Frucor Suntory
Our Story
Hungry to make drinks better.
Our hunger to innovate and create beverages that satisfies tomorrow’s thirst has been with us since our first beverage Fresh Up came off the line in 1962.
Although our mission with Fresh Up was simple – to turn leftover apples into a great tasting juice – it was enough to whet our appetite to continue to create more beverages that not only tasted great, but added value to the lives of our customers.
Since then, our hunger has led us on a journey to create some of the most celebrated drinks on the market – and join the ranks of one of the world’s leading beverage and food companies, Suntory.


Find out more about Suntory
Our achievements
Safest Workplace 2020
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Reduce plastic bottle ouput
Since 2020 Frucor has strived to reduce our environmental footprint, switching to biodegrable or recycable packaging solutions.
Diversity Intiative
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Limiting sugar as ingredient
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Timeline
1962
The idea
It all started with the idea to turn reject export apples into a great tasting juice. This great tasting juice turned out to be Fresh Up, which fast became a staple for many Kiwi households.
Back then we were part of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, and produced around 1,000 cans of Fresh Up per day.
1972
Game changer
1978
It’s got to be good for you
New Zealand Olympic gold medallist Sir John Walker becomes the first “face” of Fresh Up. The gold medallist cements his place with Kiwis with the catchphrase, “It’s got to be good for you!”
Legend has it that John came up with the iconic catchphrase out of sheer frustration, as he was unable to remember his lines. The ad became so popular it ended up running on TV for 10 years!
1980
A new dawn
By the beginning of the 1980s, Kiwis’ thirst for juice was on the rise – so much so that by the middle of the decade, sales for juice in New Zealand began to treble year-on-year.
Not one to rest on our laurels, we decided to meet the demand by introducing new brands and packaging to the market.
1982
A big year
To meet the increase in demand for great tasting juices, we launched our tropical blends Just Juice range. The range came in variety of pack sizes and flavours people could consume on the go or at home. New ingredient technology allowed us to use apple juice in a number of different juice flavour blends.
Unlike Fresh Up, Just Juice came from a brand new factory with Tetra Pak packaging that protected it from light, oxygen, air, dirt, moisture and was more light weight.
1989
The genuine article
Towards the end of the 1980s, Kiwis’ thirst for juice began to change…many consumers wanted a juice that contained premium ingredients. What they wanted was The Real McCoy. So that’s what we gave them!
The following year, the Apple & Pear Board becomes known as ENZA.
1992
Another big year
During the 1990s we’d continue to reach important milestones – two of which would happen this year.
The first, the acquisition of NZ Natural; the second, we became one of the first companies in the world to hot-fill juice into plastic PET bottles.
1995 - 1996
We are Frucor
Fresh Up, Just Juice, The Real McCoy and NZ Natural is grouped under the Frucor Beverages brand – a subsidiary of ENZA. We built a new warehouse and creating a new manufacturing plant in the previous warehouse. During this period we start to look beyond our shores and enter other markets.
We become the first non-European country to introduce a 1 litre tetra recap pack. Frucor buys 75% of Stefan’s to create the first nationally distributed, chilled squeezed juice, and launched Fruition – a sparkling fruit-flavoured mineral water.
We build an $8 million bottling warehouse facility in Auckland. Just Juice continues to reinvent itself with the first 125ml tetra pack and the release of Wobbly – New Zealand’s first ever jelly drink.
1997
V is born
1998
Changing hands
Goodbye ENZA and hello Fyers Wickham and Pacific. After 38 years, Frucor leaves ENZA. This opens us up to new opportunities to innovate and introduce new drinks for Kiwis and our global partners to enjoy.
We were growing so fast in Australia that we used our NZ sales force to fly over and help drive the business in Australia.
1999
Growing our portfolio
During this time we strike up a partnership with PepsiCo to add more drinks to our growing portfolio. The partnership gives us the rights to manufacture and distribute soft drinks Pepsi, 7Up, Mountain Dew as well as the sports drink Gatorade to Kiwis.
It was also the year we bought and released our second hydration brand, h2go which also comes with 6000 fridges, trebling what we had previously and giving greater visibility to the rest of the portfolio.
2000
Change
The turn of the millennium is huge for us, especially with the expansion of V Energy into the United Kingdom and Ireland. V reached the number2 brand in the UK Petrol and Convenience channel.
