Have you ever wondered who makes Sunkist soda? Today we are going to discuss the meteoric rise of America’s #1 orange soda.



The pandemic has deprived us of so many things. One item that disappeared quickly from store shelves was diet Sunkist soda. I immediately wanted to hunt down who makes Sunkist soda and ask for an explanation. I felt the world would once again be in a good and stable place when diet Sunkist finally made its return to the shelves. 



Every week over the past year I found myself in the grocery store doing my shopping. Each week I would casually stroll over to the soda aisle and silently hope that I would be rewarded with a special surprise. Every week my hopes were dashed. 



I joked with my wife that if I saw diet Sunkist back on shelves, I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself in purchasing everything. 



Well folks, last week I was cruising through Walmart quickly pounding out my shopping list when I had the small thought that I should go check the soda aisle. 



Sunkist Zero is Back Baby



I started walking down the aisle approaching the distinct orange boxes of Sunkist orange soda. However, this time was different than all the other times I made this walk during the past year. Next to the orange box was a white box. 



My heart rate picked up as a Sunkist logo was proudly stamped on the white packaging. Could it be true? Is diet Sunkist back on shelves? Yes! 



I now had a dilemma. I was only going to be grabbing a few items, so I didn’t have a cart. My arms were also full with said items, so I didn’t have any room to load up on soda. My mind quickly raced toward a solution. Should I just drop all of my items on the floor, grab the soda, and make a run for it? No, that wouldn’t be very professional. Alas, I needed a cart.



With a sigh and a promise to be back for them, I set a new speed walking record to the front of the store to grab a cart. I then set a new record getting back to the soda aisle. 



Miracles Happen



When I reached the aisle I was shocked to find other people there. My heart jumped into my throat. What if they already grabbed the last few boxes of Sunkist? 



There were some people standing very close to the Sunkist zero. Shoot! If they spot it, they will buy it for sure. I had to play it cool. This meant I couldn’t sprint to the soda or they would cut me off. I pretended like I was going for the Diet Pepsi and then did a last minute course correction to the Sunkist. True to my promise I bought all of the Sunkist zero that they had on hand. It was only two boxes, but I still bought it all.



I then floated to the front of the store, made my purchase, and schemed the whole way home on how I could get these ice cold the fastest.



If you haven’t pieced things together yet, in honor of Sunkist zero finding its way back to store shelves, I am going to do a deep dive into the history of America’s #1 orange soda.



Sunkist Growers: The Rise of the Farm Co-op



To this day I have fond memories of Sunkist oranges at Christmas time. My mom would buy a big box of them and keep them in our furnace room in the basement. It was cold enough down there to help them last long enough to finish the box. Many of our Christmas decorations are still stored in old Sunkist orange boxes. 



So how did the Sunkist Growers get their start? Well in 1893 a man named Edward L. Dreher formed the Southern California Fruit Exchange. They were headquartered in Claremont, California.