Commission Votes to Approve NYC Snapple Deal

A review commission voted last week to approve a controversial five-year deal worth $166 million giving Snapple exclusivity as New York City's beverage vendor.

New York City Comptroller William Thompson, who had called for deal to be cancelled and audited, voted against it along with New York's five borough presidents, who accounted for one vote.

The deal had been shrouded in controversy after Thompson said that the city may have failed to conduct a fair and open competitive process in the award of the agreement and that a conflict of interest had created problems with Octagon, the Department of Education's marketing agent (Xtra Dec. 9).

Representatives of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration hold four seats on the committee. Those votes sealed the deal, according to news reports.

The partnership, announced in September, called for Snapple to sell juice drinks and bottled water in the city's 1,200 schools. Distribution was to begin within 30 days. In the second, more lucrative deal, Snapple was to put vending machines in all 6,000 of the city's public buildings to sell its iced tea, water and Yoo-hoo chocolate drink. That deal is set to begin Jan. 1, 2004. Snapple bid $40.2 million for the school distribution deal and $126 million for vending in public buildings.