated fruit juices and fruit purees in addition to other ingredients. However, the exact amount of fruit juices per 547 ml bottle is unclear due to the product label, which presents medicinal and non-medicinal ingredients in separate lists; this information is also absent from the Fuze product website. It has been estimated that Fuze beverages contain between 1.0% and 5.0% actual fruit content.

Fuze's Slenderize line of products has the widest selection of flavors, and it is implied that these products will assist in weight loss either by satisfying a dieter's cravings for sweets or by incorporating the drink into a more filling smoothie mix using fresh fruit and yoghurt. However, to date there is no scientific evidence to support these claims or other previous assertions that Fuze products may help consumers avoid cancer, heart disease, colds, flu, and infections of the lungs and kidneys.

Ingredients

Some consumers may choose Fuze products over other drinks because they wish to avoid high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has been tentatively linked to obesity and diabetes; the alternative sweetener used in Fuze is crystalline fructose
Crystalline fructose
Crystalline fructose is a processed sweetener derived from corn that is almost entirely fructose. It consists of at least 98% pure fructose, any remainder being water and trace minerals. It is used as a sweetener in the likes of beverages and yogurts, where it substitutes for high-fructose corn...

, which is chemically distinct from HFCS, although it is produced by allowing the fructose to crystallize "from a fructose-enriched corn syrup". Since crystalline fructose is about 5.0% sweeter than high-fructose corn syrup, it adds fewer calories to a sweetened food or drink compared with table sugar or HFCS, resulting in Fuze products' lower calorie content than other bottled drinks.
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