Polar Beverages Revenue and Competitors

Polar Beverages, the country's largest independent soft-drink bottler, is a fourth- generation, family-owned business that traces its roots back to 1882. Polar Beverages began as the J. G. Bieberbach Company, which bottled seltzers, ginger ale and imported mineral water and was also a wholesaler of alcoholic beverages in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to coming to Worcester, Mr. Bieberbach had immigrated to New York City from Germany at the request of the Shafer Brewing Company, the first company in the nation to brew Pilsner beer. In 1901 Dennis M. Crowley, the great grandfather of the present owners of Polar Beverages, founded D. M. Crowley & Co., a wholesale and retail liquor business. The top selling product of the day was Crowley's Ball Brook Straight Whiskey. In 1916 the Crowley's acquired the J. G. Bieberbach Company. The combined wholesale-retail liquor companies were extraordinarily successful. Dennis, also known as "Boss Crowley," was a second-generation American. His parents had emigrated from Ireland because of the Great Famine. In 1918 Dennis continued to expand the business by purchasing the Leicester Polar Spring Company, and the combined businesses became known as the Bieber Polar Ginger Ale Company. The acquisition of Leicester Polar Spring Company gave Polar a pure spring located Spencer, Massachusetts. This pure spring water was used for the company's bottled water and was also used in the manufacture of Polar's flavored drinks. The first flavors produced were golden ginger ale and pale dry ginger ale. Changes in the United States greatly impacted Polar's business in the 1920's when the 18th Amendment was added to The Constitution of the United States. This amendment prohibited the sale of alcohol, and thus Polar's alcohol business ceased forcing Polar to focus on its ginger ale and spring water company. In 1933 the 18th Amendment was made null with the 21st Amendment, which allowed the Crowley's to resume their liquor business as "rectifiers and wholesalers;" but the company's focus remained on soft drinks and spring water where it continues today.