Frankie's is a South African

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

company based in

Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal Balgowan is a valley in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands in South Africa. The town of Balgowan is not much more than an old trading store and a train station where locally grown timber is picked up. However, nearby is Michaelhouse, the Anglican boardin ...

. It specialises in the production of niche soft drinks that have the same or similar taste to soft drinks from or before the 1950s. The company was established in 2006 by Mike and Paula Schmidt in Balgowan. Its largest markets in 2015 were the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, KwaZulu-Natal, and

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

provinces of South Africa. In 2015 the South African dairy company

Clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

bought a 51 percent ownership stake in the company, renaming the business operation Clover Frankie's.

Woolworths controversy

In early 2012 the South African Advertising Standards Authority ruled that

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

’ vintage cold drink range was an imitation of Frankie’s soft drink range. It was ruled that Woolworths intentionally copied the phrase "Good Old Fashioned Soft Drinks" to promote its own line of beverages thereby infringing on the rights of Frankie's Soft Drinks. Woolworths agreed to remove the range immediately. The controversy got widespread coverage in the South African media. After the event Woolworths South Africa's CEO Ian Moir publicly stated that "Public opinion is so much against us and, whether we're right or whether we're wrong, customer opinion is against us."

References

{{reflist Drink companies of South Africa Food and drink companies established in 2006 Food and drink companies of South Africa Companies based in KwaZulu-Natal 2006 establishments in South Africa Umgungundlovu District Municipality