![]() ![]() He waited in a conference room until Palmer’s right-hand man, Alistair Johnston, joined him. It rained in Orlando on the day of Byrd’s presentation. “He did that because her name was Birdie,” Byrd wrote. ![]() After the round, Byrd’s mom, who waited tables there, took Palmer’s order and he gave her hug. As he wrote in his self-published book, “The Original Arnold Palmer Tea Story,” Byrd had been 12 years old when he watched Palmer play in a tournament at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, in 1962. What would a drink honoring you contain and what would it be named? /7R76t6XXctīyrd lived down the road from Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge, but had never met the legendary golfer before. The “Arnold Palmer” is a mixture of lemonade and iced tea. Byrd whipped up 10 copies of his business plan at Kinkos and brought three samples, including one from his flavor house (Allen Flavors in New Jersey). He made the coldest of cold calls to IMG, who managed Palmer’s business affairs and licensing deals, and was granted a meeting on the Monday after the 2001 Arnold Palmer Invitational. In the summer, many of his dairy clients converted their fluid lines to tea and lemonade. It was an idea whose time had come.”īyrd had experience in the food and beverage industry, previously working as the president of a chocolate division, developing ice cream flavors and selling dairy products. ![]() “Every bartender knew what an Arnold Palmer was, but he’d never made a penny off it. “I had this vision that it had been a brand for darn near 20 years already,” Byrd said. Louis when he broached the concept of marketing the drink to the men that became his business partners – Charlie Beck and Mark Dowey – in what would become Innovative Flavors, Inc., and scratched out on the back of a paper napkin the business plan that would become Arnold Palmer Tea. Years later, Byrd had ordered his share of Arnold Palmers and was sipping one during a rain delay at a golf outing in St. I’m going to take a thermos of iced tea and lemonade.’ ” You make the iced tea and make a big pitcher, and we’ll just put a little lemonade in it and see how that works.’ We mixed it up, and I got the solution about where I wanted it and I put the lemonade in it,” he recalled in an “ESPN 30 for 30” short.“I had it for lunch after working on the golf course. “My wife made a lot of iced tea for lunch, and I said, ‘Hey, babe, I’ve got an idea. “We’re selling the equivalent of a million cans a day,” Byrd said.Īs the story goes, Palmer conceived the idea of mixing these two refreshing drinks together one day long ago to his first wife, Winnie. 1 selling iced tea maker, to market the Arnold Palmer brand of half iced tea, half lemonade, which became one of the fastest-growing beverages in the U.S. On Friday, Byrd, 72, celebrated the 20 th anniversary of striking a deal with AriZona Beverage, the No. “There goes another few pennies for me,” he said. ORLANDO – Chris Byrd wouldn’t be caught dead littering, but he freely admits that any time he sees an empty can of Arnold Palmer Half & Half a smile immediately comes to his face.
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