ICONIC Mildura fruit juice company Lencia Fruit Juices is closing its doors after almost 50 years serving north-west Victoria and south-western New South Wales.
The company, which was established in 1971 by the Weir family – who ran the operation from their milk business Weir’s Melrose Dairy – was placed into the hands of liquidators this week.
Lencia was Sunraysia’s first orange juice company and its brands included Lencia and Cruncha, as well as Ducats and Mr D’s, which were acquired in November 2015, expanding the company product range to include fruit juices, fruit drinks, non-carbonated drinks and frozen ice blocks.
At a general meeting of the members of the company held on Monday, it was resolved that the company be wound up and that liquidators be appointed.
Former Mildura Mayor Bruce Weir, who started the business with his father and brother, said it would be a loss to Mildura.
Mr Weir said the business idea originated in England, where his father and brother saw first-hand orange juice being delivered to houses.
“When they came back we talked about it and we went and saw the Agriculture Department and eventually got around to (packaging) orange juice in cartons and that’s how it started,” Mr Weir said.
“Milk was the mainstay and we just thought the orange juice would be a little bit on top, but in its heyday it was equally, if not better than, milk.
“When we started with orange juice we went to practically every house in Mildura and left a free carton on the doorstep.
“That’s how we spread the word and that’s how it became so popular.”
Mr Weir said that while packaging the orange juice in cartons was originally an aside, its popularity grew quickly.
“When we first started we just couldn’t keep up – we were working day and night and still couldn’t keep up, that’s how popular it was,” he said.
“We went right down the Mildura railway line into every little town, but eventually we sat back and worked out that it wasn’t really paying to do that so we mainly concentrated on Mildura and Broken Hill.
“We even sent a semi-trailer load to Darwin, but the costs were too much to do that regularly.”
Mr Weir said that during the height of its operation the orange juice and milk bottling components were a combined effort.
“Milk was the mainstay because that was every day of the week, seven days a week under the Sunraysia Dairies brand,” he said.
“We’d do milk in the early in the morning, finish bottling, wash down and clean up and then in would come the orange juice so it was a really full day.
“We were squeezing Valencia orange juice one day and someone said, ‘Why don’t we cut it in half and just call it Lencia juice?’ and that’s how the name came about.”
Mr Weir said it would be “extremely disappointing” to see another Mildura icon disappear.
“It was a very good business – we had excellent staff – all local lads and ladies and we were sort of one big family,” he said.
“I’m sure it would be a sad day if that happened, because we need to keep those industries going.”
The company was contacted for comment.
