YouSaid · the spoken record

Don Vultaggio

lines on the record: 85
first: 2025-09-01
most recent: 2025-09-01
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“and I unloaded and loaded fifty seven trails. And it was one of the more interesting, exciting days of my life. It was great.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Actually, last year my plant manager in New Jersey got jammed up forklifter operators didn't come to work. So I said, I'm coming here to help out tomorrow. He says, what do you want? I said, I want a forklift, fill it up with fuel and a bottle of water on it. And I got there at 10 o'clock in the morning and got off the machine at 8 o'clock at night”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, luck is an important thing in life, right? Luck to find a right wife. Luck to have good kids, good grandkids. I've had good health in my life, which is also something you can attribute to luck. I've been consistent in my life. So I'm a very, very lucky guy, and I'm lucky to have been in a business that after 30 plus years, we can still have customers who say, I like that product. My mother liked it. Now I like it too, which is a very difficult thing to do.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I know what it means. It means I'm going to be unemployed and my kids are going to be unemployed. I don't like that. You know, 10 years ago when I settled a case with John, my first grandchild was born that night. I went from signing a document to the hospital to see. Hers at the first time. Now she's 10 years old. And I tell her, one day you're going to be running this company. And I hope that's a reality. I hope that's something that this company becomes multi-generational and run by my grandchildren at some point. And that's a good story.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Asked that question like 10,000 times, right? And my normal reaction is, I don't know how I do it, but that's not true, right? Fact So there are multiple things you need to do behind the scenes in order to give consumers and continue to give them value because oftentimes companies say the best thing to do, the easiest thing to do is raise the price go into a customer and tell them, hey, it's going up on March 1st. But to me, as a salesman, that's the worst day in your life because you don't want to tell a grocer or a customer. By the way, you have to pay more. And then you have to charge more to your customer walking in the door. And can I do it forever? I don't know, but we're going to continue doing as long as we can.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, at a suggested price some retailers choose not to sell it for that price or can't afford to sell it at that price. And we have other alternatives for them And if they can't afford to do it, they got to do something else.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Think what we've tried to do when we continue to do is keep it simple. My belief is you got to give a consumer a fair deal and then you can expect him to come back. If you don't, you're going to go someplace else. There's too many choices in America. And quality of the beverage is to me the most important because the first reason they buy it is the can. And then from that point on, it's about it tastes good and it's price fair.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. Well, you know, if a trucker has eight hours to work and he's stuck on the George Washington bridge for six hours, it's only one move. I came to that conclusion I was going over to George Washington Bridge at, you know, One o'clock. It was a nightmare If you go after eight o'clock, it's still a nightmare, but it's a short nightmare.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, aluminum is a component that when you buy cans at our level, aluminum goes up and down, your price changes every 30 days. So taking aluminum out is a tremendous saving. But we're not the only one who did it. Other people did it as well. Can manufacturers did it because of the obvious reason? They used less material.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. That's why we've been able to do as well as we've done. I built a factory in New Jersey that we needed desperately. I'm very proud of it. It's a million 250,000 square feet of a building that every single piece of it we own, we paid for. Don't have any company debt, we have no banks, we have no lending institutions It's incredible. Our cost of making a can today is less than it cost us 33 years ago to make the same can.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't have any harsh words for John. I really don't. I don't know what he thinks of me, right? Because I haven't spoken to him since the lawsuit ended. Wish him well, and I hope he's happy because I'm happy. There's more important things in life. There really are.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know. I've said when you've had guns to your head multiple times, those things are things that kind of stand out. But my wife often said to me, how long are you going to fight? How long do you want to keep this up? What are you doing? You know, that kind of thing. But I realized there were thousands of people who worked for me who depended on the decisions I was making for their future as well.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, if I look back at it and I would say, well, what could have been done differently? Could that have worked? But there were other issues going on. There was family issues. There were ex-employees that went over to his side. And so I was fighting on multiple fronts because I had people who, my former CFO was on his side of the table, who was a friend of mine. But John promised them all kinds of wealth. And there were lots of sticky issues. See I represented the company as I did and the profits of the company were shared 50-50 not a nickel went to me over what John had received. I gave him half. But do we think it was going to last 10 years? No. Did we think the money that was spent on legal fees would have been possible? No.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“During that time, I said 70, 80% lawyer, 20% marketer. Because it took up that much of my time. But I was able to take that 20% at a time and keep running the business and keep growing a business, even though it was very difficult at times to make decisions and also it was difficult for me to tell an applicant because oftentimes I'll interview people to say come on board without the certainty of where the company is going to be a year from now. And I felt it was wrong for me to have somebody leave his job, come work here and then tell him a year later, hey, buddy, we got bought by Coke and you're out of a job. So I wasn't able in good conscience to recruit good people to grow my business. And I wasn't able to make the kind of investments that businesses need, the keep growing your business. So I was kind of like frozen.