Juice and functional beverage producer Suja Life has acquired soda brand Slice from its most recent owner New Slice Ventures LLC, with plans to relaunch it in 2025 as a better-for-you offering with gut health benefits, it announced Monday.
The beverage company said the newly launched Slice offers consumers a low sugar, clean label soda under the banner of a nostalgic brand. The drink will feature a new formula compared to previous iterations of Slice with healthier ingredients, according to the press release.
“With the acquisition of Slice, we are making it easier for consumers to choose a better-for-you beverage,” said Maria Stipp, CEO of Suja Life, in a statement. “We all want to feel good about what we drink while still enjoying great taste, and Slice does that while providing functional benefits and low sugar.”
Slice first launched in 1984 by PepsiCo in a bid to compete with Coca-Cola’s dominant offering Sprite, but was discontinued by the soft drink giant in the late 2000’s. PepsiCo also attempted to gain a stronger foothold in the lemon-lime soda category with Sierra Mist, which was replaced by Gen Z-targeted Starry upon its launch last year.
In 2018, New Slice Ventures LLC bought the trademark to Slice and launched its own version of the drink with lower sugar and real fruit juice.
The newly launched Slice comes as gut health-infused sodas rapidly gain steam as drinkers seek functional attributes from their soft drinks, including Olipop and Health-Ade’s SunSip. Poppi, which contains prebiotics and apple cider vinegar, has posted triple-digit growth in recent years. Earlier this month, Poppi’s CEO Allison Elsworth denied the brand is a target of M&A from soda giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in an interview with Food Dive.
The move comes as Suja Life seeks to chart a new path under the leadership of Stipp, who took the helm of the company in February. Earlier this year, its juice brand Suja Organic entered the protein shakes category with ready-to-drink offerings containing 16 grams of protein in Vanilla Cinnamon, Chocolate, and Coffee Bean flavors. In 2022, the company acquired juice brand Vive Organic.