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7 Question Interview with Shepard Ritzen
Hall of Famer Shepard Ritzen took time out of his busy schedule to speak
with us about his love for SURGE and his thoughts on becoming a Hall of
Famer. He is no doubt one of the most dedicated SURGE lovers anywhere
and is ever-deserving of his spot in The SURGE Lovers' Hall of Fame.
1. Tell us about your first time...drinking SURGE, that is!
I cannot recall the first time I sipped the Surge, but I do remember a
breakthrough I achieved with a few other friends in college. My roommates
and I had an extra bottle of vodka around, but a lack of mixers. So I
bravely crawled under my bed, where I kept my Surge Stash and decided
to see how it would cut the vodka. And voila! One of the best tastes that
is now forever lost. For, I would never taint the limited reservoir of
Surge with a foreign beverage. It is the best stand alone drink there
is. Which brings us to the next question:
2. What is it that separates SURGE from every other beverage?
The taste is amazing...it is sweet, like a fruit roll-up, but not overly
sugary. Surge tastes good warm and, dare I say, flat: two things that
make other sodas "toss-away drinks" after too long. The carbonation
level of Surge is quite perfect, and perhaps the least carbonated of any
soda beverage I have ever tasted. This makes it a great drink for refreshment
during sports. And, above all, the magical color it turns when poured
from a fountain is fascinating. Surge is a virtual "hyper-color"
soda that turns from aqua-marine into its familiar neon green, as if it
tells you when it is ready to be consumed. This gives Surge a high entertainment
value, pushing its full appeal up higher. That said, my love for Surge
is so great, that...
3. What was the craziest thing you've ever done for a SURGE?
Upon hearing that a coca-cola bottling plant 2 hrs away from my home was
still producing Surge, I decide to make a car journey to the plant. I
heard that they did not sell soda directly to the public, but I was thinking
that if they make Surge, then it must be for sale in local convenience
stores and supermarkets. So that was my Quest...to drive the 2 hr trip
to the plant, and stop at every convenience store along the highway in
hopes that one would sell Surge. So exit after exit, off-rap after off-ramp,
Texaco after Mobile, no Surge was for sale. I finally got into the small
town, and asked where the plant was located. I traveled down a back alley
dirt road which dumped me into a huge warehouse/parking lot by the main
highway. I parked in one of the thousands of vacant spots and approached
the lifeless building. I walked in through an open door, but there was
no sign of life. There was however, millions of cans, stacked ceiling
high, ready to be shipped out to Albany, Schenectady, and other NY locations.
I saw brands of soda I had never seen before, but no Surge. I stopped
a worker who was busy riding a rather loud forklift around the warehouse
floor, and inquired about Surge. He said they had not made it in over
a year, and had no plans to ever make it again. He said perhaps another
county, 2 hrs further away, might still make Surge. But that was for another
day, and I went home defeated, tired, and Surgeless. So I'd say...
4. If there were a store down the street who still sold 12 packs of
SURGE, how much money would you be willing to spend?
I'd be willing to spend $24. Even more if they brought it back with the
Old Surge Logo.
5. If Doug Daft, the CEO of Coca-Cola, were sitting across from you
right now, what would you say to convince him to bring SURGE back to every
store in America?
I'd hope to know in the future that I was going to meet him. Because to
prepare, I'd do plenty of marketing research to show him that Surge is
a money making product. Because no matter how great Surge is, or how much
I love it, I realize that it is not the taste that pulled the beverage
off the shelves. It is the predictable financial gain. I would have to
prove to him that people would make Surge a cash cow for Coca-Cola. Being
part of the Hall Of Fame should require such actions. Beyond that...
6. What does becoming a member of the SURGE Lover's Hall of Fame
mean to you?
It means I am recognized not just by my group of friends, but nationwide
that I love Surge, and would be a different person if not for the soda.
It holds, along with an extreme honor, a requirement to uphold the quest
to bring Surge back to as many fans as I can. It is acknowledging the
work I have done, not as work, but as necessary and fun. And for everybody
else out there, I'd recommend, that...
7. Being a Hall of Famer means that you've dedicated yourself to SURGE
as few others have. In your opinion, what is the most important thing
a SURGE fan can do to help bring back the drink they love?
The best thing to do is let the convenience store clerks, the coca-cola
shelvers, the local bottlers, and especially places that until recently
sold Surge, know that you will be a continual patron to their establishment
if they could reinstate the sales of Surge. Also let the locations that
still sell Surge know your loyalty too. And that even though you are only
one person who feels strongly enough to voice your opinion to someone
of "product-placement authority," there are millions more who
are just as eager to get a chance to drink Surge again. "If at first
by fountain, then eventually by can and bottle."
Back to Shepard's Hall of Fame Home
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