Consulting

By the time Triarc completed its next acquisition--one that would dwarf the purchase of Mistic--management had further refined what its core businesses included and what the company would become. Triarc's ties to the textile business were severed and its involvement in liquefied natural gas was slated to end as soon as an agreement could be reached to divest National Propane, leaving the company focused on two business segments: beverages and restaurants. Management had resolved to turn Triarc into a branded consumer products company, and moved headlong toward such an objective in 1997. In May, Triarc acquired Snapple Beverage Corporation, adding substantially to the branded beverage side of its business. Snapple was acquired from Quaker Oats, which had purchased the popular beverage company from its founders. Quaker Oats paid a staggering $1.7 billion for Snapple, and quickly saw its investment sour as the brand suffered several years of double-digit volume declines. Quaker Oats' mismanagement of the brand turned into Triarc's gain, enabling the company to purchase Snapple at the drastically reduced price of $300 million. Six months later, in November, Triarc bolstered its beverage business further by acquiring Cable Car Beverage Corporation, maker of Stewart's Root Beer and other flavors.

Like Mistic, Snapple was a company in distress when Triarc management took control of the once powerful brand. Quaker Oats had attempted to assimilate the brand into its corporate culture and, consequently, drained Snapple of its strength. The conglomerate began selling Snapple in supermarkets and other large retail channels, ignoring the brand's remarkable success in smaller retail formats, such as delicatessens and convenience stores. Distributors became disgruntled as sales declined, a situation exacerbated by the ouster of the widely popular Wendy Kaufman, who championed the product line in television commercials as 'The Snapple Lady.' Triarc, which had started to create a...