Early Days In 1887, a young German brewer named, Franz (Frank) Wimmer, arrived in Australia. Frank brought with him a knowledge for brewing soft drinks and an original recipe for a brewed soft drink based on the Sarsparilla root. The next ten years was spent gaining experience in various Queensland cordial factories. In 1909, Frank married and purchased a factory in Nambour, Queensland. He then started what is now recognised as “Wimmers Softdrinks”. Torpedo type hand blown bottle, first used in soft drink manufacture in the early 1800's A few years later, a factory was purchased in Cooroy and was run by Frank's son, Karl John Wimmer, better known as Jack. Production began on non alcoholic soft drinks, manufactured to Frank’s original recipes. The factory consisted of a small wooden building with machinery comprising of one carbonator and pump, with a four foot diameter wheel and handle attached. This had to be turned by hand to pump the water into the carbonator; one corking machine which pushed the corks into bottles and were then tied with wire by hand; one turnover rack to fill Codds (marble) bottles; one syphon filler and one large tub for washing bottles.The bottles were sealed by pressure, on a marble inside the bottle, and the goods were delivered by horse and cart. First Orders One of the first orders,was at Christmas by the Salvation Army, which was conducting a catering business at Maroochydore over the holidays. This large order, which included a large amount of brewed hop and horehound beers, took weeks of working day and night to prepare, but eventually it was all packed in straw in large cases and delivered to the train which took it to the boat for transport to Maroochydore. JaJack (left) and brother Jeff, March 1944 Frank’s two sons, Jack and Jeff worked in the business, until 1940, when the boys left to join Australia’s troops at war. Jeff spent five years in a prison camp in Changi and was unfortunately killed just after his return in an accident at Maroochydore. Marble seal bottle used early 1900's Jack married and had three sons and a daughter, Frank, Geoff, David and Suzanne, Geoff and David who followed their father into the family business. WImmers managed to retain business at this stage, as family cordial factories closed or sold out to the multi-national giants of the industry. In 1974, Geoff went to New Guinea and worked for the South Pacific Brewery, setting up and running a cordial factory in Arawa in Bougainville Island. A New Direction When Geoff returned to Cooroy, and found the business much the same way as it had been for 66 years, he and David decided it was time to sink or swim. The old factory was demolished and a new one replaced it. In an effort to stay competitive in the market, Geoff and David decided to go back to old Franz’s original recipes. The unique range of Wimmer’s Softdrinks were reborn and a niche was found amongst the giants of Pepsi and Coke. These drinks have been so successful, that other soft drink companies have imitated the flavours begun by Wimmers. Wimmer’s flag-bearers are Lemon, Lime & Bitters, and Double Sars (Sarsaparilla), a drink unique to and loved by Queenslanders. Cooroy locals have even been known to add a dash of Sars to their beer! Other flavours such as Raspberry & Lemonade and Lime Cooler were also pioneered by Wimmers Softdrinks. Lemon, Lime and Bitters has proven to be the most popular flavour. When it was first released, it was such an instant success there was a scramble among the smaller soft drink companies to copy it. Soda Syphon Time for Expansion Until fourteen years ago, Wimmers operated solely on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. In a joint venture arrangement, Wimmer’s approached Frank’s Vendors to handle warehousing, marketing and distribution from Coffs Harbour to Darwin. Now, the company’s fourteen soft drink flavours are sold throughout Queensland, Victoria, NSW and New Zealand. Wimmer’s have not only created a market for themselves, but have created a market for a lot of other small companies. Before World War II, there were about 2000 bottlers in Australia. Every little town had its own soft drink company. Over the years, they stopped producing, and became agents for Schweppes and Coke. Now, there’s a bit of growth back to the small bottler. Wimmer’s have shown that the small companies can produce a top quality product and maket it by specialising. Over these recent years, Wimmers have exported their products to markets as far as Japan and Saudi Arabia, traditionally a very difficult market to enter. Filling Crowning In September 2001, Wimmers took over the distribution completely from Frank’s Vendors in Rocklea, Brisbane, trading as Wimmer Beverage Distribution. They also distribute other ranges of products, including drink and snack food products, juices, waters and health and energy drinks. After considerable consumer demand, the company re-introduced their original export brewed ginger beer. To keep up with market trends, Wimmers have commissioned a new range of label designs to be released in late 2002.		.