We also achieve an important – though brief – milestone in our history, by becoming listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. We would eventually be sold and therefore de-listed in 2002.
Mizone Sports Water is released to Kiwis, while Aussies would have to wait till the following year before they could taste the sports drink with antioxidants to reduce tiredness and fatigue.
We establish Frucor Australia in 2001 with only two products – V 250ml slim green cans and V 350ml green glass.
2002
Milestone
September 9, 2002 is an important date for us. It’s the day the 100 millionth 250ml slim green can of V Energy was produced. And yes – we couldn’t help ourselves but introduce the push and go sipper topper on G-Force.
Frucor New Zealand and Frucor Australia is acquired by Danone, and so we say goodbye to Fyers Wickham and Pacific.
2003
All about water
2005
The success of V Energy
To capitalise on the incredible success V is having across the Tasman and in other markets abroad, we launch the big V 500ml giving people the option to carry more energy on the go with them. We also begin to introduce new variants and flavours of the V energy drink from the mid-2000s onwards.
Our ads for V Energy continue to resonate and adapt to reflect current trends. And this year the V brand was bigger than all of the Coke brands in the Petrol and Convenience channel!
2006
Our fame is Danone wide
2009
We join Suntory
Frucor joins the fold of what will become Suntory Beverage and Food Limited. We also continue to diversify and grow our portfolio with the acquisition of Hawke’s Bay Beverage Company, Simply Squeezed.
Simply Squeezed enters the Frucor fold with minimal changes for the staff, orchardists who supply the fruit, and distributors.
Simply Squeezed still remains in Hawke’s Bay, the fruit bowl of New Zealand.
2010
Leading the pack
V Energy continues to sky-rocket and is introduced to a number of new markets in Europe. We also launched Frucor Brands International in Amsterdam. We continue to innovate and plan new V Energy flavours and pack sizes to be released in the years to come.
Frucor was awarded NZ best IPO for the decade 2001-2010.
2011
Second year running
Frucor Suntory receives the AON Hewitt Best Employer award – and goes on to win the award for a second time in 2013.
The award marks an important milestone in our history, recognising our people’s pride and passion for their work. It also marks the importance in creating a work environment our people can thrive in.
V Blue launches in the summer of 2012 – and quickly becomes a staple in our V Energy range.
2014
Huge investment
We open our new state of the art research and development centre in Manukau, South Auckland.
The $6 million centre is part of an $85 million five year innovation and technology investment programme at our North Island plant. Funded by Suntory, the substantial investment shows strong support and belief in Frucor’s international expansion ability.
The new facility is an important milestone, providing a direct link to our factory, self-contained services, space for new equipment and room for the full team to be working together.
In 2015, the 1 billionth can of V is produced and Pepsi Max is released into market.
2016
New partnerships
2017
We are Frucor Suntory
We become Frucor Suntory.
Frucor Suntory commits to the Healthy Kids Pledge and we begin our journey to make one in three of our drinks sugar free by 2030. We also join CEMARS – which would later become known as Toitū – and begin to formally implement and measure strategies to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in almost every one of our departments, from procurement and finance to sales and logistics, and everything in between.
We’d also begin to implement our sustainability strategy to reach our five 2030 sustainability goals.
2018 – 2019
A new line-up
Between 2018 and 2019 there is a clear focus on introducing drinks to satisfy the diversified thirsts of our customers.
This was a huge year of innovation and change for us, especially with the introduction of our first Kombucha beverage, Amplify. Amplify was born out of our passion to create a drink that tastes great, and contains goodness in every flavour.
We also strengthen our partnership with Suntory by introducing BOSS Coffee – a coffee in a can from Japan – to Australian and New Zealand consumers. We launched Pepsi Minis to the Australasian market too.
NZ Natural becomes our first majority sustainable brand.
2020
A year of firsts
We become the first FMCG business in New Zealand to implement equal gender paid parental leave, we introduced a new global online learning platform – and we are named a winner of the Human Resources Director (HRD) NZ Employer of Choice Awards for 2020.
We begin to see the tangible results we’re making when it comes to achieving our goals. Toitū names us as one of the Top 10 Carbon Reducers, illustrating our work since 2017 to reduce our carbon emissions by 2030.
Last, but not least, we unveil one of New Zealand’s first reverse vending machines at University of Otago.