SEPTEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 23
APPLE & EVE
THE JUICE KING
BY BRIANNA KOVIT
In 1975, Hofstra Law student Gordon
Crane was in search of a way to pay his
tuition bills. His solution? Found a (now
multimillion-dollar) juice business.
In the beginning, Crane partnered with
a cider mill in the Hudson Valley to press
fresh apples. Unsurprisingly, the company’s
first best-selling product was apple
juice. Based in Port Washington, Apple
& Eve was originally a niche northeast
success. By the time Crane earned his
unused law degree in 1978, the company
had earned its first $1 million in revenue.
“The whole concept of Apple & Eve is all-natural,”
said Crane to The New York Times.
In 1982, the company became the first
to sell 100 percent juice products in
brick-pack single-serve
boxes, according to Long
Island Business News.
Today, these are a kid’s
lunchbox staple item.
The taste of each juice
used to be catered to
Crane’s taste buds, except
in the case of the children’s
line, described as
nothing but juice. When
deciding on the flavor,
Crane preferred a more
tart juice but his quality
control team insisted
kids would prefer a
sweeter drink. In 1992,
Crane visited his niece
Felicia’s third-grade
class in Plainview to
settle a taste test
debate.
The results? Kids liked
it sweet. Kids won.
In 1999, Apple & Eve
introduced a line of
Sesame Street-branded
juices which featured
Muppets on
the packaging. This
was the first time that
the program’s parent
company permitted
a food product to
use its characters to
sell to kids and their
families. This collaboration
contributed
to the juice brand’s
steadily growing annual earnings.
In 2014, Crane sold his company to
Canada’s Lassonde Industries Inc. for
$150 million in cash. Apple & Eve has 14
juice-making plants across the country
but is still headquartered in Port
Washington. Lassonde, which is based
in Quebec, reached out to Apple & Eve
in an effort to enter the branded juice
business in this country.
Crane, who serves as chief executive
officer, and his brother, Executive Vice
President Cary Crane remain with the
company.
"This isn’t an asset," Gordon Crane said
to Long Island Business News. "This is
my life… something that I truly love to
do.”
WHOLLY MOLI
Apple & Eve is based in Port
Washington.
516.338.4800
4800 BRUSH HOLLOW ROAD . WESTBURY
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