Yoo-hoo

Yoo-hoo is the name of an American chocolate-flavored beverage.

History

Yoo-hoo dates back to the 1920s, when Natale Olivieri sold Tru-Fruit soft drinks in his small store. Olivieri thought he could produce a chocolate soft drink and make profits.

Olivieri was at his home's kitchen with his wife, who was preparing her home-made tomato sauce one day when Olivieri thought he could preserve chocolate beverages by using the same method his wife used to make the sauce. He asked his wife to use the process on six of the chocolate drinks he had prepared. Three of the drinks got spoiled, and Mr. Olivieri thought agitation would also be needed to produce an all natural chocolate drink. Because of that, he bought a rotating pressure retort. Soon after, his first group of chocolate drinks was sold.

The name Yoo-hoo was already being used for Mr. Olivieri's other fruit drinks, so naturally, he applied Yoo-hoo to his chocolate-flavored drink too.

Sources in the beverage industry claim that Yoo-hoo owes its famously open-ended shelf life to a steam sterilization process that takes place after the bottles are filled and capped, but before the labels are applied. As long as it is sealed, Yoo-hoo cannot go sour.

Yoo-hoo would soon begin to be bottled by an important bottling company and to be sold at supermarkets.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Yoo-hoo went through a very large promotional campaign that included Yogi Berra and the New York Yankees officially sponsoring the drink. The image of Berra drinking a bottle of Yoo-hoo while wearing a suit, in particular, became famous. The catch phrase that was coined by Yogi Berra as he held the bottle next to his face saying with a smile, "It's Me-He for Yoo-Hoo! "

Also during the '50s, B.B.C. Industries took over Yoo-hoo. They held ownership until 1976, when it was bought by Iroquois Brands, which, in turn, sold Yoo-hoo in 1981 to a group of private investors, which in turn sold Yoo-Hoo to Pernod Ricard in 1989.

In 2001, Pernod Ricard sold Yoo-hoo to Cadbury-Schweppes, with production responsibilities falling to CS's Mott's group, and marketing and advertising responsibilities under Snapple. This led to an increased awareness of the once popular beverage. This also led to the change in the size of the Yoo-Hoo box. Yoo-hoo hired two spokespeople named Josh & Nathan who were actually just devout fans of the drink to tout the beverage on TV, radio, and major concert tours such as the Warped Tour.

The soft drink company's headquarters are in Rye Brook, New York, with plants in Carlstadt, New Jersey and Opelousas, Louisiana.

Yoo-Hoo apparently owns other chocolate drink brands, including Choc-Ola, Kayo, Brownie, and Chocolate Soldier ^[1].

Flavors

Current

Chocolate
Double Fudge
Strawberry
Yoo-hoo Lite

Discontinued

Vanilla
Island Coconut (same as Koko Blanco)
Eggnog
Chocolate-Banana
Chocolate-Strawberry
Chocolate-Coconut
Chocolate-Mint
Chocolate-Raspberry
Chocolate-Orange
Chocolate-Cinnamon
Koko Blanco
Banana
Chocolate Cow
Chocolate Extreme
Chocolate Lite
Cookies & Cream
Dyna-Mocha

Cultural References

On the sitcom Coach, Hayden Fox (played by Craig T. Nelson) drinks Yoo-Hoo in many episodes.
In his song "Dead Muthafuckas" rapper Cam'ron rapped "I'm in the Range, same color as Yoohoo//yeah I know, that's the same color as Doodoo".
"Yoo hoo" (the slang phrase) probably comes from the earlier "yo ho" and was popularized by cartoonist Clare Briggs in 1913.[1]
In the mid-1990s, Yoo-Hoo was extensively parodied by Nickelodeon. During this period, several Nicktoons (primarily The Angry Beavers, but also Hey Arnold! and others), featured the fictional beverage brand Ya-Hoo! Chocolate Soda.
In the movie Big Daddy, while sitting with 'Frankenstein's' friends on the playground, Adam Sandler says "We all love Yoohoo, especially Yoohoo with a little rum."
Myron Bolitar, hero of a series of books by Harlan Coben, loves Yoo-Hoo and drinks almost nothing else.
In an episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld named The Bubble Boy, the bubble boy's father drives a Yoo-hoo delivery truck for a living and when complimented on the drink's quality responds, "Yes, it's a fine product."
Yoo-hoo is mentioned by the punk band Bouncing Souls in the song "Shark Attack".
In the movie Clockers, the character Strike drinks a chocolate beverage named Chocolate Moo a parody on the YooHoo brand.
In the Kenny Chesney song, "Summertime," he mentions a "Yoo-Hoo bottle rollin' on the floorboard" in the chorus.
On the sitcom Friends, Yoo-hoo is often seen being drunk by the characters, usually Chandler and Joey.
In the movie A Few Good Men Daniel Kaffee played by Tom Cruise says he only has "Yoo-Hoo and Cocoa Puffs" in his apartment.
A Yoo-hoo bottle serves as an object for female masturbation in An' my girlfriend, she digs it with a hot Yoo-hoo bottle. It is a line from the song What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are on the album Fillmore East - June 1971 by Frank Zappa.
Beastie Boys start their song "Sure Shot" with the line "I got a brand new doodoo, guaranteed like Yoo-Hoo".
The Emotron frequently uses Yoo-Hoo in his music videos such as "Username"
In the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Vince Vaughn's Character is seen brushing his teeth and washing his mouth out with Yoo-Hoo at the start of the movie
In Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, you can see an empty carton of yoohoo in the floorboard of his truck.
The Song "And She Was" by the Talking Heads is about a girl who takes LSD next to a Yoohoo factory.
In episode "Much Apu about nothing" on the Simpsons' 7th season Apu can be seen serving Yoo-hoo to his Ganesha figurine in a platter
On the show Big Wolf on Campus, one of the main characters, Merton J. Dingle, drinks and mentions Yoo-hoo throughout the series.
According to "I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski", a 'white trash russian' is made by drinking half a bottle of Yoo-hoo, refilling with vodka, shaking, and then drinking the rest.

References

^ Yoo-Hoo Of Louisiana Corp. Detailed Company Information {{citation}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

External links

http://www.yoo-hoo.com – Yoo-hoo

[1] Yoo-Hoo Of Louisiana Corp. Detailed Company Information {{citation}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

[1]