Bickford's a different South Australian family firm but keeping the same cordial tradition
The Bickford's Adelaide cordial tradition from the 19th Century remains integral to its branding.
Bickfords is back to being a South Australian family-owned brand – but in a very different way.
After 1930, Bickford, amalgamated with half a dozen other similar Australian companies to form Drug Houses of Australia (DHA), successfully continued to produce the A. M. Bickford and Sons drugs and chemicals under the DHA brand while the cordials and soft drinks were produced under the A. M. Bickford and Sons brand.
DHA (SA) Ltd in 1956 moved to new premises at Port Road, West Croydon.
In 1961, DHA’s net profit after tax exceeded a million pounds. It became the target of corporate raider and asset stripper Slater Walker and, by the mid 1970s, DHA collapsed under the burden of servicing the imposed massive levels of debt.
What remained of the company was split up and sold. Reckitt & Colman bought the major drugs and chemicals products and brands (including Dexcal, Sal Vital and Sapoderm). Peter Abbott of Melbourne took the pharmacy products, eucalyptus oil operations, and the soft drink products.
The pharmacy products were onsold; the eucalyptus oil operations were incorporated into Felton Grimwade & Bickford (FGB). The soft drink products continued on under the revived A. M. Bickford and Sons brand.
In the late 1980s, Felton Grimwade & Bickford decided to concentrate on its core businesses. It sold the soft drink business and in 1999 it was bought by the Kotses family of Adelaide.
In 2005, the cordial and soft drink parts of the company, now called Bickford's Australia, moved into new plant at Salisbury. The range of products has expanded iced teas and milkshake mixes. In 2014, Bickford's announced plans for a new distillery in the South Australian Riverland.
