David Nobriga

The 129-year-old Maui Soda & Ice Works and its Roselani Ice Cream division reported total sales of $24.3 million in 2016 in both its beverage and frozen divisions and projects a slight growth in sales in 2017, the Wailuku-based company reported.

A $655,000 photovoltaic system was installed in December and will save the company about $100,000 annually, or 22 percent of its monthly electricity bill, the company said in a news release.

The Roselani Ice Cream manufacturing facility was the beneficiary of a partnership with the state’s High Technology Development Corp./Innovate Hawai’i program, which allowed the company to recoup some of the costs of plant improvements.

Maui Soda spent $275,000 to improve production facilities, including the chiller, condenser and converter of heat exchanger, said Cathy Nobriga Kim, who was recently named company president.

“The result is a refined and much more energy-efficient process,” she said. “And thanks to the state’s program to help manufacturers, we were able to receive a 20 percent reimbursement on our investment.”

The company’s Coca-Cola lines continue to expand. In 2016, the Yup! line of shelf-stable milk beverages, under the Fairlife label, was added with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors. The Gold Peak Tea brand expanded to include flavored coffee.

Next month, Dunkin’ Donuts branded ready-to-drink coffee beverages will be added to the Coca-Cola line. Also, Dasani will be adding a “lunchbox” package, 10-ounce bottles that come 15 to a case, according to the news release.

Maui Soda was established in 1888 and is one of 24 independent Coca-Cola distributors in the country. The company supplies Coca-Cola products and other beverages to Maui and Lanai. Roselani Ice Cream has been manufactured since 1932.

The company’s patriarch and chairman of the board, David “Buddy” Nobriga, marked his 90th birthday in December and still comes to work at the Wailuku plant every day.