BloombergBusinessweek August , 2019aiming squarely at diet soda drinkers. The company expanded
LaCroix’s distribution outside its traditional regional markets
and into major retailers such as Target and upscale national
grocers like Whole Foods that would prominently feature the
product. By 2013, National Beverage was touting “double-digit
volume gains” for LaCroix.
Even though Caporella had largely stepped back from daily
duties and handed over operations to his son Joe, he remained
intensely focused on LaCroix, which one former employee
describes as “his baby.” He took classes in graphic design and
flavordevelopment,workedonpackagedesigns,visitedthe
flavorlabinCalifornia,andconceivedofmarketingtheiconic
grapefruitflavoras“pamplemousse,” according to his associ-
ates. In 2014 he oversaw the release of LaCroix’s first major
spinoff, Cúrate, which was packaged in taller, slimmer cans
and featured flavors like “cerise limón” and “pomme bayá.”
The brand relied on Instagram, Twitter, and recipe blogs
instead of traditional advertising. Brides posted pictures of
themselves with LaCroix on Instagram, and hashtags such as
#LaCroixLove and #LiveLaCroix started trending. Fans posted
locations of where to buy the newest flavor, sending consumers
on treasure hunts. Whole Foods bakeries made cakes shaped
like LaCroix boxes. A turning point was 2015, when the New York
Times Magazine published a “Letter of Recommendation” for
LaCroix.“Asidefromthecan,everythingaboutLaCroixisgen-
tle,”itread.“Eventhebubblesaresmallandfrothyratherthan
spiky—aVinhoVerde,notacava—making it easy to put away a
couple in one sitting, totally guilt-free.”
Over the years, LaCroix rolled out a rainbow of flavors—cola,
passion fruit, key lime, hibiscus—to keep consumers’ attention
and excitement high. Soon cases of LaCroix were bursting from
the endcap towers of supermarkets, which became Instagram-
worthy tourist attractions in their own right—one was formed
in the shape of the Empire State Building.
As LaCroix took off, so did Caporella’s personal wealth.
The taste of victory drew him deeper into the fray. “The faster
it grew, the more excited he got,” Thompson says. Caporella
became more hands-on with the marketing of the brand, to
the point where every decision—from the testing of new fla-
vors to the timing of product releases—had to be approved by
him, according to former employees. His domination rubbed
some the wrong way—and led to intense personality clashes.
Around the same time, top LaCroix executives began leaving.
In 2016, BevNet, an industry publication, printed a story with
the headline “National Exodus” that described how two LaCroix
executives left for a competitor, prompting Caporella to sue. A
third, Vanessa Walker, LaCroix’s longtime marketing executive,
who was instrumental in building the brand, left and ultimately
started Millennial Brands Consulting, Inc.
National Beverage executives in Florida treated LaCroix
as a delicacy. Company meetings included “tasting ceremo-
nies” complete with unsalted crackers to cleanse the pal-
ate, bottles of still water to swish, and coffee beans to sniff.
Caporella often referred to LaCroix as “the Tiffany of sparkling
water.” Breathlessness is his trademark style, and he writes
DATA: EUROMONITOR INTERNATIONALmost of National Beverage’s annual reports and press releases
43LaCroix2013 2018◼Flavoredcarbonatedwater ◼UnflavoredcarbonatedwaterPerrier
S.PellegrinoPolarTopoChicoPerrierFruit2OSchweppesCanadaDryPolandSpringRETAIL SALES OF CARBONATED WATER,
SELECTBRANDS$800m$318m$118m
$103m
$66m
$46m
$41m
$40m$39m$214m$169mhimself. In one from 2015, he wrote that the company was in
a stage of “metamorphic” transition. “Ultimately, this evolu-
tion will generate our true value while significantly improving
the health of our society! What a gratifying bouquet of good-
ness for everyone.”
Caporella was so confident in his ability to transform
water into money that he’d made a personal investment
in Smuttynose Brewing Co., a famed New Hampshire craft
brewer, according to four people familiar with the transac-
tion. In 2017, with Smuttynose and other craft brewers facing
a downturn in the market and LaCroix enjoying some of its
headiest days, Caporella dispatched George Bracken and Rod
Liddle, two National Beverage executives, to the brewery. A
spokesman for National Beverage says Bracken and Liddle are
technically employed by a separate entity, called Corporate
Management Advisors Inc., a management services company
Caporella owns. The pair helped Smuttynose with its financial
statements and hammered out financial models they hoped
would save the brewery—and Caporella’s personal investment.
Ultimately the brewery fell into foreclosure. That same sum-
mer,LaCroixcompetitorsbegancircling.or all the genius Caporella once attributed to LaCroix,
it turns out that just about anyone can inject carbon
dioxide into water, flavor it, and package it. By 2017,
Coca-Cola had introduced its sparkling varieties of Dasani and
Smartwater. PepsiCo’s Bubly generated serious social media
buzz, and that was followed by a Super Bowl ad featuring26