Vita Cola
Vita Cola is a German Cola - brand of the Thuringian Forest source Mineralbrunnen GmbH , which was protected restricted under 1958th Before the fall of the Wall, the cola was bottled and put on the market by many different beverage companies in the GDR . Since 1994 Vita Cola has been available again in stores and also in the old federal states .
Historical development
Emergence
In the second five-year plan (from 1958), the government of the GDR called for an improvement in the supply of non-alcoholic beverages to the population. Thereupon the Ministry of Food Industry commissioned the VEB Chemische Fabrik Miltitz with the development of a cola drink, which should correspond to the Coca-Cola .
Hans Zinn, head of the Essences department at the Miltitz Chemical Factory, is considered the father of the Vita-Cola recipe . He created the still unchanged taste of the beverage by combining a variety of essential oils such as citrus oil , vanilla , cola nuts , caffeine and vitamin C .
In October 1958 the raw material was first delivered to the Landesbrauerei Leipzig (later VEB Sachsenbräu). The brewery registered the trademark for the end product in November 1958 with the Office for Inventions and Patents of the GDR .
Before the turn
The drink was already well received by the population in the first year of production in 1958, which led to a tenfold increase in the requirement of the originally planned 180 kg of ascorbic acid for the production of the raw material, which the pharmaceutical industry was able to cover by providing an additional 350 kg per quarter. The cola was initially only produced by a few breweries in the GDR, starting with Lauchhammer , Wernigerode , the holiday area around Binz (Rügen), Apolda , Sangerhausen , Dresden and Muskau .
The Landesbrauerei Leipzig soon approved other state- owned companies to use the name Vita Cola for the raw material and the lemonade made from it . In 1959 the general approval took place, which caused the demand for raw materials to skyrocket, so that the security of the basic material production was organized by the chemical factory Miltitz itself.
In 1960, 106 companies received production permits. Since each production company marketed the cola with its own label, the appearance on the market was different. However, the content was always the same.
After reunification
After production had ceased with the fall of the Wall or had been continued diffusely by small breweries under changing names, the Thuringian Waldquell Mineralbrunnen GmbH, part of the Brau - & - Brunnen group , took over the brand in 1994 . From 1996 Vita-Cola was again offered nationwide in the new federal states . In 2005, for strategic reasons, Brau & Brunnen sold Thüringer Waldquell and other companies and thus also the Vita Cola brand to Hassia Mineralquellen from Bad Vilbel . This also took over the Thuringian Waldquell production facility in Schmalkalden and continues to operate the Vita Cola brand there.
Current situation
The cola has been marketed under the name Vita Cola Original since 2006, and in 2007 Vita Cola sugar-free, a light version , and Vita Cola black, which contains neither citrus oils nor additional citric acid, are also suitable for mixing cocktails with non-lemon alcoholic beverages such as for Cuba Libre .
After the two new variants subsequently increased their respective market share disproportionately, the product range was expanded in 2009 with the Vita Cola black sugar-free and a little later the Vita Cola Mix, a mixed drink made from Vita Cola black and orange lemonade, which is based on Spezi .
After 2009 was the most successful year to date, the product range was expanded again in 2010: With Vita Orange and Vita Lemon, Vita Cola is also offering lemonades for the first time. Shortly afterwards, the product names were changed to Vita Limo Orange, Vita Limo Lemon and Vita Cola Original Zuckerfrei for marketing reasons. In 2011, the two black versions were renamed Vita Cola Pur and Vita Cola Pur sugar-free.
Further lemonades appeared in 2012 with Vita Exotic ( mandarin + mango ), followed by Vita Caribic ( orange + guava ) in 2013 and Vita Brazil ( grapefruit + lime + orange + lemon ) in 2014.
Vita Cola is produced in Schmalkalden, Bad Doberan and Lichtenau .
In 2017 the company entered the lucrative energy drinks market: in 2018 Vita Energy Red Grape Açaí and Vita Energy Peach Passion Fruit were released. Later the varieties followed: Mango Orange, Forest Berry Aronia and Kiwi Apple. At the beginning of 2020, the range was expanded to include two sugar-free varieties, raspberry watermelon and apple woodruff.
Recipe and taste
Vita Cola is still mainly produced today according to the original recipe developed in the Miltitz chemical factory. Only the originally nature-identical aromas have been replaced by natural aromas . Cola is still very different from other types of cola, as Vita Cola contains citric acid and natural citrus oils that differ from artificial lemon flavors. The bitter taste of Vita Cola remained popular in East Germany even after the fall of the Wall.
