Lee Fleming, co-founder of Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, has sadly passed away, the company announced via social media.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Bundaberg shared the news and paid tribute to the woman who co-founded the company in 1968.
“Lee was passionate, kind-hearted, and instrumental to the foundation and growth of our much-loved Bundaberg Ginger Beer. The entire Bundaberg Brewed Drinks family will so sorely miss her.
“We will miss you, Lee.”
Fleming along with her husband Cliff and parents-in-law purchased Electra Breweries (Bundaberg) Pty Ltd in 1968, growing the business through the 1970s before the company secured distribution in Australian and New Zealand supermarkets in the 1980s.
Neville and Gladys Fleming retired in 1985, handing the reigns to Cliff and Lee Fleming. In 1987, Bundaberg began exporting its drinks around the world, and really began enjoying international success in 2006, exporting to over 30 countries including the UK, USA, and Singapore.
Late last year, the company opened a new $120 million brewery at Kay McDuff Drive in Bundaberg’s south. The brewery has a bottling line speed of 850 bottles per minute and 51,000 bottles per hour and can produce 33,000 cases each day on a single bottling line and hold 48,000 litres of brew in a single tank, double the processing capacity of the previous Ginger Beer Brewhouse.
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