CCSI Cork Crowncap Database - Brewer/Bottler
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 Brewer/bottler #159 | | | Name | Citrus Products Company |
| | Address | 11 E. Hubbard St.
Use for all Kist, Blue Bird, Lemonella, 4 Plus and Chocolate Soldier crowns where local bottler is not shown. |
| | | | | | | | Extra info | Citrus Products Company was founded in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. The Orange Kist trademark, meanwhile, was officially licensed to the Citrus Products Co. in 1922. Through the 1920s. some interesting new products were introduced—including a grape juice substitute drink called “Blue Bird,” the Yoo-hoo style “Chocolate Soldier,” and a “Frozen Sucker” that inspired patent lawsuits from the Popsicle Corporation. As the 1930s began, not even the doom and gloom of the Great Depression could thwart Eric Scudder and Albert. C. King’s goals for world domination. Now headquartered at 11 E. Austin Avenue (renamed Hubbard Street in 1936) the dynamic duo was doing all they could to make Kist an international name.
Like most soft drink companies, they experimented with different flavors to try and find their niche in the market. Kist was bottled in a wide range of flavors like orange, ginger ale, lemon and grape, and became very popular. They also offered a complete range of bottle sizes including seven ounce, ten ounce and twelve ounce, and also two family sizes. By 1958 Kist was being bottled by franchised bottlers in every state. Major products were the Kist line, Blue Bird and Chocolate Soldier. The company eventually licensed bottlers worldwide to bottle their product.
In 1960, the company moved from its longtime plant at 11 E. Hubbard Street to a modern new plant in Schiller Park, on 9420 W. River Street.
While the business was still keeping its head above water with the arrival of new products like Brownie (another chocolate drink) and Stone Mountain Mist (a Sprite / Mountain Dew type), the potential of teaming up with another mid-level flavor-maker was—much like becoming a Kist dealer—just too dang good to pass up.
In April of 1965, Monarch Food Packers, Inc. of Atlanta paid $2 million to take over Citrus Products and all its brands. The Schiller Park plant appears to have been abandoned shortly thereafter, as production was moved to Georgia.
Monarch Food Packers Inc., then sold all its rights over to the Texas-based Leading Edge Brands in 1997. By 2009, the greatly diminished line of Kist Beverages had come under the ownership of Detroit’s Intrastate Distributors, Inc., and at present, the brand is (unofficially) extinct after a century in circulation. |
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