Ocean Spray cranberry cooperative pushes plan of attack to survive.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, September, 2004

By Naomi Aoki, The Boston Globe Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Sep. 26--LAKEVILLE, Mass. -- To listen to those outside the company, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. chief executive Randy Papadellis is trying to do the impossible.

Papadellis' mandate -- set this summer by a vote of the 925 growers who own Ocean Spray -- is to turn the brand into a business with which to be reckoned without giving up its independence.

That means taking on goliaths like Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. With soda sales under attack, Coke and Pepsi are moving full-steam ahead into noncarbonated drinks selling everything from water to fruit smoothies. The numbers don't look good for Ocean Spray.

"The equation just doesn't work," said Tom Pirko,...