Caledonia Argus

Spring Grove Pop changes hands, but not flavors

Posted: 1/13/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

Dawn Hanson never dreamed that Spring Grove Bottling Works, Inc. would come up for sale.

So when it did in 2003, she and her husband, Bob, thought they should take a look at it.

They liked its uniqueness and potential, and they liked the prospect of running their own business.

So the Spring Grove couple bought the business on December 3 from Roger and Eric Morken of Spring Grove, who had owned it since 1964.

Arnold Morken bought it in 1964, then his sons Roger and Sanford bought him out in about 1981. Rogerís son Eric, bought out Sanford in 1995.

The business has been in operation since 1895. ìSo youíve got 108 years of existence there,î Dawn said. She likes that longevity, and the fact that itís a small company. ìYouíre not one of the big three, but yet youíre out there,î she said. ìAnd itís good pop.î

Not many people would argue with that, especially when it comes to strawberry, their best selling flavor. It has a taste that seems to capture summer and county fairs and fond memories of childhood, at least to this reporter.

What makes it so good? Well, thereís the recipe thatís taped on the sheet of paper on the wall of the mixing room. Dawn wasnít real excited about sharing it with a nosy reporter.

And thereís the carbonation. Four of the flavors have 60 pounds of carbonation pressure: strawberry, root beer, cream soda, and lemon sour. Roger Morken said that this is higher carbonation than your normal soda. Their black cherry has 40 pounds of pressure, while creamy orange, orange, and grape have 10 pounds of pressure.

But Dawn and Roger think itís mostly the pure cane sugar that gives the pop itís distinctive flavor. Not a lot of bottlers use it, especially in this day of low-sugar diets.

ìTherefore that makes it a little more expensive,î Roger said.

Spring Grove city water, run through the companyís own treatment and carbonation system, is used in the pop, and there is no caffeine in any of the flavors.

One thing that Dawn is considering is adding a diet variety within a few years.

They are also going to try an experiment where the customers can mix and match flavors, using cardboard cartons. Thatís something that used to be available.

But faithful drinkers of the pop wonít see those old bottles with the long, skinny necks. Those returnable bottles werenít getting returned, and it was too costly to keep buying new bottles. So the Morkens went to non-returnable bottles, and the Hansons will continue that approach.

There is another change that Dawn isnít shy about expressing: she and Bob would like to see the company grow. It has annual sales of about $150,000. Dawn thinks that can be increased by expanding the market area, which is now about a 100 mile radius, to take in the Twin Cities. La Crosse is their biggest market.

But that wonít be easy. They already have two full days of deliveries, in Fillmore County on Tuesdays and in Houston County on Thursdays. They also deliver several kinds of beer.

Do people get nostalgic about Spring Grove Pop? Yes, Dawn said, sitting at her desk in the factory on December 29. She just had a person from Baltimore stop in to see the factory and take some pop back with him.

Itís an exciting time, she said, what with learning details like prices, quantities, deliveries, and actually making the pop, which takes place every Wednesday.

ìI still feel real positive about it,î she said.

The pop is bottled every Wednesday. Jerry Ellingson joins Dawn and Roger in doing this work.

The shop bustles with moving conveyor belts, machinery, and people on those days.

Bottles are first washed and sent on a conveyor belt to a machine that puts extract in them. The extract is mixed and stored in metal vats in a room above the assembly line, and sent to the filling machine in a pipeline.

Then the bottles are filled with carbonated water and sent down the moving conveyor belt to a capping machine. Then they go over to a mixing machine, which looks line a metal octopus, with arms that lift and rotate each bottle. From there the bottles are carried to the labeling machine, where each label is put on. Then itís on to the end of the line: a circular table where bottles are removed by hand, put into cases, put in boxes, and sent sliding down rollers to the loading area.

Most of this is automated, but the workers keep a watchful eye on it all, to make sure there are no broken bottles or wrinkled labels.

The machinery isnít new. The filler was built in 1958, the capper about 1960, and the labeler about 1980.

ìCanít get parts for a lot of these machines anymore,î Morken said. ìBut most of these machines are made so good, they donít need much fixing.î

Morken talked as he watched over the labeling machine on January 7. He said it wasnít hard to sell the business, but he misses owning it a little. ìWorking here though, I feel like Iím still part of it.î

Many small towns like Spring Grove used to have bottling plants, Roger said, such as Preston, Rushford, and Decorah. ìI think weíre the only small bottler in the tri-state area.î

Spring Grove Bottling Works survived in part because it also is a beer wholesaler, Morken believes. ìIf we were just soda pop, weíd had to have gotten a lot bigger.î

Does he still drink Spring Grove pop? ìOh yeah,î he replied with a smile. ìIf I get sick of one flavor, I switch to another one.î

Does he miss those long-necked bottles. ìI donít miss them a bit,î he said, then added after a pause, ìalthough itís a piece of nostalgia you wonít see again.î

Those little bottles held eight ounces. Then they switched to a more streamlined version that held 10 ounces. For a while they even had 16-ounce bottles.

ìSixteen ounces of Spring Grove pop, you have to be pretty thirsty to drink that much,î Morken said with a smile.

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