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Don Vultaggio

16 statements across 1 episodes · 4 bullish · 3 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Sep 1, 2025 by Don Vultaggio · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Don Vultaggio's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Everything said about Don Vultaggio, oldest first

Sep 1, 2025
Disclosure
AriZona Beverage Company was originally planned to be named Santa Fe
“Originally the name was Santa Fe.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 30:03 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AriZona can launch new products in three weeks today
“Today we do something in three weeks because we, you know, we're plugged in, but back then we had to get the can supplier and all that.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 32:18 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AriZona recently earned its co-founder's entire buyout amount in one year
“Absolutely. You know, what we earned last year was what to get bought out for, you know.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 50:42 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Vultaggio's beverage business generated $30M to $40M during malt liquor era
“No, no, more than that. Probably 30, forty million.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 19:49 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teamsters repeatedly threatened AriZona founders during early beer distribution days
“Yeah, we were threatened a lot, you know, we were threatened by the Teamsters about, you know, you can't do that, you know, that's not allowed, you know, because the Schaefer delivery guy, we were delivering Schaefer.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 9:49 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AriZona co-founders sometimes went over a year without speaking to each other
“There were times when I didn't speak to him for over a year.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 44:03 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AriZona made 17 cents of profit per can at launch
“We were making 17 cents a can.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 35:22 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 positive
Assertion Supported
AriZona sold 800,000 cases in its first year
“Year one was 800,000 cases.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 36:43 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 negative
Disclosure
Vultaggio refuses to sell AriZona Beverage Company to private equity
“I'm not for sale.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 55:45 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Vultaggio abstained from alcohol and marijuana out of fear of his size
“I also came to the conclusion back then, I said, I'm never gonna drink or smoke marijuana or any of that, because I'm too big, if I'm incapacitated, I'll be too, too hard to handle, so I better not do any of that stuff.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 4:02 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Competing iced tea brands cut costs by using fake artificial flavorings
“The typical response in the flavor category was you know, you don't have to put a lot of tea in on a tea, you just put flavor, you can kind of Fake it up. And then I realized that what other guys are not doing is putting real ingredients in because, you know, …”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 28:53 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Disclosure
Founders initially abandoned iced tea plan fearing they couldn't outcompete Snapple
“On the way home, we stop at seven-eleven. And we buy some Snapple to look at on the way back to Brooklyn, and we kind of talk ourselves out of the tea business, because we said, how are we going to get somebody to buy us over Snapple? How are we going to get t…”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 24:16 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Disclosure
Vultaggio spent 80 percent of his time on legal battles running AriZona
“During that time, I said I was 70, 80% lawyer, 20% marketer because it took up that much of my time. But I was able to take that 20% of the time and keep running the business and keep growing the business.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 47:25 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Founders sold thousands of cases of malt liquor on packaging alone
“And we went to a trade show, John and I, and we sold thousands of cases of it without even having a product yet. It was just the package.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 18:38 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025
Disclosure
AriZona tea was born after watching a Snapple truck unload in NYC
“I was on a store on Broadway in Houston. It was February, 19, 91. I was selling Midnight Dragon, and a Snapple truck pulls up. Snapple, I saw, it happened in New York, because it happened here. It started here in New York and he starts peeling off, like, 40 ca…”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 20:45 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
Sep 1, 2025 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AriZona sold out in nine of ten test stores in first week
“And then we went back on the following week, and nine out of the 10 stores sold the 48 pieces, which is two cases.”
Don Vultaggio Sep 1, 2025 ▶ 34:00 Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple
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