(KTLA) — AriZona Iced Tea will keep its 99-cent price tag for the “foreseeable future,” Don Vultaggio, brand chairman and founder, said in a recent interview with “Today.”
“We’re successful, we’re debt free, we own everything,” he said. “Why have people who are having a hard time paying their rent pay more for their drink?” Vultaggio said during the interview.
Vultaggio described keeping the prices of the popular drink low as his way of giving back. He isn’t alone in this way of thinking either.
Gary Millerchip, Costco’s CFO and executive vice president, announced in May that the $1.50 hot dog combo will be safe from price increases.
Lynsi Snyder, the president of the beloved In-N-Out Burger chain, also said she fought to keep prices down in California after the state’s new fast-food minimum wage law took effect on April 1, raising the base rate from $16 to $20 per hour.
“I was sitting in VP meetings going toe-to-toe saying, ‘We can’t raise the prices that much, we can’t,'” Snyder told “Today” during another interview.
Snyder added that she felt “an obligation to look out for our customers” and said that, unlike competitors, In-N-Out wasn’t quick to raise prices.
However, some companies, especially in California, have decided to raise prices or lay off staff as business costs continue to increase. As for Vultaggio, he didn’t dismiss the possibility of a price increase one day, but as for now, the 99-cent price is here to stay.
“I don’t know about never, [but] not in the foreseeable future,” Vultaggio told Today. “We’re going to fight as hard as we can for consumers, because consumers are my friends.”
