Don Vultaggio
It describes itself as “a normal type”, which only finished High school because the mother insisted a lot. It started selling Ice-Tea cans at 99 cents. He set up his first business to distribute beer cans, and one day he founded one of Ice-Tea’s main brands in the US. Trusted in his instincts.
In an age where almost all American billionaires are born on Silicon Valley and the fortunes are built with algorithms and artificial intelligence, Don Vultaggio It stands out among its peers.
Currently with a liquid heritage of almost $ 6 billionthe 73-year-old entrepreneur and founder of built his fortune to sell large colorful cans of Ice-Tea to 0.99 dollars, who became as iconic as it is accessible.
Unlike other billionaires, graduated from prestigious universities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett, Vultaggio never attended college. In fact, he said that probably would not have finished the high schoolif the mother had not insisted.
“He was not a good studentbut it was not the school’s fault. It was my fault, and it went well, but Sometimes it doesn’t run like this”, Vultaggio tells him in a recent interview.
Vultaggio’s mentors They were his first boss and his father.
Still a teenager and studying, Vultaggio started working for his first boss in a supermarket in Brooklyn, winning 1 dollar at the time. “This man gave me to experience of being a businesso, ”says the billionaire. The work taught him the dollar value and the perception of how much can last an hour.
When this boss passed away a few years ago, the family sent their ashes to Vultaggio. “He is buried in my backyard, with a sign that says The best boss in the world”.
After finishing the high school, Vultaggio continued the supermarketlike the father, who had spent his life in this sector. “He said to me: I don’t want my son to be in the supermarket business”He recalled.“ Then he got me a job in a local brewery”.
A few years later, The brewery closedteaching you an important lesson about business: “I always say that, When companies failit’s because they forgot What the customer wanted. It was a popular beer brand at one point, but then lost popularity”.
For about 20 years, Vultaggio managed your own business beer distribution of various brands, built from zero. “I went to difficult neighborhoods in New York and delivered beer to the city’s bars.”
The business resulted because, although its beers were not the cheapest, it offered customers service and value when they neededa feature that It would be useful when co-funded Arizona Beverage USA, Also known as Arizona, with John Ferolito, in 1992.
Arizona
Initially, what differentiated the Arizona drinks were their large 0.7 liter cans, decorated with colorful designs created by Vultaggio’s wife
Trust us instincts
“When I started the brand, I didn’t know anything about Ice-Teabesides that it drank it when it was kid. I did not know how to develop it, get it, produce itall this, but I learned at work, ”said Vultaggio.
What he I knew it was how customers bought drinksbecause I had seen it firsthand countless times in stores and establishments to which I delivered products for years.
“Consumers made the decision next to the refrigerator. No matter what they had seen yesterday on television in an advertising. Made the decision right there, and a label with the price motivated this decision”He explained.
These instincts led Don Vultaggio in 1997 to do something that one of his sellers described at the time as The stupid idea that ever had: Print “99 ¢” on cold tea cans.
“As I had no resources to compete with Coca-Cola and Pepsi in advertising, he said: I have to have a can that stand out in the fridge”He said.
In 2000, sales rose 30%, told. Today, Arizona is one of Main tea brands ready to drink in the USAselling about about 2 billion cans and generating $ 4 billion in sales.
Although its high -tall cans are the company imagethe brand also sells carboys and small plastic bottles on its teas, mixed juices and energy drinks.
Vulture assigns your success to some factors. “When someone puts their money hard earned at a table and gets a can of tea or juice, and says wow, it’s a good dealat that moment, I won this client ”,
Initially, What differentiated the Arizona drinks They were their large 0.7 liter cans, decorated with colorful designs created by Vultaggio’s wife, sold at the same price as the smallest bottles of competitors.
Today, the highlight goes to the fact that the company, in 33 years, never have increased the price of 0.99 dollars in its large cans, Despite inflation and the increase in price of other leading brands, including Nestlé, Lippton and Snapple.
The company However, the size of the cans For 0.65 liters, a small marketing trick we’ve talked about a few times on Zap, which is called.
Owner of the company is a great reason to have been able to maintain costs Low, even during the pandemic, when transportation costs increased. “We somedine owners of everything; We didn’t have a banka board of directors or shareholders asking: What they are doing?, ”Explained.
However, Vultaggio’s net heritage almost doubled, from $ 3 billion in 2018 to almost 6 billion in 2025according to Forbes.
Despite the enormous fortune, it is vulpt A “normal type”. From forklift drivers to executives, believes that a business should be managed as a community, where people are treated with respect.
“That’s why we succeed“Explains.” It’s not just me. Many people, thousands of people, all contribute regularly. I always say: You have to manage a business as if it were a family”.
