Sula is the largest Honduran

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

fruit juices Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such a ...

and nectars, and one of the few Honduran brands to sell products internationally, including in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

History

Sula was founded in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671 ...

, in the

Sula Valley The Valley of Sula (also, Sula Valley) is the largest alluvial valley of Honduras. It is located in the northwest of the country, and within it lie several of Honduras's most important cities, such as San Pedro Sula, El Progreso, Choloma, Puert ...

of Honduras in 1960, as a social project in alliance with

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...

. The objective of the project was the installation of a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

production plant in northern Honduras. After a privatization process, the brand was acquired by

Lacthosa Lacthosa (incorporated as Lácteos de Honduras S.A.) is a Honduran producer of food and beverage products, focusing on dairy and fruit juices. It leads the country in dairy production. History Lacthosa was established by Honduran entrepreneur Sc ...

in March 1992, shortly after Lacthosa had been established by Honduran entrepreneur Schucry Kafie. Lacthosa revitalized the Sula brand through the introduction of new products, particularly orange and fruit juices, cream, malts, and investment in modern technology.

Products and exporting

Juice products now include varieties of

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as var ...

apple juice Apple juice is a fruit juice made by the maceration and pressing of an apple. The resulting expelled juice may be further treated by enzymatic and centrifugal clarification to remove the starch and pectin, which holds fine particulate in suspe ...

pineapple juice Pineapple juice is a liquid made from pressing the natural liquid from the pulp of the pineapple (a fruit from a tropical plant). Numerous pineapple varieties may be used to manufacture commercial pineapple juice, the most common of which are ...

guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, ...

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae. ...

, and

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non- ...

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

, and apple nectars. , Sula remains a subsidiary of Lacthosa, and is the primary producer of fruit juices and nectars for Lacthosa, and the brand name under which these products are sold. The Sula brand has been described as "the flagship brand" of Lacthosa, and is also the brand name under which products are

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

ed to other countries in Central America, and to the United States. In the mid-1990s, the Sula brand was positioned for sales in Guatemala and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

, and in September 2001 Lacthosa entered the U.S. market after receiving an export permit from the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

. In January 2015, Lacthosa invested $15 million to expand juice production and enable the export its products to a greater number of international markets. Countries to which the company exports products now include

, Guatemala, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, and the

(primarily to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

). Lacthosa exports, primarily under the "Sula" brand name, account for seventy percent of the export of dairy products and their derivatives from Honduras. It distributes its products in the United States under Sula Food & Beverage Corporation. In October, 2016, Sula joined with a number of other companies and organizations from various areas of Honduras in becoming incorporated with Marca País Honduras, which allows Sula to bear the stamp of the Honduras Brand as part of a national initiative to promote investment, exports, tourism, and national pride.

References

{{reflist

External links

Sula.hn
(Spanish homepage) Honduran brands Juice brands