Menz Confectionery is a manufacturer of

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It has its origins in two companies, W. Menz & Co., a biscuit and confectionery business, and Robern, called Robern Menz from 1992 to January 2022.

History of W. Menz & Co.

William Menz (10 November 1849 – 26 March 1898) was born in

Wakefield Street, Adelaide Wakefield Street is a main thoroughfare intersecting the centre of the South Australian capital, Adelaide, from east to west at its midpoint. It crosses Victoria Square in the centre of the city, which has a grid street plan. It continues as ...

, the son of Johan (16 December 1818 – 10 April 1860) and Magdalena (1 January 1819 – 12 October 1895) Menz, and was educated at the German School conducted by Adolph Heinrich Leschen and Theodor H. Niehuus (also on Wakefield Street), then at

W. A. Cawthorne Cawthorne and Co, also known as Cawthorne's Limited, was a company founded in 1870 in Adelaide, South Australia, by Charles Cawthorne and his father William Anderson Cawthorne (also known as W.A. Cawthorne), which dealt in musical instruments, s ...

's Victoria Square Academy. William began working for grocers G. Wood, Son & Co., then around 1865 took over the grocery business in Wakefield Street which had been established by his mother Magdalena Menz in 1850. The business prospered, and in 1878 his brother August Hermann Menz (12 March 1855 – 3 December 1922) joined the firm. On the death of William, August Hermann took over the firm until 1919, when a

limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company or partnership. If a company that provides limited liability to it ...

company was formed, with him as managing director. He married Wilhelmine H. A "Minna" Menz (15 November 1865 – 18 June 1951) on 9 May 1889; they had two sons, Hermann Victor (1890–1984) and William Oscar (1896–1991), and a daughter, Anna Magdalena (1891–1955) and lived at Beulah Road, Norwood. Hermann Victor Menz became managing director in 1922. He was captain of the

Adelaide Rowing Club The Adelaide Rowing Club (ARC) is a rowing club located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Patron of the ARC is the Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese. The club is affiliated to the South Australian Rowing Association (SAR ...

. The Menz bakery developed both the Yo-Yo and Bush biscuits, now manufactured by Arnott's, and later started producing Crown Mints in 1892.

Timeline

*1850: Magdalena Menz's grocery store opened on Wakefield Street *November 1878: New premises and dwelling erected at corner of Divett St. and Wakefield Street *1880 or 1884: Menz began making biscuits *1892 began making confectionery *July 1895: Fire (directly opposite the Fire Brigade headquarters) *1906: Albany Murray, son of Alex Murray jun., started running the biscuit-making factory. *September 1913: New building completed on the original site *June 1920: Building extended to Roper Street. *1951: W. Menz & Co. floated as public company *December 1953: New biscuit plant opened at Galway Avenue,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

*1964: Menz joined with Motteram and

Arnott's Biscuits Arnott's Biscuits Limited is an Australian producer of biscuits and snack food. Founded in 1865, they are the largest producer of biscuits in Australia and a subsidiary of KKR. History In 1847, Scottish immigrant William Arnott opened a ...

to form Arnott-Motteram-Menz; later simply Arnott's. *1992: US company

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

took over Arnott's Biscuits, with the confectionery part being sold to Robern.

Menz Confectionery

Menz Confectionery, formerly Robern Menz, is a confectioner in

Glynde Glynde is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, United Kingdom. It is located two miles (5 km) east of Lewes.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

in the eastern suburbs of

, best known for its

FruChocs Menz FruChocs is a confectionery produced by Menz Confectionery in South Australia. FruChocs consist of a cube of dried apricot and peach paste, coated in milk chocolate. Since 2019, strawberry and cherry filled FruChocs have also become availabl ...

. The business was started in 1926 by Walter Sims in the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

, initially manufacturing

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...

. He created the name "Robern" to remember a family friend, Robert Burnley, who had died at the age of 14. Robern Menz produced its first FruChocs, chocolate-covered fruit balls, in 1948. W. Menz was sold to Arnott's Biscuits in 1964, and in 1992, when Campbell's acquired the biscuit business, Robern bought the confectionery part, renaming it Robern Menz. In 1995, Robern Menz moved from the inner-eastern Adelaide suburb of

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

to take up occupancy of the former Gibb's Pies factory on Glynburn Road, Glynde, where it remains . In January 2018, Robern Menz bought the brand, recipe and manufacturing equipment for

Violet Crumble Violet Crumble is an Australian chocolate bar. The bar is a crumbly honeycomb toffee centre coated in a layer of compound chocolate. It was first made by Hoadley's Chocolates in South Melbourne around the year 1913; and is currently made in Adel ...

from

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

. The equipment was moved from the Nestlé factory at

Campbellfield Campbellfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Campbellfield recorded a population of 4,977 at the 2021 census. History Camp ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to the Robern Menz factory at Glynde, ready to start production in September of that year. In 2019, Robern Menz signed another deal with Nestlé, this time to produce the

Polly Waffle Polly Waffle is a 50 gram Australian chocolate bar. It is a waffle wafer tube filled with marshmallow and coated in compound chocolate. The confection had been introduced in 1947 by the Hoadley's Chocolate Company, then taken over by Rowntree M ...

, which had been discontinued in 2009. The Polly Waffle is scheduled for production in 2023. In January 2022, the company was rebranded as Menz Confectionery, adopting a new logo with the slogan "Making life sweet" at the same time. , CEO Phil Sims and his brother Richard are the fourth generation to run the Robern business, which employs around 160 staff.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Menz, William Australian food industry businesspeople 1849 births 1898 deaths History of Adelaide 19th-century Australian businesspeople Australian chocolate companies