DR PEPPER

BRAND NAME COOKING WITH DR PEPPER

The official company website:  Dr Pepper

Another Dr Pepper website:  Dublin Dr Pepper

HISTORY

The following is an excerpt from the book Ideas that Became Big Business by Clinton Woods. Published by Founders, Inc. Baltimore, MD, 1959, 414 pages.

Buy this book: Ideas That Became Big Business

The Dr Pepper Story

DR PEPPER...a native "Texan," has one of the most colorful backgrounds of any soft drink on the American market. Even its origin has a romantic setting.

"It began something like this. There was a young "Soda Skeet" who worked at a drug store fountain in Virginia. The owner of the store, a doctor by the name of Pepper, had an attractive young daughter who caught the eye of the young fountaineer.

The old doctor, seeing little future for his daughter in her budding romance, discharged his employee hoping it would remove him from the scene. It did. The young man heeded the advice of Horace Greeley who had said, "Go West, young man, go West," for next we hear of him in Waco, Texas, working at the Corner Drug Store Fountain.

The young Virginian brought with him to Texas his penchant for "discovering" new fountain flavors. He loved to mix them up and was continually trying first one combination, then another, frequently offering samples of his handiwork to regular patrons of the fountain.

One day he hit upon one he liked. Others expressed approval of his new discovery. For lack of a name for the drink, store patrons dubbed it "Dr Pepper," more to tease the young fountaineer about his sweetheart back in Virginia whom he mentioned often.

Thus it was, Dr Pepper came into being back in 1885, its name romantically connected with the love affair of its inventor.

It remained for R. S. Lazenby, Waco beverage chemist, to perfect the drink formula. Lazenby, a patron of the Old Corner Drug Store fountain, became interested and began extensive research on the new drink sensation. After months of testing, blending and processing, the wonderful new flavor known today as Dr Pepper was originated. So perfect was Lazenby's work that the same basic formula created by him has remained unchanged in the long history of Dr Pepper.

Little did Lazenby, or any of his Waco friends, realize at the time that Dr Pepper would become one of the nation's leading soft drinks; that its distribution would become nationwide and spread into foreign countries; that it would become recognized as the most unique and distinctive soft drink flavor on the American market.

Today, Dr Pepper has achieved these goals. Sales and distribution in the beginning were limited to soda fountains in and around Waco. Then Lazenby began bottling Dr Pepper in his Artesian Bottling Works in Waco. This made it possible for Dr Pepper to spread its fame and popularity even more rapidly and into more distant communities. As early as 1910 Dr Pepper flavoring syrup had become one of the principal freight items hauled from Waco by the Wells Fargo Express.

It wasn't until 1922, however, when Lazenby's young son-in-law, J. B. O'Hara, came into the business, that Dr Pepper began to take on extensive sales and distribution. O'Hara, a young army officer from Pennsylvania, saw great possibilities in Dr Pepper. In 1922 the base of operations for the company was moved to Dallas, Texas, which proved to be a wise move. By 1928 the business had grown to such proportions that it was necessary to build new and larger quarters. A modern three-story syrup plant was completed in Dallas in 1930, and a year later, a second plant of similar size was built in Birmingham, Alabama. This enabled the company to serve its rapidly-growing Southeastern market much faster and more economically.

Dr Pepper sales growth through the years has brought many advancements in the company. It saw the firm move its home office and national headquarters a third time, into a beautiful 2-1/2 million dollar plant which today is regarded as one of the outstanding in the industry. It saw a third syrup manufacturing plant installed in Baltimore, Maryland, further reducing delivery distances and costs and stepping up service to bottlers.

Currently, there are well over a billion Dr Peppers consumed annually in the U.S. Dr Pepper has some 400 franchised bottling operations in the States with plants located in four foreign countries--Tangier, Thailand, Bermuda and Philippine Islands. Its distribution area extends from coats to coast and border to border, and also includes the latest U.S. territorial additions of Alaska and Hawaii. The Dr Pepper Company operates four company-owned bottling plants, often used as test points for new production, sales and marketing ideas.

The annual advertising budget for Dr Pepper, including that of its franchised bottlers, runs into millions of dollars, the major portion of which is invested in television, radio, newspaper, billboards and point-of-sale.

Dr Pepper makes wide use of all types of automatic vending equipment as a means of expanding availability. The product is highly adaptable for this medium of distribution and enjoys a substantial volume of business through automation.

Product packaging has played a major role in Dr Pepper's marking program. It is sold in the long-standard 6-1/2 ounce bottle, king size bottle and family-size bottle packaged in colorful cartons for store display. In addition to bottled Dr Pepper, considerable volume is done with canned Dr Pepper, a large portion of which is sold for distribution through overseas military bases. Another area that contributes to Dr Pepper's volume is bulk fountain syrup sales through soda fountains, cup operators and theatre concessions.

The company operates its own fleet of large transport trucks to give its bottlers and wholesale distributors expedient service.

Since its origin in Waco, Texas in 1885, Dr Pepper has gained distinction as being "different" from any other brand of soft drink. It is a blend of natural fruit flavors, unique, pleasing and described by many as unlike anything ever tasted before."