[wolfhumble]

There was a company in Mallorca that tried something similar with lemons about 12 years ago: Pep Lemon. I remember hearing that they noticed huge amounts of lemons lying unused all over the island and wanted to do something worthwhile with them.

They stopped production in 2019, citing a “lack of investors.” During their operation, they were involved in a legal dispute with PepsiCo over the use of the name Pep. I’m not sure whether this was because of their cola product, Pep Cola, or simply due to the similarity of the brand names. Pep is a diminutive of Josep in Catalan and is very common, so it may have been just a coincidence. They tried to export their products, but this turned out to be expensive, so they instead hoped for strong local support within Mallorca (see point 1 below). In that article they say that they produced 1000 bottles a year in their factory. That sounds very little; I wonder if that is correct?

1) News that they are on the verge of closing: https://ib3.org/pep-lemon-liquidara-lempresa-a-final-dany-si...

2) YouTube video attached to the news article, see 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXEsIbSkWQU

3) News that they are closing: https://ib3.org/pep-lemon-tanca-les-portes-definitivament

[jmkd]

The story of soft drinks on the island is astonishing. 130 drinks companies at one point. My understanding is that Coca Cola took over distribution for the countless small companies and - once embedded - said we don't need your product any more, adios. Don't know if true but a tale often told here.