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's a mistake because I think the reality of it is who better to run something is the guy who started it and who's got vested interest in it, you know.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure. And for their obvious reasons. They say I put a lot of money up and I don't want this guy who's the founder to control my destiny.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, because nobody, well, very few people would accept that deal. They would say, oh, they wouldn't buy out his share, only to be in a situation where they couldn't control the business, right? Because if an outsider, private equity, or a big firm buys into the company, they want to share. They want to control it generally”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He said, Now what, you know But I also understood that if he wanted to sell, I said, hey, sell it to somebody who will get into your shoes. Get the same benefit you've been enjoying, that's fine. I can't have a guy buy you out and then say, I want to run the company because I know what they do to entrepreneurial companies. And I was concerned about then my stake would be hampered by some large company putting their big mitts on them, on the brand. And that's where it kind of kind of where the world kind of unraveled a little bit. Right.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I have two sons in a business and I have four grandchildren. And I hope that one day my sons take over and then they have their children take over from them. Maybe it's an old-fashioned approach, but I think the worst thing in life is that be wealthy and not have anything to do. You know, the guys from Snapple told me the worst day of his life was the day after he sold out.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He wanted you to sell, okay, because I guess there were people out there who were offering lots of money. Why weren't you interested in selling? I mean, apparently there were billions of dollars at stake here. There's arguments to be made. Hey, 2005, we're on top of the world. Let's cash out.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There were times where I didn't speak to him for over a year. But also I knew that at that point in his life it wasn't for him. And oftentimes when I would make decisions, I did call him sometimes, but for the most part I didn't because there was, you know, he had trust in me and I had trust in the fact that what I was doing I felt was the best for both families and we succeeded. It was great.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I never considered what I do work. I enjoy what I do. And I also, and I said to him at one point, I said, we didn't fight, we had nothing. We're not going to fight now.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When Arizona started and it became very successful, he became more remote and more away from the business. The evolution of a partnership that started with us both working together and then it turned into mostly me and John not as active or involved as he was. He was pursuing other interests at that point, and our success gave him opportunities that we didn't have before. And he liked golf and he ended up buying a golf course. And I said, go pursue your interest and have fun”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I said they ignored the umbrella, they ignored all that golf references and auto palmer on the front. But I said, who cares? If they call it George Bush, that's fine with me too. And today it's our second best selling flavor.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I went to a sales meeting a couple of weeks in, and one of the sales ladies said to me, I got an order today for four green tea and two George Bushes. George Bush was president at the time, and it looked like George Bush. Not intentional, but that's.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I said, You did a lot of things wrong. I said to myself She said, What do you think? You want to try it? And I said, Let me put some thoughts behind it. And I came up with this look with Arnold on the front. Arnie didn't control a lot of photographs of himself. So he had photographers who would follow him. And I asked Arnie, I said, you got some pictures. He said, well, call these guys. And I did. And they said, well, all right, give us like a nickel, a can. I said, I'm not going to give a nickel a can to some guy who photographed him in play. So we had this lady who did our graphic designs. She painted the first picture Put it on a can, put some of his highlights of his career on the side of the can, and we introduced it.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That flavor house I mentioned, the guy I went to high school with, brought it in to me. And he said, what do you think it is? Now, I play golf, but I didn't ever heard the term Arnold Palmer as a half and a half. But he told me about it, and he had sold this company flavor in California, and they came out with an Aunnel Palmer in a dairy half gallon. And I said, well, send me it because he said it didn't do very well. He said, Would you be interested? He sent it to me and the picture on the carton was awful. Didn't look like Arnie. And the product was awful. And being a big size container for somebody who says, oh, I want to try it, but I don't want to invest in a half gallon.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I want to ask you about a product that really just turned out to be a huge winner, which was half and half. The Arnold Palmer's, right? Everybody knows you go to a restaurant, you ask for an Arnold Palmer, it's half lemonade, half iced tea. Arnold Palmer, great golfer. I think there was a company that had like a license to sell the drink in around, I think around 2001, 2002 maybe. You guys partnered with this company or with him to bring it to basically make a can, an Arnold Palmer can. Tell me a little bit about the genesis of that idea.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Most entrepreneurial companies that are bought or consumed by larger companies usually don't fare very well because that little thing that happens in entrepreneurial companies can't happen in these large companies. So unintentionally they destroy them. And that's what happened at Snaple. That's what's happened to a lot of brands that you see acquired and then what happened.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, because they sold a Quaker and a bunch of different things. But again, when they sold a Quaker, you would think, oh, they're going to be huge now. They got a huge marketing team behind them and a huge company behind them. It didn't actually happen. It didn't become this threat.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's unbelievable. Okay, so you've got, I think by the early 2000s, Arizona, which had started in 92, is already producing more iced teeth than Snapple. I don't know if you're outselling Snapple by that point. Maybe you are.