Cherry Ripe Heritage Highlight

Cherry Ripe Turns 100 !

Just cherries and coconut coated in old gold chocolate - the iconic ‘Cherry Ripe’ chocolate bar turns 100 in 2024!

Paired with another household name ‘Freddo Frog’ – the two Mac.Robertson chocolate bars feature on either side of one of our most beloved RAS heritage showbags from the early 1960s.

Mac.Robertson’s was established in Victoria in 1880 and named after its founder Sir Macpherson Robertson. Best known for its chocolate brands ‘Old Gold’ and ‘Snack’, in 1924 it introduced a new attraction - ‘Cherry ripe is nutritious as well as delicious…this exclusive Mac.Robertson product is made from the choicest Australian cherries, blended with coconut and coated with rich ‘Old Gold’ chocolate…’. 

The Mac.Robertson company was a thriving business, owning cherry processing plants in Victoria and South Australia, a cocoa plantation in Papua New Guinea and stakes in a range of other well-known confectionary brands including ‘Mars’ bars, ‘Maltesers’ and ‘Rolo’. In 1967 the British confectionary giant Cadbury acquired MacRobertson’s and Cherry Ripe continued to be co-branded with the MacRobertson brand until 2002, when it finally adopted the Cadbury Master brand.  

Along with Cherry Ripe and Freddo Frog, Mac.Robertson’s was also responsible for introducing those other two Easter Show staples - chewing gum and fairy floss!