RIVERINA Fresh will persist with its Border Blend iced coffee flavoured milk, despite the resurgence of Kiewa Country into the market.
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The Wagga dairy formulated the blend to appeal to Border iced coffee lovers after Murray Goulburn ended milk processing at Kiewa.
However, the Goulburn Valley’s Kyvalley Dairy Group relaunched Kiewa Country iced coffee in December after buying the recipe and name from Murray Goulburn.
Riverina Fresh chief executive Rob Collier said his company would continue to have a special blend for the Border rather than revert to selling the same iced coffee it distributes in other areas.
“The plan is to stick with it,” Mr Collier said.
“We’re not looking to take the product out of the market.
“The Border community asked us to produce a flavour for them and they seem to like it.”
Asked about the impact of the return of Kiewa on Border Blend sales, Mr Collier said “it’s hard to tell” given it had been a holiday period.
“Some weeks we’ve stayed the same, some weeks we’ve been down and other weeks we’ve been up,” he said.
Wodonga’s Wilson Street store owner Steve McLennan said Kiewa iced coffee was huge with his customers.
“The Kiewa talks, no disrespect to Border Blend,” Mr McLennan said.
“I don’t have to encourage people to buy Kiewa.
“I was a bit dubious when I saw the bottle (being used for Kiewa iced coffee), but I’m selling more in a bottle than when it was in a carton.”
Mr McLennan has returned some Border Blend to the distributor as it hit its used-by date unsold.
However, he has no plans to stop selling Riverina Fresh out of respect for Wodonga distributor Coon’s Dairy.
Meanwhile, Mr Collier is no longer ensuring the blend will have its own look.
“We just want to see if it makes sense to have a packaging redesign,” he said.
“There are some constraints around packaging supply.”
Coon’s Dairy owner Linda Coon said the packaging was Riverina Fresh’s call but she is keen for the blend to stay.
“I think it’s important to continue with it,” she said.
“When we had to make that decision (to switch supplier) Riverina Fresh were very supportive and that was a big part of the reason to go with them.
“I think it’s good a company took the time and effort to make something for the area.”
