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Bloomberg Businessweek August , 2019henthevalueofNickCaporella’scompany,National
BeverageCorp.,reached$2billioninthespringof
2016,itstopexecutivesraisedacongratulatorytoast
notwithChampagne,butwithcansofLaCroix,itsmarquee
brandofflavoredsparklingwater.Thatsummer,Caporella
wroteapressreleaseattributingtherecentsuccessto“Genius
innovation!”ByApril2017,thecompanywasworth$4.1billion.
It’sbeenathrillingrideforLaCroix,whichformorethan
twodecadeslanguishedinobscurityonthebottomshelfofthe
wateraisle,intheshadowsofPerrier’sandS.Pellegrino’sgreen
glassbottles.Around 2013 thebrandbeganrisingfromthedust
thathadbeencollectingonits12-packsasconsumerscollec-
tivelyshunnedsugarysodas.Overthenextfiveyears,LaCroix’s
salesjumpedalmosteightfold,acceleratedbyasocialmedia
machinethatexcitedyoungpeoplewithitsInstagrammable
rainbowofcansandzero-additiveinnocence.“Theywerereally
thefirstlargebrandtogoaftermillennialsthatwayandtarget
theirhealthandwellnessconcerns,”saysAlexanderEsposito,
aresearchanalystatEuromonitorInternational.
LaCroixisstillthekingofthesparklingwateraisle,butthe
competitioniscrowdingin.Lastyear,PepsiCoInc.released
Bubly,asparklingwaterbackedbyamarketingarsenalthat
LaCroixhasstruggledtomatch.In2017,Coca-ColaCo.paid
$220millionforTopoChico,aMexicanmineralwaterwitha
cultfollowing.Meanwhile,alegionofstartupshasrolledout
“craft”sparklingwaterbrandsthatpromoteartisanalingredi-
ents,antioxidantboosts,andcannabidiolinfusions.LaCroix’s
salesforthefourweeksendedJuly 14 fellmorethan15%from
theprior-yearperiod,evenasitsmaincompetitor,Bubly,saw
salessurge96%,accordingtoBloombergIntelligence.
ThenthingsonlygotmorecombativeforNationalBeverage.
It’sbeensuedbyshareholdersand
formeremployees,andreports
ofinternalstrifeandpersonal-
ityclashessuggestdeeperprob-
lems.Interviewswithadozen
currentandformeremployees,
executives,andbusinessassociatesdescribeCaporellaasa
hard-driving,idiosyncraticboss.EventhoughNationalBeverage
ispubliclytraded(itstickerisFIZZ),heretainsultimatecontrol.
He’schairmanandchiefexecutiveofficer,ownsalmost74%of
thecompany’sshares,andevenpilotshisowncorporatejet.As
thestockhasplummeted,hisnetworthhasfallenfrom$4.7bil-
liontoabout$1.9billion.Thesiegephaseofthewaterwarshas
begun,andLaCroixisbehindthecastlewalls.ver 35 years, Caporella turnedafamilyconstruction
business into a sparkling waterdynasty.Borninthe
western Pennsylvania townofConnellsvilletoItalian
immigrant parents, he was raised in ahomebuiltaboveacoal-
ash dump. As a boy he earned moneybysellingscrapmetal
and coal pieces he’d collected alongsidetherailroadtracks.
His father, a miner, later moved thefamilytoSouthFlorida
and began working in construction. Inthe1960s,Nickfounded
his own construction company, Caporella&Sons,which
was later purchased by a telecommunicationsconglomeratecalledBurnup&SimsInc.Within 10 years, he was named CEO.
Caporella got into the soda industry in 1978, when he sought
to diversify Burnup’s business by purchasing a chain of drive-in
movie theaters and a soft-drink bottling plant. He defended the
company fiercely through the 1980s, as the corporate raider
Victor Posner acquired shares and incited a shareholder revolt,
a saga that appeared regularly in the New York Times and the
Miami Herald. In 1985, Caporella created National Beverage,
headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, to purchase Sara Lee’s
Shasta soda brand, later using the new company to buy enough
Burnup shares to dilute Posner’s stake and effectively end the
takeover attempt. National Beverage also added Faygo, Big Shot,
and other sodas.
Meanwhile, in 1992, WinterBrook Beverage Group in Seattle
purchased a sparkling water called LaCroix from G. Heileman
Brewing Co., a bankrupt beermaker in La Crosse, Wis. When
WinterBrook too filed for bankruptcy four years later, National
Beverage swooped in to acquire the company’s assets, includ-
ing LaCroix, which at the time was sold in bottles and came in
three flavors—pure, lemon, and lime.
Caporella became entirely devoted to his beverage busi-
ness, a transformation he once described as “being reborn.”
National Beverage’s portfolio grew to include Creepy Coolers
soda and VooDoo Rain, an herbal drink with flavors called Moon
Glow and Lucky Devil that’s packaged in psychedelic colors.
Caporella added juices such as Mr. Pure and rolled out Rip It
energy shots. In the early 2000s, the company expanded dis-
tribution of LaCroix in cans. It also unveiled a new logo with
a calligraphic font and brushstroked waves, which Caporella
personally helped design, according to two longtime business
associates.Healsoboostedthecarbonationsothefizzwould
retainits“bite.”Thisservedtocon-
trastLaCroixwiththemorelightly
carbonatedmineralwatersonthe
market,saysBillPhillips,aformer
presidentat National Beverage
whobeganworkingwithCaporella
in 1985 andremainsanadvisertothecompany.
In2006,BeverageDigestreleasedareportshowingthatsoda
salesintheU.S.haddeclinedforthefirsttimeintwodecades,
asconsumersgrewconcernedaboutobesityandType 2 diabe-
tes.Thatyear,LaCroixstakedoutanearlypositionasahealth-
consciousalternativetosoda,becomingasponsoroftheSusan
G.KomenBreastCancerFoundation.Still,thebrandlanguished
amidNationalBeverage’ssyrupybacchanal.In 2010 thecom-
pany’sannualreportdescribedShastaandFaygoasits“flag-
shipbrands”andbarelymentionedLaCroix.EvenasLaCroix
gainedsteam,longtimeexecutivesremindedCaporellanotto
forsakethecompany’sroots.“Iwouldsaytohim,‘It’sgreatto
bebehinditahundredpercent,butweshouldrememberto
dancewiththeonewhobrungus,’” says Dennis Thompson,
another former longtime National Beverage executive. “This
company was built on soft drinks.”
In the meantime, a small team of executives quietly began
working to revitalize LaCroix. They decided to market it as dif-
ferent from both elegant mineral waters and sugary sodas,“WE’RE LACROIX. THEY
NEED US MORE
THAN WE NEED THEM”
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