Almost 32 years to the day since Frank Sergi founded Summertime Fruit Juice in the humblest of beginnings, the family-owned company has been sold for an undisclosed fee to a Melbourne-based public company.

Private Branded Beverages Limited will take control of the business, with a view to capitalising on its contracts with the country’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths.

Mr Sergi said it was a very difficult decision to step away from a business that had been such a big part of his life for so long.

“I started off filling bottles with a jug,” he said. “On the first day I went into town to sell it I came back with $7.

“It’s really only in the last three or four years that I’ve sort of slowed down a bit.

“It got to the stage where the stress was a little bit harder to handle, so I had to think about where it was going.”

PBB chief executive officer Tom Bonvino said the company jumped at the chance to acquire such a respected brand.

“It was a win-win situation for both us and Frank,” Mr Bonvino said.

“Frank had been bottling for us for about two years and when the opportunity came up we were looking at having our own manufacturing plant and we saw lots of opportunities here.”

Mr Bonvino said PBB’s vision for Summertime was to see it become a permanent fixture on the shelves of the country’s biggest supermarkets.

“Predominan tly our business is developing non-alcoholic beverages for the supermarket brands,” he said.

“We intend to continue running the Summertime brand and all the products that Frank has been running.

“But we’re definitely looking at growing the business that’s here and taking it to another level.”

Despite Mr Sergi’s retirement, the Sergi family’s connection with Summertime will continue for many years to come, with sons Jason and Gary both shareholders in PBB.