Orange Julius is an American chain of beverage stores, known for a frothy fruit drink also called an Orange Julius. The chain has been in business since the late 1920s.[2] The signature beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, powdered egg whites and vanilla flavoring.[3] Most stores are located inside shopping malls.
History
The drink grew out of an orange juice stand opened in Los Angeles, California, in 1926 by Julius Freed. Sales were initially modest, about $20 a day (equivalent to approximately $340 in 2023 dollars).[4] In 1929, Bill Hamlin, Freed's real estate broker, developed a mixture that made the acidic orange juice less bothersome to his stomach. Freed's stand began serving the drink, which had a frothier, creamier texture. The sales at the stand increased substantially after the introduction of the new drink, going up to $100 ($1,720 in 2023 dollars) a day.[4][5]
During the 1950s and 1960s, Orange Julius was sold at a variety of outlets, including state and county fairs and freestanding Orange Julius stands. The original stand also provided medicinal tonics and Bible tracts.[6] It was the Official Drink of the 1964 New York World’s Fair Exposition.[7]
In 1967, Hamlin sold Orange Julius to Al Lapin Jr's International Industries corporation, who also owned International House of Pancakes; The Original House of Pies, and others. The Santa Monica, California headquartered company reached about 745 franchises, from California to Canada. It also changed its name to Orange Julius International. It was acquired, in 1985, by Custom Creamery Systems, a New York-based ice cream and vending machine operator. The only caveat in the deal was that the merged company retain the Orange Julius International name.[8][9] It was publicly traded, for a time, over-the-counter.[10]
At its peak, as an independent company, it had hundreds of stores in malls across the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. The first store opened in Asia in Hong Kong, in 1977, then spread to Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.[11][12]
In 1987, the Orange Julius chain was bought by International Dairy Queen, which was subsequently purchased by billionaire Warren Buffett in 1998; thus, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.[13] All of the surviving independent Orange Julius stores were rebranded into Dairy Queens.[citation needed] Dairy Queen added Orange Julius to its product line at its stores. Today, Orange Julius is a menu item available at Dairy Queen stores, called Treat Centers.[2]
Orange Julius first started using a devil mascot for their logo in 1926.[15] In the 1970s and early 1980s, Orange Julius beverage stands used an image of a devil with a pitchfork around an orange, with the slogan, "A Devilish Good Drink". The devil image resembled Sparky, the mascot of Arizona State University, and the company later dropped the logo and slogan after threats of a lawsuit from the ASU alumni association.[16][17]
For a short period in the early 1970s, Orange Julius expanded into the UK and Dutch markets, with a fairly large restaurant in Golders Green, selling Julius Burgers as well as the classic orange drink, and a small outlet in the city center of Amsterdam. There were plans to increase the number to 20–25 outlets in the Netherlands,[18] and at least one was realized, in the city of Utrecht. The brand was introduced and largely financed in the Netherlands by Eurobee NV, a subsidiary of Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer (KBB), one of the major retailers in The Netherlands at that time. Orange Julius had left the Dutch market by the mid-1970s.[citation needed]
^English, Jason (2007-04-10). "Three Things I Didn't Know About Orange Julius". mental_floss. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-09. The former Orange Julius logo resembled Arizona State's Sparky, a Sun Devil with a pitchfork. The slogan: 'A Devilishly Good Drink.' After threats of a lawsuit from ASU's alumni association, Orange Julius retired its mascot.
^Self, Will. "Branding is more fundamental to the US psyche than the Bible". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-09. …what put paid to it (or him) was a suit by the alumni of Arizona State University, from whose own logo Orange Julius had been freely adapted…
