National Beverage history

He performed another securities trick, selling another 5.2 million new Burnup & Sims shares to National Beverage in June 1986, which further diluted Posner's stake to 23 percent.

Nevertheless, the company had flowered into a flavored-soda maker and added several brands to its portfolio since the 1987 acquisition of Faygo.

Caporella was overjoyed by the accomplishment, declaring, "It's like being reborn." Posner, however, did not make his full retreat until 1988 when Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner purchased Posner's shares and transferred them to Burnup & Sims.

According to the plan first revealed in April 1990, National Beverage was to be spun off as a separate company and its stock offered for sale to the public.

To make the situation more distasteful to some, Caporella received one percent of National Beverage's revenues to run the company, a salary that amounted to $3 million following the 1991 public offering.

Having established a niche in flavored soft drinks, Caporella decided to part ways with Burnup & Sims, selling it in 1994 to Jorge Mas Canosa, whose son turned it into the powerhouse firm that’s today known as Coral Gables-based MasTec.

National Beverage spotted the trends and jumped on the opportunity to push out LaCroix, a flavored sparkling water brand it had acquired in 1996, targeting grocery stores such as Whole Foods Market.

By 1998, sales had surpassed $400 million, far below the $1 billion goal Caporella had been aiming for during the previous decade.

In 2003, National brought out its first product, Shasta Shortz, a kid-based soda.

Here’s what Caporella had to say in a news release after the company reported quarterly earnings in 2013: