Monday, March 22, 2010
HELP SAVE BEEP!
You shouldn't have to chase after the last of your favorite fruit drink.
Contact Farmers Dairy:
http://farmersdairy.ca
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Beep Memories
Life is indeed a strange thing. As we journey on through, one by one we must say good bye to the things that have meant so much in our past. Our Grandparents, the cat "that thought it was people", the dogs we loved, Mom's home made strawberry jam, and finally dear old Mom herself. And now it's Beep to which we say good bye. Images come flooding back. Images of lunchtime drawing to a close at NSIT, a small carton of BEEP which had been purchased from the in-school CNIB canteen sits in front of almost every student in the cafeteria, each one having been fully opened, all garbage stuffed within, then folded back into itself in a tight, neat little package of refuse. Gone are those days. Is life better? Different yes, but better? I'm not so sure.
I had a flashback reading this article of being in grade school getting a small container of Beep and two oatmeal cookies for morning break. Great memories are created by the most simple of things sometimes.
Beep conjurs up memories of a simpler time, when society didn't worry too much about weight issues, we had dessert every night at supper - and there was little childhood obesity. Kids played outside...I remember Beep, always a fixture on my grandmothers table at breakfast. She also had *gasp* homemade white rolls, yes, I said it "white" rolls - with homemade strawberry jam and usually porridge...with brown sugar and real cream, yeah, real cream, straight from a "real cow"....oh the memories, we would gobble up our rolls with jam and Beep and off we would go to play, with little or no adult supervision...only to come in at lunchtime for more delights from her kitchen...oh the cookies she could bake...and we were skinny, so skinny, skinned knees and nutmeg brown from the summer sun (we hadn't heard of skin cancer yet), heck it was the 70's...my mother didn't remind me to wear a sunhat - my hair was bleached blonde in the sun, sometimes my scalp got a little sunburnt...so Beep, yes, Beep fills me with memories...my kids drink real orange juice and eat whole wheat bread...I'm getting some Beep today.
What wonderful memories, things really were so much simpler back then. None of the worries that kids have to bear today. I remember my only dilemma was trying to decide who I was going to play with and would we ride bikes or play hopscotch the next day after school. The wonderful smells that I would arrive home from school to in the fall when my mother had spent the day making pickles and relishes. Every room in the house decorated at Christmas time, all done lovingly by my mother. I'm so glad I grew up in the era I did, I only have wonderful memories.
Say it isn't so! Wow, what a flood of memories that unleashed for me... I think it used to cost me 5 cents or maybe a dime back in elementary school at Ford Sackville School in Bedford. Sunny spring days on the playground, swigging back Beep and then of course folding over the top and closing it up tight to smash it under your heel to see who could make the loudest pop. I probably haven't had a drink of it in almost 40 years, but it's hard to forget the taste of that super-sweet beverage from my youth. As someone else has already mentioned, a simpler time to be sure.... Long live Beep!
End of the road for BEEP
Article about the demise of BEEP in the Chronicle Herald.End of the road for Beep drink --
BRACE YOURSELVES, Beep lovers. This is not good news.
To the disappointment of sugar-charged fruit-drink lovers everywhere, the people at Farmers Co-Operative Dairy Ltd. in Bedford confirmed Friday they are indeed proceeding with plans to discontinue Beep fruit drink.
"It is sort of a sad day. Lots of people are nostalgic about the drink. Lots of us here at Farmers are very sad to see it go," Derek Estabrook, vice-president of marketing and business development, said in an interview.
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» 1964 Life magazine ad for Beep (via beepjuice.blogspot.com)The co-operative announced the demise of Beep with a modest statement on its website Tuesday, and within hours bloggers from coast-to-coast were waxing nostalgic about the loss.
"It is a product lots of people like to talk about, but sales have declined to a trickle of what they were in the ’60s, when Beep was a staple of many children’s lunch boxes from one end of the province to the other," said Estabrook.
An advisory on the co-operative’s website notes Beep will start disappearing from store shelves over the next few weeks.
"So if Beep has a special place in your heart, pick up a carton soon," it states.
Farmers did not want to release sales figures, except to say in recent years they have not been good.
"We would not discontinue the brand if it was selling," said Estabrook.
