The Solution: Jones Soda’s 10 Original Flavors — and much more!
Up until the mid-1990s, Jones Soda was a beverage distributor in western Canada for beverages such as Arizona Iced Tea. When they wanted to develop their own brand of sodas for the emerging alternative beverage market in 1996, they called Flavorman.
In just one month, Flavorman developed all 10 original Jones Sodas flavors, and they were manufactured just one month later. The original flavors were Grape, Cherry, Strawberry Lime, Lemon Lime, Root Beer, Blue Bubblegum, Vanilla Cola, Orange, FuFu Berry and Cream Soda.
Over 30 More Flavors and a Valuable Partnership
As the relationship grew, Flavorman developed and manufactured over 15 more soda flavors for Jones: Green Apple, Pineapple Upside Down, Happy, Crushed Melon, Berry Lemonade, Big Ass Canned Ham Soda (for The David Letterman Show), Billy Pop (for the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade), and diet versions of Lime Cola, Black Cherry, Cream Soda, Root Beer, Pink, Fruit Punch, Lemon Drop, Orange Cream, Peachy Keen, Strawberry & Cream and MF Grape.
Building on Success with Jones Naturals and WhoopAss Energy
After the initial run of Jones Soda, Flavorman was called upon to develop Jones Naturals. The Naturals were soft drinks made with sugar, all natural ingredients, herbs and no preservatives. The flavor line included Peach Ginseng, Lemon Ginger, Passion and Root Beer. The Jones Naturals were tunnel pasteurized in the same bottle as distributed and sold mostly through health food stores.
In August 1999, Jones wanted to develop its own energy drink to take advantage of this emerging segment. In one month, Flavorman developed WhoopAss energy drink. It was an ambitious feat, but the new energy beverage was readily embraced by the Jones executive team. Shortly after, a line extension was produced for the Canadian market, meeting the more stringent Canadian food rules and regulations.
In spring 2001, Jones called on Flavorman once again to develop a line of juices. These were eventually sold under the Jones Naturals name and included 10 flavors. The flavor “Dave” was named after Flavorman’s founder, Dave Dafoe, for his outstanding partnership in launching the Jones Soda brands.
Taking Full-Service to a Whole New Level
Beyond development, the Flavorman teams set up and maintained quality control at all the Jones Soda co-packers to manufacture Jones Soda, Natural Jones and WhoopAss Energy drink. They set up plants in Eastern Canada, Western Canada, Southern California, Northern California, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky. To maintain quality at each plant, Flavorman wrote quality control manuals, monitored the first production and set up shelf life studies.
As market demand increased and Jones Soda was ramping up production across North America, the development experts at Flavorman proved invaluable as technical brand managers, too, ensuring that every product was manufactured to specification every time. For the Jones Soda partnership, this gave even greater meaning to Flavorman’s credo: from start through finish!
