Don't Worry, High Level Chefs Delight In Capri Suns, Too

Maybe you grew up sipping on tropically-flavored Capri Suns as a lunchtime treat, or maybe you were the parent sticking them in your kid's lunch bag. These inventive drink pouches never fail to quench one's thirst with a refreshing burst of flavor –  and have been doing so ever since 1969. It's an easily portable drink that even adults love to sip on, and it makes sense for people of all ages to reach for a Capri Sun instead of something with a name like Juicy Juice. Even the chefs working at the East Coast seafood hotspot, The Salt Line, know what's up when it comes to choosing Capri Suns as their refreshment of choice. The best part is that there are many popular flavors out there to love, like Pacific Cooler and Kiwi Strawberry, to name a few.

Besides the nostalgia factor that comes with purchasing the easily recognizable, bright blue boxes Capri Suns are sold in, the company seems to keep upping the quality of its ingredients. In 2020, the brand announced it was moving away from a recipe filled with artificial sweeteners and labeled pouches sold in Europe with "Nothing Artificial" to sweeten the deal. In 2022, Capri Sun revamped its juice formula once again with the use of monk fruit sweetener and cut back on sugar by 40%. We love ever-evolving and improving products, but for The Salt Line chefs, the reason for loving a Capri Sun is much simpler.

Executive chef Kyle Bailey's extensive experience in the culinary industry implies that he may have a taste for only the best of the best in terms of his favorite dishes and drinks. Well, that isn't entirely true. Dubbed "Chef of the Year" and winner of the 2019 RAMMY Award, Bailey doesn't only enjoy Capri Suns, he also makes sure his kitchen staff at The Salt Line have pouches of their own to savor at the end of a busy workday.

We can only imagine the sight of a head chef breaking out a flavorful assortment of Capri Suns post-shift and exclaiming happily, "Drinks are on me!" Maybe they all share a celebratory pouch clink together. You've got to admit, it's pretty wholesome. It also seems like a better way to wind down after a fast-paced day in the service industry, instead of swinging two or four drinks back at the bar after work. All the stress of the day is channeled through stabbing that tiny straw into the pouch's opening, as long as you don't stab it the whole way through and lose out on some of that precious juice!

"There's nothing better than seeing the joy on a group of hardworking adults' faces as they devour a child-sized drink at the end of a busy service," Bailey said to Food & Wine in regard to enjoying Capri Suns. It may seem like a silly choice to some, but sometimes it's the little things that get us through the day.