- Woodroofe
Woodroofe (often shortened to Woodies) is a brand of
soft drinks inSouth Australia .History
William Woodroofe founded the business in 1878 in Norwood,
South Australia . The factory was sited at a natural spring, which was the source of water for the firm's products.Woodroofe's innovative products and aggressive marketing saw them operate successfully as a regional independent soft drink producer for over a century. The most popular flavour was, and continues to be
lemonade .In the 1970s, the growth of national producers and increasing popularity of international brands (particularly
Coca Cola ) resulted in Woodroofe facing increasing challenges to its market position.The business was family owned until it was acquired by
Adelaide businessmenMichael Harbison andTim Hartley . They reinvigorated the business, including introducing new flavours, such as fruit flavoured mineral water. Briefly, they bottledRC Cola under license.In 1983, they floated the business as a public company on the
Adelaide Stock Exchange .Subsequently, the
South Australian Brewing Company purchased the soft drink manufacturing activities and they onsold the business toCadbury Schweppes , who closed the historic Norwood factory and relocated production to their facility at nearby Payneham.Today, Woodroofe soft drinks continue to be marketed as a regional brand in
South Australia .Flavours
Woodroofe's best known and most popular flavour is
lemonade , advertised for many years with the slogan and jingle "Still the best lemonade made".Generations of South Australian mothers gave their sick children boiled Woodroofe's lemonade under medical advice. Fact|date=May 2007
Other distinctive proprietary flavours included "Big Sars"
sarsaparilla and "Sno-Top" (a brown vanilla-flavouredcream soda ). In addition, Woodroofe's produces a range of fruit flavours.ee also
*
South Australian food and drink References
*Woodroofe Limited Prospectus. 1983
*Woodroofe Limited 1983 Annual Report
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