Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
Snapple was introduced to the soft drink market in 1972 when Leonard Marsh, Hyman Golden, and Arnold Greenberg, three childhood friends from Brooklyn, New York, formed the Unadulterated Food Corporation and began selling all-natural juices in Greenwich Village, in New York City. Appealing to the health market, Marsh, Golden, and Greenberg used the best ingredients—real fruit flavors and real tea—without preservatives, chemical dyes, or artificial flavorings. At the time no other major soft drink producer could make that claim, and Snapple set the standard for those that followed. The name came from a carbonated apple soda that was part of the original beverage line.