A new company will supply the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with Naked Juice, a popular drink franchise.

The change and the drinks’ soaring popularity with the addition of 16 new flavors available to the student body, have caused a shortage of Naked Juice on campus.

According to Pioneer Crossing Retail Lead Eric Egan, the growing popularity has resulted in a short-term shortage that will be handled over the next few weeks.

The number of bottles sold on campus has more than tripled since the switch, with average sales of more than 1,000 bottles per week, not including the new 32-ounce bottles of select flavors, which have also sold well.

“There are a lot more people ordering the bigger ones,” Lauren Jacobson, employee of Kristine’s Kafe and freshman chemistry major, said. “I’ve also noticed a greater variety [of juices] bought.”

The greater variety of Naked Juice has changed the decision-making process in point of sale, which have been heavily influenced by consumers, as previously less desirable flavors have risen in popularity.

“Mighty Mango has gone from our number seven seller up to the second-most popular flavor on campus,” Egan said. “This change in flavor popularity is causing all of our managers to re-learn their ordering process. Previously, I may have only ordered six or eight cases of a certain flavor and I find myself ordering 16 or more cases now.”

However, according to Egan, students will potentially see an increase in stocked coolers in the near future.

The new supplier will also provide campus customers with IZZE Sparkling juices and Tropicana juices at the various retail locations throughout the university.

The new distributor is warehoused out of Madison, which decreases the time it takes for products to arrive.

Also, the new distributor provides a cost that allows Naked Juice to continue to be sold at $2.99 per bottle, while the old distributor’s price was on the rise.

“We were set on keeping a retail price of under $3 per bottle and the change of distributor allowed us to continue doing this,” Egan said.

Previously more expensive flavors, such as Protein Zone, Pomegranate and Açai, have been dropped to $2.99 each as well.

The challenges of growing fruits and vegetables in the off-season have minimally affected the shortage, but Egan mentioned that Naked Juice warned them of this possible factor.

“They have made a conscious decision to compromise their supply rather than their product by continuing to only put the best ingredients into their products,” Egan said.

This decision allows the Naked Juice franchise to be confident in the ingredients in their bottles, assuring that potentially harmful pesticides will not tarnish the final products.

Naked Juice’s class-action lawsuit regarding the use of the word “natural” on its labels did not have an effect on the shortage.

To handle the shortage, pallets filled with around 100 cases of Naked Juice will be delivered to the Greenwood Avenue Market as a backup supply.

“If we need more juice, we will just call GWAM and they will bring it over,” Abby Edge, manager of Kristine’s Kafe, said.

This method pertains to all the locations on campus where Naked is sold, and there are also five new coolers around campus to deal with the greater demand.

According to Edge, Kristine’s Kafe has maintained their stock fairly well.

However, they continuously end up running out of some of the more popular flavors.

“Supply issues are not all that uncommon whenever we switch vendors. After the first month or so, we generally develop a strong relationship with our vendors to a point where supply scarcity will no longer be a concern,” Egan said. “Let’s hope that, come springtime, there will be no risk of running out at all.”