1941 Sunrise Confectioners (Aust) Pty Ltd. was founded when Julius Lighton and his son-in-law, Walter Eger, took over Jupp & Sons, a small confectionery business in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Australia. A few years later, Julius Lighton was joined by another of his sons-in-law, Rudi Moser.
1949 Julius and Rudi acquired a second small confectionery company, E. & H. Ihles, in another Melbourne suburb, Camberwell.
1952 Production was consolidated with the purchase of a large factory in Greville Street, Prahran, Melbourne, now a bustling shopping strip brimming with cool clothes & cafes.
1960s Rudi Moser was joined by two of Walter Eger’s sons, Michael and Andrew Eger. The next twenty years saw Sunrise Confectioners gain and maintain a reputation for a wide range of products of consistent high quality, even being called upon to answer a constant demand from English distributors.
1987 Rudi Moser’s son-in-law, Ken Klooger, had joined the company and acquired new premises at Notting Hill, in Melbourne’s south-east, to accommodate increasing demand for Sunrise’s products
1991 Inspired by trends in the European market, Sunrise Confectioners founded The Natural Confectionery Co., an umbrella sub-brand for a small range of delicious jelly products with no artificial colours and no artificial flavours under the Binka’s label
1997 Emphasis shifted from Binka’s to The Natural Confectionery Co. With exciting new packaging and the perfecting of additional recipes, the range grew.
2003 The Natural Confectionery Co. was acquired by Cadburys and made its first foray overseas, launching into the Irish confectionery market and taking it by storm. The brand now leads the bagged candy category there.
2004 Launched in New Zealand
2006 Fruit Chews were launched in Australia, expanding the range beyond its traditional soft-jelly heartland and the company began distributing in Singapore
2007 The Natural Confectionery Co. began manufacturing and selling its jellies in the UK and the Australian range further expanded to include liquorice sticks.
TODAY The Natural Confectionery Co., consisting of 33 products, including sweet, sour and soft jubes, chews and liquorice, continues to develop. For a business that was among the first to pre-package goods at the birth of what we now know as supermarkets, innovation is still a priority.