Adelaide's brands

[crawf]

menz confectionary! crown mints and fruchocs...mmm

wasnt arnotts originally south australian?

Yo Yo's are originally from South Australia.

Beerenberg & Spring Gully are two local brands with potential for growth...

http://www.beerenberg.com.au/go/about-u ... -different

Beerenberg is a fully family owned and operated Australian strawberry farm.


http://www.springgullyfoods.com.au/inde ... itage.html

Today, Spring Gully Pickles is just one of a group of popular Australian brands which form the recently founded parent company,
Spring Gully Foods Pty Ltd, still family owned and operated ...

Beerenberg is by far my favourite main-stream jam, I was over the moon after finding out they sell the Apricot Jams up here.

Another major SA company that has a big future is Savings & Loans/Australian Central. Once the merger is completed, the company will become Australia's 2nd Largest Credit Union and have branches in NT, WA and the eastern states.

[Nathan]

I believe the Illy cafe's are/were Un Caffe Bar - they just dropped the Illy brand from their name.

The buildings may be the same, but the companies are different (at least they seem to be). Illy is an Italian superchain, their founder is one of the inventors of the modern espresso machine and their coffee beans/grounds are sold across the globe. According to their website, Un caffe bar was started in Adelaide in 2003.

Yes, but I think the cafe's were always "Un Caffe Bar" - however, previously they had had a specific association with Illy, which meant the Illy brand was more prominent, with Un Caffe Bar relegating to a supporting brand in small type (kind of like a naming rights sponsorship thing). They eventually ditched the Illy branding and reverted to Un Caffe Bar on it's own.

[Omicron]

Omicron, I'm interested in any examples that you can name of that actually happening. That pattern is a common tech-startup dream - after running on sweat-equity for years, get a buy offer from (insert big company here). But the buyout examples that I can think of were not ones where the purchaser said "you are awesome and we will pay handsomely to have you", but were consolidation in various old declining industries.

The 'Hello chaps! Here's $100 million for your troubles!' example was a slight exaggeration on my part ( ), but the basic point remains - to use the motoring industry as an example, all Holden Commodores and its variants for Australia and the world are built here, the majority of Bridgestone products are built here, all Tenneco products (Monroe, Lukey, Walker, Carline) are built and managed here, all Mitsubishi vehicles are imported, distributed and locally-developed here - but none of these companies are technically headquartered here or (with the exception of Holden) local brands.

To be a bitch *cough* and play devil's advocate, what brands of Edmonton, Alberta could we all think of and point to as examples of successful national/international expansion? Hell, what brands could we confidently (and correctly) identify as being entirely headquartered and local to Brisbane? There is only so much nationally-competitive business that the market can support, and it's no stretch to think that the majority of that will come from the bigger, richer cities. It's a fact that we are not a big, rich city; we're not any more highly-educated than the rest of the nation; we don't have lower income or company taxes; we don't have vast government revenues; we aren't close to other nations; we aren't a major transport hub, and so on.

This shouldn't all be interpreted as a 'we're screwed beyond our control so you should all give up' analysis, but it should be add some context to the discussion. Local business can thrive within a relatively small state and add plenty to the economy, but it certainly won't appear impressive on a national scale. It should be pointed out that both NSW and Queensland are in far more precarious financial positions than us with all their headquarters and whatnot, so realistically, to what extent should we be aiming for nationally-competitive brands when they don't necessarily add anything to the financial welfare of the state? It may be that South Australia is better-served by serving others - natural resources to mining companies and other countries, call centres for large businesses who need large floorspaces at minimal cost etc. - that keeps South Australians employed without having them ruling the world. Not everyone can, you know.

I'm just speculating here, of course. Wine time has commenced, you see.

[Wayno]

Ratbag Software, although i believe they are now deceased...

Founded as Emergent Software in 1993, Ratbag is based in Adelaide, South Australia. Ratbag's first title Powerslide was released in 1998.

In August 2005, US publisher Midway acquired the privately-held developer in a primarily stock transaction for 418,570 Midway shares. The team was brought in as Midway Australia, with a focus on development of racing games.

Unfortunately, shortly after purchase, Midway closed the studio and terminated the staff after suffering internal financial difficulties. Ratbag ended operation in December of 2005.

Games produced:

PC
Dirt Track Racing
Dirt Track Racing 2
Dirt Track Racing 2 (demo)
Dirt Track Racing Pinball
Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars
Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars (demo)
Leadfoot (demo)
Leadfoot: Stadium Off Road Racing
Powerslide
World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars 2002

PlayStation 2
Ikon
Powerslide: Slipstream
Saturday Night Speedway
Scavenger
The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee
World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars 2002

Xbox
The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee