(KTLA) — AriZona Iced Tea will keep its 99 cent price for the “foreseeable future,” Don Vultaggio, chairman and founder of the brand, said in a recent interview with “Today.”
“We’re successful, we’re debt free, we own everything,” he said. “Why do people who are struggling to pay their rent have to pay more for their drinks?” Vultaggio asked during the interview.
Vultaggio described it as his way of giving back by keeping prices low for the popular drink.
He is not alone in this way of thinking.
Gary Millerchip, CFO and executive vice president of Costco, announced in May that the $1.50 hot dog menu would remain unaffected by price increases.
Lynsi Snyder, president of the popular burger chain In-N-Out, also said she fought to keep prices low in California after the new minimum wage law for fast-food restaurants went into effect on April 1, raising the base wage from $16 to $20 an hour.
“I sat in the vice president meetings and the consensus was, ‘We can’t raise prices that much, we can’t,'” Snyder said in another interview with “Today.”
Snyder added that she feels it is her “obligation” to “take care of our customers” and said that unlike its competitors, In-N-Out is not raising prices as quickly.
However, some companies, particularly in California, have decided to raise prices or lay off staff as the cost of doing business continues to rise.
Vultaggio himself did not rule out that there might be a price increase one day, but for now the price of 99 cents will remain.
“I don’t know if it will never happen, (but) not in the foreseeable future,” Vultaggio told Today. “We will fight as hard as we can for consumers, because consumers are my friends.”