As far as can be determined, Nova Scotia is the last jurisdiction in North America where Beep was available in recent years.
Estabrook said most consumer inquiries about the Beep discontinuation have come from outside the province, where it is no longer available.
Beep fruit drink was sold under licence in previous decades by dairies just about everywhere. It was introduced in Nova Scotia by Farmers in 1961, but sales have been in steady decline for at least 20 years.
"These days, consumers can get fresh juice from Florida for a few bucks for a couple of litres. In the past 15 years, the market has gone through a total transformation," said Estabrook.
Although the co-operative is dropping Beep, sales in other categories are strong.
Estabrook said the decision to discontinue Beep was linked to a major overhaul of the co-operative’s packaging operations.
"We are installing new carton fillers in our packaging line that will increase efficiency and capacity for the long term," he said.
Beep sales were not significant enough to warrant including the product in the packaging overhaul.
Beep comes in colourful one-litre and single-serving containers.
A combination of reconstituted fruit juices comprises 25 per cent of the product.
Here is the ingredients list: water, sugar, concentrated orange juice, concentrated apple juice, apricot puree, citric acid, prune syrup, orange pulp, modified corn starch, canola oil, flavour, sodium citrate, colour, sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.
Halifax nutritionist Irene Healy-Vihant muttered an audible sigh of relief when informed Beep was to be discontinued.
"Bye-bye Beep. Glad to see you go. That’s what I have to say," she said.
Healy-Vihant suggested one reason the co-operative is discontinuing the brand is school boards across the province have instituted healthy eating programs and banned the drink.
Bridgewater blogger Matt Dagley and a friend recently added some Beep video to his Deathboxproductions.com website, and must now make a new post lamenting the demise of the fruit drink.
"This is terrible. I love Beep. When people visit from other parts of Canada we always get some Beep because nobody outside of Nova Scotia seems to sell it," said Dagley.
Friday, March 5, 2010
BEEP stuff...
Does anyone out there have any vintage beep packaging, adverts, promotional items? Please e-mail me if you do.
Beep on facebook
I found a great BEEP facebook page today (I want that sign sooooo much! Anyone have a larger version of the photo?) and they had some interesting information listed:
I know when you look at the main picture that the Beep carton may not look like the one you may be used to. I remember a milk carton style container with a little chick hatching out of an egg and a large 25% real juice symbol on the box. (It's been a long time). As time goes by, I will find more information, and hopefully collect as much history as humanly possible. From what I can tell , Beep was created either by the "Co-op Dairy" company in Saskatchewan, or "Lucerine Foods", to be sold only at fine Canadian Safeway stores. It also may have been invented by a company called "Farmers Dairy" which dates back 85 years. It opened it's doors in 1920 in the Provence of Nova Scotia. They are all still producing high quality products...but, WHERE'S THE BEEP?!!!
While scanning the almighty web for details on the subject, it was mentioned Beep was discontinued in 2003 from lack of sales. (HOW COULD WE LET THIS HAPPEN??!) The glue holding the carton together was also being weakened due to the awesome acidic power of Beep and the product would leak. (Not good). However others still say that you can get it in Provinces on the East coast. What makes them so special??
Ingredients: Water, sugar, concentrated orange juice, concentrated apple juice, apricot puree, citric acid, prune syrup, orange pulp, modified corn starch, canola oil, flavour, sodium citrate, colour, sodium benzoate, ascorbic acid.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The end of an era!
Got a letter today from Lisa.
Good afternoon!Statemment from Farmers Dairy:
I was heartbroken to find out that two days ago, Farmer's Dairy in Nova Scotia have decided to discontinue making Beep. My sis lives in BC, and I've been known to bring frozen beep and Brother's Pepperoni out west when we visit, (once, an entire suitcase) to share with friends who are former residents of Halifax that now live in the suburbs around Vancouver.
When I head home tonite, I'll be going to grocery stores to snag some before it disappears. It's a sad, sad day.
-Lisa
After more than 50 years, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Beep juice. While Beep was once a staple in fridges and lunchboxes across Nova Scotia, sales have been declining for the past several years. Beep will start disappearing from store shelves over the next few weeks, so if Beep has a special place in your heart, pick up a carton soon.You can send your condolences and/or complaints to Farmers Dairy HERE.
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