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Excerpts from a February 25, 2002
Interview on
CNNfn's Moneyline.
Pat Kiernan and Ali Velshi
interview Tom First, one of the founders of Nantucket Nectars
Ed. note: In 1997 Tom
First was quoted as saying, about the new alliance with Ocean Spray: "the
time is right, and the people are right. We have come a long way without a
strategic partner. This allows us to remain a private company, while
bringing Nantucket Nectars to new heights."
Read the CNNfn article from 1997, when Ocean Spray acquired Nantucket
Nectars. In that CNNfn interview, and in other interviews, the "Two
Toms" expressed high hopes for the future growth of Nantucket Nectars with
Ocean Spray. Now, Ocean Spray has sold the brand to Cadbury, where once
again, hopes are high that their new owner will provide them with "great
resources to grow and become a very big juice brand in the country and
beyond."
KIERNAN: Congratulations on
this deal that you put together. What does this mean to you? There was
already this ownership by Ocean Spray. Now it's being passed on again?
FIRST: Yeah it is. It's a new partner. I think we're very excited about
it. It's probably a different type of partner than we had with Ocean
Spray and I mean the hope for us after building this brand for 14 years
now is to make it available to more and more people. So I think that
Cadbury's going to be a great partner in doing that.
VELSHI: Tom, let's - just - insofar as you can't explain to us the nature
of the partnership, this isn't just Ocean Spray owning Nantucket Nectars
and now being sold to Cadbury Schweppes? Have you got a stake in this?
FIRST: You know, Cadbury's
buying 100 percent of the company. So it's a little bit different than
the deal that happened before.
KIERNAN: All right. So what's the strategic alliance here that you think
you'll have with Cadbury and with the Snapple businesses?
FIRST: Well, Cadbury is very
closely aligned with the way that we go to market. You know, we
began the company as a single-serve beverage and we distribute directly
to the stores and we use a very similar distribution system, almost
exactly the same as the one that Cadbury does for most of their products.
So that's going to be a great opportunity for us and additionally,
us being a premium juice brand, I think we fill a need for Cadbury and I
think Cadbury's experience in this marketplace is going to provide us with
great resources to grow and become a very big juice brand in the country
and beyond hopefully.
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