A sign-writer by trade, Pete Golland has soft drink in his DNA, so restoring one of Orange's iconic family brands, Mayfields, was always going to be a labour of love.
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Can you explain your link to the iconic Mayfields brand and do you have many memories of it growing up?
My great grandfather Herb Mayfield suggested to his son-in-law (my grandfather) Ray Golland, that they start a soft drink factory back in 1948
Herb retired after a few years leaving Ray to run the business along with my father Bill Golland and a few other shareholders.
That lasted until the early '80s when they merged with Orbell's from Dubbo to form Midwest Bottling.
The main memories I have are from this period, when the factory was in Forest Road. I was a bit too young for the Sampson Street factory!
What was the attraction behind re-establishing the brand?
Part of the attraction is that there are very few small soft drink businesses in the state nd none in the Central West.
Along with that, Orange is good at supporting local brands, particularly when it comes to food and beverage.
So we figured that combining those aspects with our history and a bit of nostalgia would make for a successful re-boot. Seems to be going okay so far!
Was there a lot to learn, or re-learn and are there any family secrets involved
Yep, there was plenty to learn!
I grew up with many conversations around production and formulations, but it's only when you're in the middle of it that you really learn what happens.
We had thought that all the formulations were lost over time, particularly with mergers along the way. However, a few years back Dad found all Ray's text books and hand written notes in a book clean up at home. So yes, a few hidden secrets discovered!
Mayfields is up against some big players, for example Coca-Cola and Schweppes), where do you think you have an advantage?
We're a bit lucky in that, for the most part, we're in different markets.
The people who buy from us do so for reasons other than cheapest product.
It's more of an emotional buy, with a bit of nostalgia. I think that's our best advantage.
And with us you're also dealing with locals, face-to-face, rather than giant corporations.
What's been the biggest hurdle?
Well, there's been a few since we started!
We kicked of a few months before COVID hit, then we've a had a couple of rather cool and wet summers - not great drink weather.
But thanks to much help from my wife Leanne, we've managed to keep going, and will do for a while to come.
For the grammar sticklers, Pete is aware the apostrophe denoting possession is missing from the Mayfields brand, he explained the original bottles were produced around the 50s and the logo has just stuck.
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