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Hard to notice, but Tropicana shrank the size of its orange juice containers

 
Tropicana Pure Premium Healthy Heart Orange Juice 52 oz. (Pepsico)
Tropicana Pure Premium Healthy Heart Orange Juice 52 oz. (Pepsico)
Published Sept. 4, 2018

You might not be getting as many glasses out of your Tropicana orange juice container these days.

The company is moving from 59-ounce to 52-ounce plastic bottles, a difference of a little less than a cup.

The change is hard to detect. The new containers are the same height and width, but thinner. You can still find the larger containers in some stores but not for much longer.

Tropicana, founded in Bradenton in 1947, said the move affects most of its products that come in the 59-ounce bottle. Competitor Simply Orange made a similar change earlier this year.

MORE BUSINESS: Florida construction projects slowed by lack of enough skilled workers.

Shoppers can be particularly price sensitive when it comes to food items like orange juice. Companies often elect to shrink the size, instead of raising the price. Tropicana appears to have followed that script.

"After recent natural events — including Hurricane Irma — orange crop yields have declined, which had led to increased commodity prices," the company said on its website. "To offset this, we decreased our package size."

Chicago-based PepsiCo bought Tropicana in 1998.

• • •

Tampa's Peerfit raised another $8 million in its latest round of funding.

This time the investors include Boston Celtics co-owner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck. He joins Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, Outback Steakhouse founder Chris Sullivan and Colliers International Florida executive chairman Lee Arnold, who invested last year.

Peerfit, which has raised more than $23 million, is a digital platform that allows companies and insurance carriers to offer individualized fitness classes to their clients and employees. So far, its studio network is in 46 states.

"We are thrilled to continue to raise funds from individuals and small groups of like-minded successful business people, without going the more traditional (venture capital) route," Peerfit founder and CEO Ed Buckley said in a statement. "The caliber of investors we continue to add to our table speaks to the quality of the product and service we are building."

In 2014, Peerfit was one of seven health care startups in Tampa to participate in the Healthbox startup accelerator, held at the Tampa Bay WaVE facility.

"We are very glad to partner with Ed and his team, and legendary investor and my good friend Jeff Vinik, on their exciting mission to completely redo and improve corporate and individual wellness," Grousbeck said.

• • •

Tech Data's stock woes have continued since the Clearwater company failed to meet earnings expectations Thursday.

The share price closed down nearly 14 percent that day. It fell farther Friday and was down slightly Tuesday, finishing at $72.26. (The market was closed on Labor Day.)

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MORE BUSINESS: Meet the new(ish) CEO of Tampa Bay's largest company.

Tech Data, Tampa Bay's largest public company by revenue, buys computer equipment from major suppliers then ships it to IT customers.

The share price has fallen more than 26 percent since the year began.

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Contact Graham Brink at gbrink@tampabay.com. Follow @GrahamBrink.