Ocean Spray's Creative Juices

Randy C. Papadellis has a corporate mandate that would make many CEOs blanch. Unlike his competitors, who head units of publicly traded multinationals such as Coca-Cola Co. (KO ) and PepsiCo Inc. (PEP ), the chief executive officer of juice giant Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. leads a cooperative that's owned by about 800 cranberry and grapefruit farmers. Papadellis has to buy all the fruit his farmers produce -- about two-thirds of the world's cranberry crop -- and buy it at the highest possible price. "Imagine if Pepsi had to maximize the aluminum it used, and at the highest price it could afford!" he says.

It's a dilemma that has sparked frenetic cranberry-fueled creativity. After spurring supermarkets to add juice aisles in the 1960s, Ocean Spray followed with hits including the first juice boxes, low-calorie cranberry drinks, and white cranberry juice. Now Craisins, the dried-fruit snack made from husks that used to be thrown away but are now reinfused with juice, have exploded in popularity. Ocean Spray is spinning out variations -- chocolate-covered Craisins, anyone? -- as fast as it can. The company's food product segment has doubled during the past two years, and total sales have grown 12%, to $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, Ocean Spray remains No. 1 in juices, according to Chicago market tracking firm Information Resources Inc.