The recipe has been licensed three times to other food manufacturers in order to produce foods with the Vita Cola flavor. In 2002 Katjes produced gummy candies with a Vita-Cola flavor, which, however, turned out to be a flop and were withdrawn from the market after a few months. In 2003 and 2004, the now-defunct Rhon Gold Dairy produced a jelly called Vita Cola Fresh'n Cool. In 2011, the Vita Cola ice cream was produced by R&R Ice Cream Germany as water ice.
Production volume and market share
In 2015, more than 80 million liters of Vita Cola were sold for the first time. In 2018 it was 89 million liters and in 2019 it was 87.4 million liters. Vita Cola is thus the largest German cola brand and in East Germany ranks second behind Coca-Cola for colas , in Thuringia they are the market leader for colas and lemonades , while Coca-Cola leads in all other federal states. This makes Thuringia one of only a few regions in the world where Coca-Cola is not the market leader for cola beverages.
The Vita Cola Original variety is also offered in West Germany in 1 l returnable bottles and 1.5 l non- returnable bottles . The manufacturer offers a search engine on its website that can be used to search for dealers in the old federal states who carry Vita Cola in their range. Other types and other bottle sizes are only available in western Germany in the delivery area for mineral water products from Thuringian Waldquell.
Bottle design
The retro-look design of the reusable PET bottle is based on the shape of the well-known GDR returnable glass bottle, in which lemonades and fizzy drinks were sold at the time , but has a larger capacity of one liter and one in that Material embossed lettering of the brand. The classic red-green color scheme of the label and the lettering have been retained. While a separate bottle design was initially only used for the liter bottle, volumes of 0.5 l and 1.5 l were filled in standard bottles. Since 2008, these bottles have also been produced in their own design and marketed in single-use and returnable bottles. Vita Cola is also sold in classic returnable glass bottles. 0.2 l glass bottles in a different design are used for the catering sector.
literature
- Arnd Zschiesche , Oliver Errichiello: The East Secret of Success: Survival strategies of the best brands - And what managers can learn from them . Vita Cola - Volkscola becomes the pursuer of Coca-Cola in the east. 1st edition. Gabler Verlag , Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-8349-1615-0 , pp. 171–176 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 19, 2018]).
Web links
- Vita Cola - Official website
- A privately operated archive with further information about Vita Cola and Club Cola
- Judith Pfannenmüller: On the retro wave to success. In: sueddeutsche.de. SZ , May 19, 2010 (on the success of Vita Cola).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fabian Tweder, Tobias Stregel, Rudolf Kurz: Vita-Cola & Timms Saurer: Beverage season in the GDR . Elefanten Press, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88520-733-8 .
- ↑ Market leader in Thuringia , handelsblatt.de, accessed on May 24, 2018.
- ↑ Nicole Körner, Marieke Rauchhaus: Twice Sugar Free - After a successful anniversary year, now also Vita Cola Black as a light version. In: openpr.de. Vita Cola, February 5, 2009, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Vita a refreshing addition. (No longer available online.) In: mercurio-press.net. April 12, 2010, archived from the original on June 15, 2010 ; accessed on April 19, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ VITA COLA Pur sugar-free. In: hassia.com. Hassia Mineralquellen, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Vita Cola story: All about us. In: vita-cola.de. Thuringian Waldquell Mineralbrunnen, accessed on April 19, 2018 .
- ^ A b Paul K. Korn, Christine Weisbach: Vita Cola grows and unfolds "New Energy". In: vita-cola.de. Thuringian Waldquell Mineralbrunnen, March 17, 2018, accessed on April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ VITA ENERGY: Naturally energetic - now also sugar-free. In: Vita Cola. Thüringer Waldquell Mineralbrunnen GmbH, January 31, 2020, accessed on February 4, 2020 .
- ↑ ADN :? Fruit gums with Vita-Cola flavor. In: neue-deutschland.de. nd , June 25, 1999, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Vita Cola Dessert: Soda spoons. In: produkt.at. Product BrandNew, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Juliane Kunter: Vita Cola ice cream: The first branded Cola on a stick. In: presseschleuder.com. Adenion, August 9, 2011, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Sales record for Vita Cola , mdr.de, February 17, 2016, accessed on May 24, 2018.
- ↑ Bilanz Vita-Cola , mdr.de, accessed on May 24, 2018.
- ^ Vita Cola story , accessed on July 24, 2012 on the company's homepage
- ↑ Retailer search West: Is the Vita Cola Original also available at Me? In: vita-cola.de. Hassia Mineralquellen, accessed April 19, 2018 .
