About Us
In 1975, George Cheimarios took over the company. Today, the production unit is in the hands of the next generation, A. Cheimarios & N. Cheimariou.
The production unit was developed in accordance with the European standards. It holds an ISO 22000: 2005 certification, in accordance with which rigorous quality checks are performed.
Our company appears in the Same84 show “The art of the streets”, in the episode featuring Corfu and its people.
Our History
In 1975, George Cheimarios started a business with the idea of keeping a traditional product in the market. He used to help his uncle, Christopher Cheimarios, at his traditional coffeehouse, where the latter would show him how to make ginger beer.
1920
It all began in 1920, when Christopher Cheimarios opened a coffeehouse. He would make ginger beer there, which he offered to his clients in codd-neck bottles.
He saw that people liked his product, so he started dispensing it to other shops – shops attended exclusively by the nobles of the time, such as the “Liston”, which is why the refreshment was called “the drink of kings”.
1920
1950
In 1950, he closed his coffeehouse and obtained a license to produce ginger beer, as he saw that it had become very popular.
He was one of the first ginger beer producers in Corfu, and the one who prevailed.
At the time, he would make ginger beer in wooden barrels (like good vintage wine), and then put it in glass bottles which he would cork and tie with string.
That glass packaging was not used for long; due to high demand of the product, he bought a semi-automatic crown capping machine in 1950 to cork the bottles, which he would then place in wooden crates.
1975
In 1975, Christopher Cheimarios retired and George Cheimarios took over the business, with a plan to expand it.
The first production unit was a small, 80m2 shop at the centre of Corfu, which contained just the crown capping machine, a fridge, wooden crates, and a telephone.
George Cheimarios produced the ginger beer by himself and distributed it to the shops 5 days later.
He used just a briki (cezve) and a funnel to fill the bottles, no machinery.
1975
1980
In 1980, since business was going well, he decided to buy his first machine – a rotary bottle-filling machine. He also bought a washing machine. Until then, it was all done by hand.
After a couple of years, he purchased his first plastic crates for glass storage, as well as new bottles.
2000
In 2000, he moved to a larger place and upgraded the business with automatic production machinery, new packaging, bottles, etc.
2000
2005
In 2005, plastic bottles were introduced to the business. Until then, ginger beer came only in glass bottles.
2015
As years went by, demand kept rising, so in 2015 he decided to build a facility in accordance with European standards.
Since then, the business keeps growing in accordance with the demands of the time.
2015