US tea company CEO's response to why he didn't increase prices in 32 years is winning hearts. Watch

In a 2022 interview, Don Vultaggio revealed he keeps his production prices low by spending very little on advertising and relying on word-of-mouth to keep new customers coming. (Image credit: @DonVultaggio/X)

When Don Vultaggio launched AriZona Iced Tea in 1992, he set the price of each can at 99 cents (about Rs 85 today). It has been 32 years since, and the price hasn’t gone up by a penny. Last year, during an interview, the brand’s chairman and founder opened up about why he kept the prices unchanged and how, despite it, his net worth is more than $6 billion. A clip of the interview is now viral.

“People say, ‘How do you do it?‘” Vultaggio said on NBC News. “We make it faster. We ship it better. We ship it closer. The cans are thinner.” Speaking about the key to his company's success, Vultaggio said AriZona Iced Tea has a formula that has worked for decades, and there was no need to change it. The formula helped his net worth grow to more than $6 billion, as per Forbes.

When asked why he never increased the price of his products, Vultaggio said, “We’re successful, we’re debt free, we own everything. Why have people who are having a hard time paying their rent pay more for their drink? Maybe it’s my little way of giving back,” he added.

In a 2022 interview with CNBC Make It, Vultaggio revealed he keeps his production prices low by spending very little on advertising and relying on word-of-mouth to keep new customers coming.

“I tell people every day I go to a gunfight with Coke and Pepsi,” he had said. “I have a water gun, and they have machine guns.”

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Vultaggio's interview had won millions of hearts, and now a clip of it is viral, with users showering praises on him. "A CEO with a soul. And empathy. How rare. How nice," commented one user on Instagram. "How rare, a businessman with a heart," added another.

"God bless this man and his family!" commented a third user while a fourth user wrote, "Absolutely insane smart marketing strategy."

Now, the billionaire hasn't dismissed the possibility of raising the price of AriZona Iced Tea one day, but he said he would try to keep the price the same for as long as possible.

“I don’t know about never, [but] not in the foreseeable future,” he told Today. “We’re going to fight as hard as we can for consumers, because consumers are my friend.”