The History of Goody®

Goody is a product of America's great era of independent bottling, when regional syrup companies supplied local bottlers with distinctive brands that became favorites in communities across the country.

Federal trademark records report that the Goody name was first used in 1936 and entered interstate commerce on April 1, 1937. The brand was owned by The Goody Company, a Minnesota corporation that was advertising from 318 Seventh Avenue North in Minneapolis by the late 1940s.

Rather than bottling every bottle itself, The Goody Company developed a program that supplied flavor concentrates and marketing materials to independent bottling plants. A May 1948 trade advertisement invited bottlers to request details of the "Goody Profit Plan," promoting a creamy root beer in a distinctive 12-ounce bottle while encouraging local bottlers to join the growing Goody family.

By the early 1940s, Goody advertising featured the cheerful Goody boy, whose smiling face appeared on bottle labels, crowns, signs and other promotional materials. Paired with the memorable slogan "Golly it's good!", the mascot became the enduring symbol of the brand and helped give Goody a recognizable identity wherever it was bottled.

Although Root Beer became Goody's signature flavor, it was only part of a much larger lineup. Surviving bottler advertising from Maquoketa Bottling Works in Maquoketa, Iowa—operated by Leo and James Regenwether—shows that Goody was also offered in Orange, Strawberry, Grape, Cola, Cream Soda, Lemonade and a lemon-lime drink called Sparkle Up.

As the Goody bottling program expanded, independent bottlers produced the brand in communities throughout the Midwest, including Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska. By the late 1950s, the Goody name had even reached the Philippines, where Root Beer was bottled under license by a local bottler—evidence that the once-regional American brand had grown well beyond its Minneapolis beginnings.

The company later operated from Indianapolis, Indiana, where it expanded beyond bottled soft drinks into flavored fountain syrups and fruit toppings. Those trademark registrations eventually expired, as did the company's earlier soft-drink trademark.

In 2011, Orca Beverage revived the Goody trademark and brought the brand back in glass bottles, sweetened with pure cane sugar. Today, the smiling Goody boy and his familiar promise—"Golly it's good!"—continue a soda tradition that has delighted generations of soft drink lovers since 1936.