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, year two, we did $100 million year two. Then year three, we doubled more than double it again. So we got to like 400 million.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, by 93 we knew we had something and Mike was the first real serious guy outside of New York, New Jersey to take the brand on. And they did very well that year. And from that, we became a national brand by 94. We became a powerhouse.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I guess another turning point was Detroit. There was a guy in Detroit called Michael Schott who was handling distribution for you. He did such a good job. You guys brought him on as a chief operating officer for you and really started to push this product out nationally.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I should mention the first year, I think 80% of the sales were in four states, four places. New Jersey, New York, Miami, and Detroit. So you were not really, hadn't penetrated every market yet. But those four places were doing very well.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, exactly, because they made tea cool, Snapple did at least. And then walking around with that big can was cool for kids. But I think packaging is what did it and the colors and the look of the can as well.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Make money. Well, you know, back in those days to make three bucks a case was pretty good. Because it was incremental. We were going there already. The truck was there to take a few extra cases off a truck. The economics was great.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you know, if you're selling a guy something already, you know him. It doesn't mean he'll take a new product of yours, but it's more likely he will and he won't because he knows you. And he knows that if he doesn't sell, he'll pick it up and take it home and give him credit on it. So it was relatively easy to get a grocer to take it on plus the fact it looked so dynamic and the can look so good that grocer said, yeah, sure, why not? I think I could sell it.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Somebody gets kicked out. Somebody gets moved over. There's always room in a cooler as long as you get the green light from the shopkeeper to move something”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The first weekend we had Arizona delivered, it was early May, and I had my sales manager. I said, go out with a van and get me different types of stores. Let's place it. It was Friday. And then let's see what happens on Monday. Let's go back to him. And he comes back and he got a drugstore, a gas station, a bodega, a mom and pop supermarket. And he said, I placed it. He placed a case of each, put a sign on there, the price of Snapple. Whatever snapple sold for, it was usually a buck in those days, but some places had it for more. And then we went back on the following week and nine out of ten stores sold 48 pieces, which is two cases.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And now, how are you going to get them into stores? Because you had a distribution business, but so could you just literally say to these stores, hey, we got iced tea? Will you put them on your shelves?”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, today we do something in three weeks because we're plugged in. But back then we had to get to can supplier and all that didn't.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My wife, she went to Hunter College and she was an art major. I went home that night. I told Eileen, I said, Arizona, and she came up with the big Z in the middle of it, something that made Arizona look kind of cute on the can. And there we go. I wrapped it around the can Said, wow, it's going to stand out in the cool loop. In those days, the Kulus were a lot more drab than they are today. You know, there was all blues and blacks and reds.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I said, oh boy, I don't like that. So we had a map of the country on the wall. We said, Arizona, we wanted someplace. Dry, warm fire.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was an Adobe style, and my wife, she said, I said, what do you want to do with it? She said, I'm going to make it look like an Adobe style. And I didn't quite understand what that meant. But I said, sounds great. But then she transformed it into a house that looked like it belonged in Phoenix, Arizona. And people saw it and loved the colors and the vibrancy, the turquoises, the pinks and the yellows and the zigzags and all kinds of stuff. And that was the inspiration for the look of a can.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when you say, look, let's just describe the house again. So, this is a house in Queens, in Rockaway Queens that looked like it was in Santa Fe. So what does that mean? Like what were the colors of the house”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, now you've got a differentiated product because it is going to be in a tall boy can, which is going to make it stand out, but that's not enough. You still need a brand and Snapple is a formidable brand. I mean, it has the wide mouth and still a big deal. So let's talk about how you started to think about what this was going to be. First of all, the name. Let's talk about the name. How did you come up with a name?”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the flavors he brought in at first were terrible. And I said, hey, Joe, I mean, I want tea. And he says, oh, you really want tea. But it was interesting because, you know, the typical response in the flavor category was, you know, you don't have to put a lot of tea in on a tea. You just put flavor. You can kind of fake it up. And then I realized that what other guys are not doing is putting real ingredients in because, you know, they choose to go a less expensive route. We then said, let's make a great taste in tea. We came out with lemon and razz. Those were the top two flavors for Snapple. Great case in raspberry flavor, put it in a great looking can, and put it on the shelf next to Snapple at the same price”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, let me ask you about your palette. I'm curious, right? Because you were looking for a particular flavor profile, right? And how did you know? I mean, you're, I mean, do you have a particularly good palate? You do, really For what? For any wine, beer?”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, anyhow, now we have this guy in the office and he's. He works for Flavor House in New Jersey and we start playing around with flavors.”
2025-09-01 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Don Vultaggio: AriZona Beverage Company - The Snap Decision That Outsmarted Snapple · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT