On his move to California, Mike Dussault drank a Nectar in every state to remind himself of the best place on earth. Bizarre? Yes. Disturbingly amusing? Possibly. Found on a Nantucket Nectars bottle cap? Definitely.
A staggering array of relatively useless trivia lies underneath the bottle caps of Orange Mango, Kiwi Berry and all of the more than two dozen flavors of gourmet juices produced by the company. The edifying tidbits are methodically chosen at the Nantucket Nectars headquarters in the brick building on Dunster Street where around 40 of the company’s 100 employees are based.
Nantucket Nectars public relations manager Amy Hornyak reveals that the entire process of “cap facts” selection is carried out as one of the tasks assigned to two marketing employees. According to Hornyak, the facts fall into three groups: details about the island of Nantucket, information about the employees who are involved in producing and selling the juices and stories about “Juice Guys out there”—those who enjoy drinking the finished product.
Over the years, Nantucket Nectars has printed over 750 different random statements on their bottle caps. About 100 are used each year, a selection that Hornyak says produces “a different mix, but with some oldies but goodies that stay on.” The trademark caps are used “to give the company some personality,” so that consumers can get a taste for its young, fun nature “every time they open a bottle.” But the main virtue of the whimsical trivia is, according to Hornyak, to “help Juice Guys everywhere understand what [Nantucket Nectars] is all about.”
The company, which claims its heart still belongs to Nantucket, moved to the mainland when business took off and the company outgrew its office on the island. After a short stint in Brighton, they moved to Harvard Square five years ago. Nantucket Nectars must be enjoying what Hornyak calls the Square’s young, diverse environment because the lease on their property has just been extended for five years.
Hornyak adds that the cap guys love suggestions, which anyone can submit by visiting the website www.juiceguys.com. “You never know,” she says. “You might be on one of our caps.”
—A.A. Prabhu
