John Grey established J Grey cordial & aerated water manufacturers at Eden Cres. Auckland in 1874, and in 1880 his sons joined the business it became J Grey & Sons 1880-1902

Robert Menzies was born in Scotland in 1854 and came to New Zealand in 1858, working initially for Buteman Bros, Thames. He later worked for B Ballin (Thames), John Grey and George Gledhill before purchasing Buteman Bros. in partnership with Samuel Hirst to form Menzies & Co at Thames. In August 1902, with two partners he established Menzies Ltd, and leased a property in Stanley Street, Auckland but a month later joined with John Grey & Sons to form Grey & Menzies Ltd

The Grey and Menzies merger occurred in 1902 – the company now covered a considerable area including Northland, Auckland, South Auckland and Thames. The company began to introduce new lines including the ginger beer that became Tartan Dry Ginger Ale. In 1916 the company purchased the Paeroa spring, aerating and bottling the water in Auckland under the “Paeroa Water” label – later to become Lemon & Paeroa. In the early 1920s they began making Orange and Lemon Crush under license from the Crush Co’s reg’d USA patent office.

Where J Grey & Sons had purchased most of their bottles from the UK, Grey & Menzies began to buy bottles from Australia and from the Illiniois Pacific Glass Company of San Francisco. With the opening of the NZ Glass Manufacturing Company’s Penrose factory in 1922, orders for crown top bottles were supplied locally.

A major amalgamation of Auckland Aerated Water and Cordial Manufacturers occurred in 1917 – 1918, bringing together Grey & Menzies, Wai Wai Mineral Water Co, AC Scott, Wilkies Ltd and Wm Handley. Grey and Menzies along with Wai Wai Mineral Water Co and AC Scott continued to operate under their own names.