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Juice upgrade for welcome center visitorsBy MARK ALBRIGHT, Times Staff Writer© St. Petersburg Times published July 8, 2002 After serving orange juice made from frozen concentrate for 52 years, the folks who pass out free OJ samples at Florida's welcome centers finally are ditching their can openers. Within three months, welcome centers will switch to Vitality brand dispensers that pour 3-ounce shots of not-from-concentrate chilled orange or grapefruit juice. The first dispensers were installed at the center near Panama City last month. "Not-from-concentrate orange juice is where all our industry growth is, so we figured we should put our gold standard product out there," said Eric Boomhower, spokesman for the state Department of Citrus in Lakeland. The department spends $180,000 a year supplying orange juice to Visit Florida Inc., the tourist marketing agency that took over the welcome centers from the state Department of Transportation. About 85 percent of the people who make a pit stop there slug down a sample. Many complained long ago that the state was using cheaper juice. "People have been telling us they expect juice not made from concentrate," said Brian Rehwinkle, who manages the welcome centers. "Many say they want fresh-squeezed, but when we tell them we've now got the same not-from-concentrate style they get in the grocery store, they're happy."
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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