NO, Slice Soda Is NOT Making a Comeback

Taste of Home ran an article that is sure to delight many of us ’80s kids: Slice soda is making a comeback! The headline proclaimed “This vintage soda is making a comeback and ’80s kids are freaking out.” Another headline proclaims “This Cult 90s Soda is Officially Coming Back.” Well, if you heard about this, you may have freaked out prematurely.

I’m here to tell you that, you may have your Orange Crush, but you don’t have your Orange Slice, or any of the other fruit flavors they used to sell. ¹,²

A Slice of History

Slice was introduced by PepsiCo in 1984, starting with Slice Lemon/Lime flavor, meant to be a replacement for Teem soda, which was the lemon-lime flavored soft drink Pepsi introduced in 1959 as a direct competitor to 7Up and Sprite.

Teem was discontinued in 1984 (still produced in some countries) and Slice was marketed in its place, again, as a direct competitor to the iconic lemon/lime soda brands Sprite and 7up.

Slice had an ace in the hole that caused many a kid to proclaim it superior: It boasted 10% real fruit juice. Ten whole percent! By 1986, the success of the original slice prompted Pepsi to go a bit wild with the flavors, starting with Mandarin Orange and then adding Apple, Cherry Cola, along with a diet version of each.

The revolutionary idea of adding fruit juice to a fruit-flavored soda caused enough success for Coca-Cola and Cadbury Schweppes to start their own juice-infused soft drinks, with Minute Maid and Sunkist, respectively. All expectations were that soft drinks with real juice added were the next big thing and, perhaps, would even appeal to health-conscious consumers.

In 1990, the Slice flavor line expanded again with Strawberry, Pineapple, Fruit Punch, and Grape. Other flavors included Orange Citrus (replaced original orange), Passionfruit, Peach, Cherry-Lime, Dr. Slice (like Dr. Pepper), and “Red.”

In 2006, a diet version was introduced called Slice ONE, with diet orange, strawberry, and peach flavors. These were only sold at Wal-Mart Stores, by which time the original Slice line was already discontinued. See a more complete list, below.

Original Slice Flavor List

Lemon-lime Slice (original flavor) (1984-2000; replaced Teem in the United States, discontinued with the introduction of Sierra Mist)
Mandarin Orange Slice (1986-97)
Apple Slice (1986-88)
Diet Apple Slice
Cherry Cola Slice (1986-88, discontinued following the introduction of Wild Cherry Pepsi)
Diet Cherry Cola Slice
Strawberry Slice (1990s)
Pineapple Slice (1990s)
Fruit punch Slice (1990s)
Grape Slice (1990s)
Orange Citrus Slice (late 1990s, replaced Orange in regular and diet, caffeine was also added)
Passionfruit Slice (1990s)
Peach Slice (1990s)
Cherry-Lime Slice
Dr Slice (pepper-flavored drink, 1990s)
Red Slice (1990s)
Diet Lemon-Lime Slice
Diet Mandarin Orange Slice
Pink Lemonade Slice (1990s)
Orange Slice (1997, replaced Mandarin Orange in regular and diet)
Mango Slice (India and Pakistan)

What Happened to Slice Soda?

By 1987, Slice commanded 3.2% of the American soda pop market, a 40 billion dollar industry that was dominated by cola flavors. But Slice was already losing its fizz by 1988, having fallen to below two percent.

Besides Cola, the juggernaut of the industry at 70%, lemon-lime sodas had 10 to 12 percent of the market, and orange-flavored sodas 5 to 8 percent. By 1990, several of the Slice flavors were already gone, including Cherry Cola, Apple, and most of the original diet versions.

The original slice flavor, lemon-lime, was replaced by Sierra Mist (now Starry) in 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, Slice disappeared from the market.

It would be difficult to say what prompted the failure of this once-rising brand. One thing that seems evident is that ‘real fruit juice’ was not a significant driving factor for consumers. While initially, we may have speculated that the real juice made it better, the introduction of competing products didn’t bear this out.

The success of Minute Maid and Sunkist probably had much more to do with the brand names already being associated with juice, rather than any actual juice they contained.

The other problem is that PepsiCo milked the brand too early and too aggressively. Saturating the market with so many flavors is not necessarily a consumer draw.

And, although this is only speculation on my part, I suspect that most consumers associated soda brands with multiple flavors as being cheaper, generic, bargain, etc. There is nothing wrong with the old iconic NeHi, Faygo, etc., but they were never considered top-shelf in terms of soft drinks.

