Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
The unincorporated area of Maryland known as Bethesda is not part of Washington, but it is a creature of Washington, as columnist George Will recently noted, filled with lawyers, government employees, lobbyists, NIH scientists, journalists, pundits and political operatives. Among these creatures of government, a rare leaf of commerce has brewed into a fast-growing company called Honest Tea. Here was hope: For if the seeds of enterprise could take root in Bethesda, they could take root anywhere.
A company that grew on the banks of the Potomac should know more than most about sharing space with government. So an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal by Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman deserves attention. Goldman describes the threat to his business from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's arbitrary restrictions on drink sizes. Here is an excerpt:
Under the proposed changes to Article 81 of the NYC Health Code, food-service establishments would not be able to sell packages larger than 16 ounces for drinks that have more than 25 calories per eight-ounce serving. Honest Tea's top-selling item is our organic Honey Green Tea, which has 35 calories per eight-ounce serving and is in a 16.9 oz. bottle. We label 70 calories on the front of the package so consumers know what's in the full bottle.
We initially went with 16.9 oz. (which is 500 milliliters) because it is a standard size that our bottle supplier had in stock at the time. We subsequently invested several hundred thousand dollars for 16.9 oz. bottle molds. Is 16.9 ounces the perfect size? Who knows? As a beverage marketer, we willingly submit to the unforgiving judgment of the market. What we did not anticipate was an arbitrary decision to constrain consumer choice.
One response we considered was putting 0.9 ounce less liquid in our bottles, but that would create a separate set of complications. We fill our bottles to the brim—not just because we like to deliver an "Honest" value, but also to ensure quality since we do not use preservatives. Then there is the costly prospect of having to change all of our UPC codes (those complicated black bars found on every product on a grocery shelf) because we would be offering a different liquid volume—all for 0.9 ounces!
Read the rest of the op-ed for one of the better examples of how honest business owners pay the price for regulations. In the story of Honest Tea, there is truth.
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Comments:
Jul '11
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
I bet Mr. Goldman voted Democrat. (he worked for a Democratic Senator).
I hope this is a lesson learned for Mr. Goldman, This could be a libertarian party poster - "Wants more government, more Government".
It is unfortunate that the company and the employees suffer; as does the product, which I like a lot. But elections do have consequences.
Aug '10
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
Being in the beverage industry, I can attest to the 16.9 ounce bottle ,or 500ml is the standard of the industry. It is the most available bottle. The best value for a bottler .
Unintended consequences appear to stalk these do-gooders.
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
flownover: Being in the beverage industry, I can attest to the 16.9 ounce bottle ,or 500ml is the standard of the industry. It is the most available bottle. The best value for a bottler .
Unintended consequences appear to stalk these do-gooders. · 13 minutes ago
Flownover, that is very interesting. I hadn't realized that Bloomberg set his proposal .9 ounces below the industry standard. It's the perfect example of why bureaucrats shouldn't try to run businesses.
Sep '11
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
The beverage industry is one of the very, very few industries in America that has adopted the metric system. You buy a two-liter bottle of soda; you buy a 750 ml bottle of wine.
Once upon a time, many years ago, beverages in America were sold in standard English sizes. A vending machine dispensed 16-oz. bottles of soda; you could buy a half-gallon size at the grocery store. But that changed a long time ago (more than 30 years ago).
Maybe that's a way to put pressure on Nanny Bloomberg: start a campaign in the New York City schools to push for the metric system, and ask--why is the mayor fighting against the metric system? Why is he trying to drag us back to the English system of measurement?
Dec '11
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
How much money will he lose by no longer selling his product in NY versus changing over his operation?
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
This was the key paragraph from the op-ed for me:
Aug '10
Re: Honest Tea for Mayor Bloomberg
Commenting on opposition to his proposed ban, the mayor said, “Compared to smoking, this is an easy battle to win and nobody’s going to stop this.”The arrogance of central planners!