Cartons instead of glass: Rauch discovers the TetraPak

"In milk cartons! The Swedes actually sell juice in these milk cartons. Brilliant." Franz Rauch had visited dairies in northern Europe that were already important customers for concentrates from Rankweil. They had been successfully filling their milk into the then newfangled cartons from Swedish company TetraPak for years. This is how the dairies came up with the idea of filling fruit juice into these packs, too. This awakened the innovative spirit at Rauch.

The first attempt in 1978, however, was a flop: after contracting out filling operations to a Swiss dairy, customers complained: "The apple juice somehow ... tastes like milk." Their cleaning system was not up to the high demands made by juice. The solution: In 1979 Rauch was one of the first companies in Europe to buy three of its own TetraPak systems - and in just a few years it became the market leader in Austria with this innovative packaging.

Consumers loved the coated cardboard cartons because they were much more practical and lighter than the usual glass bottles, as well as being unbreakable. Manufacturers and retailers loved them because the brick shape was perfect for transportation, storage and presentation on the shelf