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100 years ago, ALAGA
Syrup Company found the secret formula for the “Sweetness of the
South” when the original cane syrup recipe was created in 1906. ALAGA
syrup was born out of love, and the “feeling of family” when a
Georgia
boy met and married an Alabama
girl.
The company was
founded in 1906 as the Alabama-Georgia Syrup Company by Mr. Louis
Broughton Whitfield, Sr. (July 8, 1868-Dec. 1, 1942). He was born in
Whitfield Crossing,
GA., and soon moved to LaGrange,
GA.
When Louis was only six, his father died in an accident, and Louis began
working to help support his family at a very early age. From age eight
until twelve, he sold and delivered The Atlanta Constitution before and
after school. At seventeen, he began work as a bookkeeper for Penn and
Company, and at twenty he entered the grocery brokerage business and
became a partner in the W.F. Vandiver Company, a wholesale grocery
business.
 In 1905, he embarked
on a venture into the syrup business as one-half owner of the Southern
Syrup Company. By the fall of 1906, he had sold his interest and founded
the Alabama-Georgia Syrup Company based in Montgomery,
Alabama
where it remains 100 years later. Next came the creation of the ALAGA
brand name. By this time, Louis had married the love of his life, Willie
Vandiver, and it was she who created both the ALAGA name and the logo.
She was from
Alabama
and he was from
Georgia, so she combined the abbreviation for
Alabama, ALA
and the GA for Georgia, and thus ALAGA was born. The familiar logo with
the two hands clasped in front of a sheaf of wheat with a blue ribbon,
proudly displayed, had a very special meaning. The clasped hands
symbolized the union in marriage and spirit of Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield,
and the wheat represented the many kinds of bread on which ALAGA was
used. The blue ribbon stood for the ALAGA blue ribbon quality for which
the syrup has been known 100 years.
In the beginning, the
building was a small 70 x 100 foot building with only two other
employees. Today, the company employs approximately 150 people, and
occupies almost 27 acres. ALAGA was also proud to broaden its product
base with the 1975 purchase of the Yellow Label Syrup Company. Yellow
Label Syrup added a honey based, all natural syrup to the ALAGA brand
name, and you can always see your family smile when you “Put a little
Yellow Label on your table!”
ALAGA Syrup-Whitfield
Foods Inc. is proud to co-pack for some of the finest companies in America, in addition to producing our ALAGA, Yellow Label and Plow Boy brands.
Our ALAGA pancake syrups in the “beary special” bear bottles are
unique in the syrup industry, and bring fun and flavor to the table with
our delicious Maple, Butter Maple, Strawberry and now, our new best
tasting, Sugar Free syrup. Another “hot” new product is our “Sweet
Hot Alabama” ALAGA Hot  Sauce. We have taken a
Louisiana
tradition, and made it even better by adding just the right amount of
Alabama’s ALAGA Original Cane Syrup. ALAGA Hot Sauce is perfect for hot
wings, vegetable dips, casseroles and all your grilling.
During our rich
history, we are proud to have had among our spokesmen and friends such
fine people as Willie Mays, Clark Gable, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, Nat King
Cole, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Hank and Audrey
Williams, Hank Aaron, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and Coach Shug Jordan, to name just a few. After 100 years, Frank Whitfield, Jr. and
Louis Whitfield, IV and their families are proud that ALAGA is fourth
generation family owned. We have always known, “It’s all about the
taste!” There is nothing like ALAGA, so when you want to savor the
“Sweetness of the South” and the feeling of family, we hope you will
reach for ALAGA, and let us add a little love to your life!
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