‘Maine Man’ in Ballymoney celebrates 75th birthday

Ballymoney-based Maine Soft Drinks, a leader in the home delivery of minerals in reyclable glass bottles across Northern Ireland for decades, is celebrating its 75th birthday with a number of initiatives including a new on-line ordering service for its comprehensive range of flavours including longstanding favourities Raspberyade, Cloudy Lime, Sarsaparilla, Kali Water and American Cream Soda.

The Maine lorry remains a frequent sight on roads across Northern Ireland.

The range also includes the popular McDaid’s Football Special, a cola-type drink, Refresh flavoured and still water, squashes and cordials are produced, making Maine the most comprehensive local supplier of soft drinks to suit virtually every taste.

The birthday celebrations include a brand refreshment to enhance further awareness of its products in the marketplace. It’s a progressive local business that has invested steadily over the years.

Founded and run by the Harkness family since 1949, Maine Soft Drinks, in addition to its historic doorstep delivery service to thousands of homes here, also supplies an extensive range of minerals in one litre plastic bottles to major supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda and a host of convenience stores across Northern Ireland.

Maine has also supplied products to GB, the Republic of Ireland and as far away as Australia.

A fourth generation business, the company has been producing minerals and other beverages in Ballymoney since 1959 and remains of the area’s biggest employers.

Sales director Derrick Harkness says: “We still offer traditional doorstep home delivery, the website is additional to that. That’s our recyclable glass bottle business. We also continue to focus on growing the successful retail side of the business, supplying a large range of flavours in different sizes of plastic bottle to many supermarkets and other stores across Northern Ireland.

“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 in NI.”