Created in 1965 by Edmond Lombardi, Appletiser has been a true South African success story, and today is sold all around the world, including in the UK, Japan, Australia, amongst many others. Staying true to its roots, the drink is still produced in the Western Cape apple orchards of the Elgin Valley, situated in the beautiful Fynbos Floral Kingdom.
Appletiser (along with its variants, such as Red and White Grapetiser and Peartiser) has received recognition and awards in many countries over the years for its great taste and natural product quality. Apart from these variants the company also added Appletiser Colours to their portfolio in 2014.
Appletiser further facilitates the Elgin economy, namely by having assisted in developing tourism in the valley. As a rule of thumb every seven tourists equates to one job in the area. Promotion of the Elgin Valley and Grabouw contributes to job creation and the economy of the home of Appletiser. Actively investing in local education and creating a better future for South African children is also close to Appletiser’s heart. Numerous pre-primary, primary and secondary schools have benefited from initiatives supported by the brand.
“We support, in collaboration with the department of education, mobile schools libraries in the Overberg district with the aim of providing age appropriate reading material to more than 2000 learners who would otherwise not have access to these recourses. By improving literacy levels in our community we believe that we can help create brighter futures for the children of the Elgin Valley”, says Francois Rozon, managing director of Appletiser.
Appletiser has also played an active role in initiatives that improve the lives of people in the community. The brand invests in the development of their employees and unemployed youth through a number of learnership programmes.
“Our learnership programmes have allowed individuals to obtain a NQF qualification while working full time and gaining experience in their chosen field of study. This not only allows us to uplift the community but has also provided us with employees who are able to mentor and motivate the youth in the area,” says Rozon. “Appletiser continues to strive to uplift employees and their families and does so by providing bursaries to their employee’s children who wish to study after completing school. We also aim to maintain a healthy work force and run a comprehensive employee wellness programme which benefits both our employees and their immediate families.”
“This celebration is a way for us to say thank you to everyone on the Appletiser team, for their hard work and dedication to the company and the brand. We acknowledge that we are merely the current custodians of the brand and we are incredibly proud to share this extraordinary milestone with present employees, retirees former Directors and representatives from the Lombardi family. Of course, Appletiser extends beyond those who work here. We also wish to thank our consumers, customers and distribution partners in South Africa and abroad and all stakeholders in Elgin who have directly and indirectly contributed to our success,” concludes Rozon.