Juicing up a thirsty market that eats lots of pizza and fries.

Juicing Up a Thirsty Market That Eats Lots of Pizza and Fries

McCain, long the biggest frozen french fry producer in the world, now lays claim to being the fastest growing frozen food organization in the highly competitive USA market. Three branches of the McCain Group of companies -

separately specializing in potatoes, juice and pizza - are represented from coast to coast. And their product lines are increasingly visible on the nation's major interstate highways as well as on supermarker shelves, thanks to a large fleet of refrigerated transporters that do double duty as colorful billboards on wheels.

In the mid-1970s McCain opened its first American plants just across the Canadian border in Washburn and Easton, Maine. In the '80s factories were added in Washington state, South Dakota and New England. In Washington recently, some $35 million was spent on a major plant expansion and modernization project that put Othello at the cutting edge of technological efficiency. In addition to renovating the existing facility, an investment was made to build a brand new potato specialty line for the production of such items as potato puffs and hash browns. Another french fry line was also tacked on. The added capacity was needed to supply expanding retail accounts and fill value added specialty product orders from customers in western US markets.

The second corporate branch, McCain Citrus, operates continentally from a network of plants in Chicago, Hillside, N.J., and Fontana, Calif. The highly automated California plant features an $8.1 million packing facility that turns out a full line of frozen concentrate juices as well as orange, lemonade apple and grape beverages. East coast juice operations have been consolidated in New Jersey in order to take advantage of the location's proximity to both raw materials and major markets.

The McCain Citrus subsidiary was formed in 1985 to produce and market innovative fruit juices. And the emphasis has been on innovative ever since. One such example is Boku Juice Cooler, a new drink positioned to capitalize on the trends in adult beverage consumption. Flavors formulated to appeal to a more sophisticated palate are: white grape raspberry, apple raspberry, apple peach, black cherry white grape, seven fruit blend, orange peach, orange banana.

An all-natural fruit blend, Boku contains no artificial colors, preservatives or flavors. Sized at 12 ounces per unit to better quench grownup thirsts, Boku's lightweight aseptic package features a convenient pull tab to accommodate on-the-go lifestyles of today's adults.