Cornucopia Beverages acquires Moxie Brand

Cornucopia Beverages acquires Moxie Brand, March 21, 2007

Cornucopia Beverages, a subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England Inc., has acquired the rights to the Moxie brand from the Monarch Beverage Company for an undisclosed sum. The deal includes all brands, including Moxie Energy Drink, Diet Moxie and the Moxie flagship.

Moxie is one of the oldest continually produced soft drinks in the United States, developed in 1884. In 2005, Moxie became the Official State Soft Drink of Maine. Moxie has entered the American vernacular, coming to mean ÔøΩskillful and spirited.ÔøΩ

While Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England currently sells approximately seventy-five percent of the worldÔøΩs Moxie, Cornucopia is excited about the opportunity to grow and expand with an established brand.

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Moxie, same taste, new owner
By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff April 6, 2007

Cornucopia Beverages, a unit of Bedford-based Coca-Cola Co. of Northern New England Inc., has acquired the Moxie brand from Atlanta-based Monarch Beverage Co. Terms were undisclosed.
Cornucopia previously bottled Moxie under license from Monarch.

"There's really nothing to compare it to. It's not a cola, and it's not a root beer; it's its own little niche," Moxie brand manager Justin Conroy said in a telephone interview.

Conroy said no immediate changes are planned as a result of the brand purchase.

Last year, the Moxie brand sold about 450,000 192-ounce cases, equivalent to 7.2 million 12-ounce cans.

The drink is bottled in Londonderry, N.H., Worcester, Mass., and Catawissa, Pa. Conroy said 75 percent of production ships from Londonderry.

Tracing its roots to Maine-born Dr. Augustin Thompson, Moxie was first marketed as a carbonated soft drink in 1884. Today, the soft drink is available in regular, diet and energy drink versions. It is Maine's office state soft drink. The Moxie page on the Monarch Beverage Co. Web site states that Moxie was first marketed in 1876 as a medicine.

The word moxie has come to mean energy, or pep, in common usage.

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England Inc. is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. The firm bottles Coca-Cola brands under authority of the Coca-Cola company and also has license rights for Cadbury Schweppes brands, Dr. Pepper, Sunkist and Canada Dry.