RANDOM LAKE – The Jolly Good Soda name is fizzing across the state again with a manufacturing contest win after relaunching about a decade ago.
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Based in Random Lake, the nostalgic soda brand won this year’s Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest, sponsored by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Johnson Financial Group.
“It’s really just the culmination of all the hard work we’ve done and just a way to continue to be proud and recognized for a brand that we are so internally proud of,” Nicole Depies, marketing manager for Jolly Good Soda, said of the Krier Foods workforce.
About 150,000 votes were cast throughout the contest to narrow down 16 companies to one winner, according to Kristen Nupson, WMC communications manager. Jolly Good beat John Deere’s riding mower, Vulture Systems’ Revo ice fishing sensor, and Medalcraft Mint’s military medals and insignia.
Nupson said 38 votes determined the final winner.
Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Deidre Martinez extended congratulations to Krier Foods and Jolly Good.
“This achievement not only highlights their innovation and craftsmanship but also showcases the vibrant spirit of our local economy,” Martinez said in an email. “We’re proud to celebrate the creativity and dedication that makes Sheboygan County a hub for remarkable products. Here’s to many more successes and the continued support of our talented local businesses!”
Jolly Good is a former contest contender, making it to the top 8 the last two years and being named in the top 16 in 2021.
What pushed Jolly Good ahead of the other companies this year?
“I think people are realizing we’re out there again,” Depies said.
Jolly Good emerged as a local staple at family dinners and community festivities in the 1970s and 1980s, but it struggled to keep up with national brand competition and industry changes in the 1990s and early 2000s. It went out of production for about seven years.
The brand relaunch around 2014 was a venture from John Rassel and his uncle Bruce Krier, former president of Krier Foods, who saw an opportunity for the return of vintage and locally made products.
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Since joining the Jolly Good team four years ago, Depies said she’s made concerted efforts to grow Jolly Good’s social media presence and reach a younger demographic through high school sports and schools. She said research revealed the brand missed a generation of customers when it went out of production, specifically kids of people who grew up with Jolly Good.
The brand’s “claim to fame” has been nostalgia, Depies said.
“We’re hoping to recreate and capture it in that way,” she said.
Depies, who grew up in Random Lake, has favorite memories of drinking Jolly Good at Random Lake Fire Department picnics, a significant community event during the summer.
“You’d go down there, grab a cheeseburger, get a Jolly Good and just enjoy everybody,” she said.
Among event sponsorships, reaching students has also meant providing early exposure to manufacturing careers in Random Lake.
Krier Foods is part of the Manufacturing 4.0 Co-op, a manufacturing and educational collaboration among Lakeshore College, Mequon-based educational consultant Lab Midwest, four regional school districts — Kiel, Oostburg, Elkhart Lake and Random Lake — and respective companies in those communities, Amerequip, Masters Gallery Foods, Sargento and Krier Foods.
Students have job shadow and apprenticeship opportunities. Completion of a four-course program focused on mechatronics, industrial controls and robotics can also earn them dual credit in high school and college, certified by Lakeshore College. In turn, employers speak at the schools about the industry.
Mike Trimberger, district administrator for the School District of Random Lake, said Krier Foods embraces the district’s core values of “Strong Classrooms, Strong Culture and Strong Community Connections.”
“As the local company in Random Lake, Krier Foods has embraced these values in a way that our students feel they have an advantage by being in Random Lake,” Trimberger said in an email.
The district looks at the company as an extension of its schools, he continued, so students were allowed to vote in the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin finals during free time.
“We are so proud of Jolly Good for winning this award,” Trimberger said. “It is a celebration for the entire Random Lake community.”
Making Jolly Good ‘top of mind’ in production
Some parts of the floor were sticky with juice in the canning area at the Krier Foods production facility, 551 Krier Lane. The air was sweet. Machinery and product lines whirred.
The environment is likely typical for the beverage manufacture, which makes local, regional and national beverage brands, like energy drinks, juices and teas. Brands send ingredients and recipes to the plant, which are blended, mixed and canned. Krier Foods also checks for quality assurance and stores product in a warehouse, filled with towers of palleted drinks. The facility can produce, on average, 800 cans a minute.
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Jolly Good accounts for only 1% of the facility’s operations.
In the past, Depies said the plant has prioritized contracted beverages before Jolly Good. It was put on the “back burner,” but it’s become more “top of mind” to meet growing demands the last couple of years.
“Now, we have a rolling forecast and (are) monitoring our inventory levels to make sure that when someone calls we don’t have to tell them, ‘Sorry, we’re out,’” Depies said.
Jolly Good landed statewide distribution at the end of 2023 and shipped three truckloads of product to California in the past month.
Depies added Jolly Good will launch an Amazon storefront in November.
What’s next for Jolly Good? Exploring more flavors and jokes back on the can
In addition to broadening Jolly Good’s customer base, Depies said the brand is exploring ways to launch limited-edition flavors and re-add jokes to cans.
Jolly Good’s flavor line includes regular and diet varieties of cherry, grape, fruit punch, cream, orange, root beer, blue raspberry and Sour Pow’r.
Depies said the brand was flavor-centric in the past and she often receives requests to relaunch once-popular flavors, like piña colada and cola.
“People remember them from their childhood,” she said. “If we can put them out and have them (customers) have a piece of that again, might as well try.”
Lemonade, ginger ale and sparkling water were also made under the Jolly Good name at times before the brand went defunct, which Depies said were easy additions as the plant was constantly canning beverage products.
Krier Foods started out canning vegetables but sold off that part of the business in the 1980s, now Lakeside Foods next door, to focus solely on beverages. Depies added canning beverages emerged as a way to keep workers employed during the off-season for canning vegetables.
Figuring out a way to get jokes back on the Jolly Good can, maybe in smaller batches, is another big goal for Depies next year. The cans used to have jokes on the bottom of the inside of the can when it was a three-piece production. The joke was added to the bottom, the middle was sealed, the can was filled, and the top was closed off. Now, cans are made in two parts: the body is filled and then the top is sealed on.
Depies said, “I think that’s one of the cool things we’re going to try and bring back as soon as we can.”
Have a story tip? Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.
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