New flavoured waters from Northern Irish leader

Maine Soft Drinks, the Northern Irish producer with sales in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland is moving into flavoured water.

The company, a fourth generation family business is developing still flavoured waters in 330ml PET bottles. Maine is introducing three initial flavours - Lemon and Lime, Strawberry and Kiwi and Forest Fruit. They are available under the Maine Refresh brand.

All three contain natural flavourings, are sugar-free and are designed for packed lunches and consuming on the go.

The company, which employs over 100 people in Ballymoney in county Antrim, is among the best-known Northern Irish companies. It has specialised in recyclable glass bottles for home delivery in Northern Ireland and already has some sales in the London area as well as in the Republic. It remains the biggest home delivery provider of soft drinks.

Jonathan Harkness, of Maine Soft Drinks, says: "What we are doing with Maine Refresh is to use our reputation of over 60 years in soft drinks to develop a gap in the market that we believe exists for flavoured waters in 330ml format. We've always produced still waters and now see an opportunity to expand this. It's also the first time that we've produced in six pack format.

"The launch of the new product is an immensely important investment for the business. We are refreshing our product portfolio in line with the requirements of the retailers. Our successful launch of one litre and 550ml PET format bottles is another example of this customer focus.

"Our range of over 30 flavours already caters for virtually every possible taste and has been developed over the years from our close contact with customers especially in Northern Ireland.

"We already have sales in parts of Britain and the Republic and are keen to expand business in both markets for all our products. The launch of the flavoured water range will contribute to this."

The company, which has its roots in soft drinks in Co Antrim stretching back to 1919, began processing at Ballymoney in 1959. The family business currently supplies soft drinks to around 40,000 homes across Northern Ireland every week. The recently launched 500m snack sized lemonade bottles includes flavours such as Pineapple, Cloudy Lime, Bubblegum and Attaboy, the latter being a mixed fruit blend.

Maine also supplies door to door soft drinks businesses in England and is currently exploring approaches from Australia for its niche products.