Everybody has stopped by to spend a dime or two at his or her
local lemonade stand, but Sunkist Growers Inc., to use a citrus
pun, puts a special twist on it.
The fruit and vegetable cooperative has been running a program
for several years now where a child, ages 7 to 12, can use a special
Sunkist lemonade stand to raise money for his or her favorite charity.
To Sunkist President and CEO Tim J. Lindgren, it’s the perfect
way to do some charity work while also building on an international brand.
“We build on the fact that Sunkist has a long tradition of wholesomeness and that reinforces that,” he says. “We provide them
with a lemonade stand in front of public events or stores, and they
serve lemonade with the Sunkist brand on it, so we get associated
with some real wholesome activities, and I think we probably have
now 20,000 of these stands, so every time you see one, it’s around
some wholesome activity; that’s the image we’re building on.”
If it seems pretty basic that a household name like Sunkist has an
image based on wholesomeness, then the brand work done behind
the curtain has been successful. But that doesn’t mean that it does-n’t take a heavy dose of leadership to grow a successful organization. In addition to taking the reins for one of the largest brand
names in the world, Lindgren is charged with leading more than 400
employees between Sunkist’s office and manufacturing facility, as
well as working with the 6,000 grower members in California and
Arizona. Lindgren has been aggressive with his leadership and has
moved Sunkist forward, pushing it to $1.1 billion in revenue for its
growers in 2006, up from $1 billion last year.
Here’s how Lindgren has continued to raise the bar at the largest
fruit and vegetable co-op in the world.