Business Minute Maid’s frozen juices are being discontinued

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By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
Thu February 5, 2026 17:29:51 UTC

Pour, or instead squeeze, one out for a childhood staple: Minute Maid’s frozen juices are soon disappearing from shelves after an 80-year run.

Coca-Cola, which owns Minute Maid, said in a statement Thursday that it’s exiting the frozen can category. That will result in its lineup of juice concentrates being discontinued in the coming months.

The changes are “in response to shifting consumer preferences,” a company spokesperson told CNN, noting that it’s “focusing on products that better match what our consumers want.”

Minute Maid sells frozen juices in a variety of flavors, including orange, lemonade, pink lemonade, raspberry lemonade and limeade. The products will last on shelves until supplies run out.

The concept, introduced by Vacuum Foods Corporation in 1946, was to have customers enjoy farm-fresh juice any time of the year, according to Coca-Cola’s website. The Minute Maid name, created three years later, implied the “convenience and ease of preparation” of the drink. Coca-Cola bought the company in 1960.

However, as refrigeration and pasteurization technology advanced in the following decades, the need for frozen juices fell out of popularity, replaced by fresh alternatives.

Minute Maid still sells fresh juices and even alcoholic versions. Despite industry troubles, Coca-Cola’s juice category gained market share last quarter bolstered by zero sugar flavors, per its latest earnings report.

But frozen juices continue to struggle: Category sales fell nearly 8% for the 52-weeks ending on January 24, according to market research firm NIQ.



 
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DickMain said:
Who proofread this and said "looks good ship it"
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Jordan Valinsky
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I guess he just writes about food
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Ya, we used to drink a lot of the frozen stuff. But the bottled juices/drinks worked their way in and we never looked back. Recently looked for frozen juices at the commissary and found few, but there are three large refrigerators full of the various bottled juices and drinks.
 
Ngl frozen concentrate and powder makes the best lemonade combined. No its not healthy nor is soda its meant to be refreshing and sweet.
Seriously 1 can of concentrate and 4 large table spoons of lemonade powder with 2 quarts cold water = best lemonade in the world.
 
It seems likely that Walmart and other big retailers will continue to sell generic versions for years to come. I haven't used a frozen juice can in a long time, mostly because juice is a 100% unhealthy sugar bomb.
 
I used to really like the canned grape juice and cranberry juice, but it is like drinking a cup of candy. It's probably a good thing if people aren't buying it anymore.
 
I was really surprised that at least for the Walmart brand, there really wasn't that big of a price difference between fresh and frozen concentrate. So I don't really see the point of the frozen stuff anymore unless there's some bizarre scenario where you will need orange juice at a moments notice, you just don't know when.
 
A spokesperson at Minute Maid said they have "put in motion a final solution to eliminate the juice" from store shelves and that their new product lineup of fresh refrigerated beverages would "last for a thousand years".
 
BulkForceFive said:
A spokesperson at Minute Maid said they have "put in motion a final solution to eliminate the juice" from store shelves and that their new product lineup of fresh refrigerated beverages would "last for a thousand years".
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Narrator: "But Minute Maid did not, in point of fact, last for a thousand years. It barely lasted another twelve years."
 
Kit Marz said:
I was really surprised that at least for the Walmart brand, there really wasn't that big of a price difference between fresh and frozen concentrate. So I don't really see the point of the frozen stuff anymore unless there's some bizarre scenario where you will need orange juice at a moments notice, you just don't know when.
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A moment+time it takes to thaw notice.
 
Brings back memories of my gran, who always used frozen orange juice. It has a really specific flavour that you can’t find in fresh juices. Every now and again (usually on hot days) I crave it. Can’t find it anywhere where I am now.

Sad faces all round.
 
I read this news this morning and it made me unexpectedly nostalgic.

Frozen juice make me think of using juice cans as hair rollers:

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And of this pitcher with the device to break up the juice cylinder:
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The article I read mentioned that Tropicana still makes it. Maybe I'll get some?
 
UselessRubberKeyboard said:
Brings back memories of my gran, who always used frozen orange juice. It has a really specific flavour that you can’t find in fresh juices. Every now and again (usually on hot days) I crave it. Can’t find it anywhere where I am now.

Sad faces all round.
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Grandma's secret recipe was adding a little extra sugar to the orange juice. I found this out at a semi-fancy hotel who served "fresh orange juice" for exorbitant prices, never mentioning the word "squeezed", and a kitchen employee informed me it was Tropicana + sugar and all the old biddies loved it.
 
LeChampion1992 said:
Ngl frozen concentrate and powder makes the best lemonade combined. No its not healthy nor is soda its meant to be refreshing and sweet.
Seriously 1 can of concentrate and 4 large table spoons of lemonade powder with 2 quarts cold water = best lemonade in the world.
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I always preferred to use the frozen stuff as a base (and also ensure that your lemonade was cold right away) and then add the juice of a handful of actual lemons to make the finished product both less sweet and more characterful since you get the oils from the fresh lemons in the process.
 
Frozen canned limeade and pink lemonade were a staple in breakfasts at my grandparents house in the 80s and 90s. I'm going to miss these being around
 
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