The New Slice

While the original Slice soft drinks marketed by PepsiCo are gone, the Slice trademark is not. It is not clear exactly when this happened, but by 2018, this trademark had been acquired by New Slice Ventures LLC, which partnered with various other companies to launch a new slice beverage product with lower sugar and sweetened only with organic fruit juice.

These ‘soft drinks’ are now sold in retro-style cans and the company is trying to liken them to the original ’80s Slice while the product itself, as the article mentioned above admits, is ‘technically’ flavored sparkling water.

This means, sort of sweet, perhaps tart, with just a hint of fruit flavor. In other words, this is a new product that is trading under the Slice name.

The new Slice sparkling water beverages are sweetened with allulose, monk fruit extract, and stevia, and flavored with fruit juices and natural flavors.

This isn’t the first outing for the product, despite the exciting headlines. New Slice Ventures first introduced its Slice-branded products in December of 2018 with some decidedly unslice-like flavors: Raspberry & Grapefruit; Blackberry & Mango; and Apple & Cranberry.

Toward the end of 2022, the products were re-branded with the new retro-style cans and more traditional flavors. Right now, the website lists Lemon & Lime, Berry, Orange, and Cherry.

Verdict: Classic Slice Soda is Not Back

So, no, Slice isn’t back. A new beverage named Slice has been introduced. This is not a mere technicality. One of the main questions that lead readers to this site, for instance, is ‘what happened to Sizzlean bacon?‘

If I bought the Sizzlean trademark and used it to brand a sausage product, would this mean Sizzlelean is back? No amount of retro-branding and 80s or 90s nostalgia will morph these drinks into the Slice you used to love.

If you like fruit-juice-infused sort of sweet sparkling waters, then you may like the new Slice, if you can find it. I was unable to find a retailer, using the website tool, within a 100-mile radius of my home.

Turns out, that’s because it’s only available in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, and Nebraska.

Slice Soda FAQ

Did Sierra Mist Replace Slice?

Sierra Mist, introduced in 2000, or 1999 according to some sources, didn’t replace the Slice brand but did replace the original slice flavor, lemon-lime. This makes sense as by that time Lemon-lime slice was no longer a viable competitor to Sprite or 7up. It had become undifferentiated. Slice was too many things to compete well with ONE thing.

Is Slice Coming Back?

That’s the whole purpose of this article, to tell you that Slice as you know is not coming back. And now that the trademark no longer belongs to PepsiCo, we can be sure it will never come back. The new Slice products are in the sparkling beverage or soft drink category but should not be expected to bear any resemblance to the original Slice brand.

Is Starry the Same as Slice?

While Sierra Mist replaced lemon-lime slice, the new brand Starry is the same as Sierra Mist, only renamed. I wouldn’t call this a replacement, in other words, but rather a rebranding. Others, such as the Washington Post, are claiming that this is more than a rebrand, but also a formula change.

The truth is that Pepsi failed to renew its trademark for “Sierra Mist” and it was snatched up by a content creator calling herself “Cierra Mist.” Initially, Pepsi had filed a cease and desist against her, claiming that her “spicy” content would damage their brand and cause people to associate their product with her racy content. Meanwhile, Pepsi had somehow failed to renew their own trademark on the name, and the content creator became the legal owner of the trademark and told Pepsi that they had better stop using the name for their soda lest people associated their product with her content. Thus was born the new name, “Starry.”

It’s true that Starry uses high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. This article speculates that this is why Starry is less sweet, but that makes little sense, as high fructose corn syrup is sweeter tasting than sugar, meaning less of it is required (that’s why its used). You’ll have to judge for yourself whether the new Starry is less sweet, but switching to high fructose corn syrup or from corn syrup back to sugar is not unusual.

Usually, when sodas use ‘real sugar’ this is strategic and is based on the fear and hatred of high fructose corn syrup by the general public (they are nutritionally identical). A switch to high fructose corn syrup for the new Starry is not a marketing advantage at all and there is not much reason to do it except for the fact that sugar is very expensive compared to HFCS.

The fact is, though, as the same article points out, Sierra Mist never really caught on. It was meant to compete with Sprite and 7up while its nature-themed name recalled Mountain Dew.

Starry is, by comparison, a very retro-sounding thing to name a soda. What this all has to do with Gen-Z, as the Post article also claims, is beyond me. Relying on Gen-Z to drive soda sales is like relying on them to use capital letters and punctuation.