 Brewer/bottler #1191 | | | | Address | Use for all Pepsi, Teem, Patio, Mountain Dew and Mirinda crowns where local bottler not shown. |
| | | | | | | | Extra info | Pepsi was first introduced as "Brad's Drink" in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham (1866–1934) , who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was later labeled Pepsi Cola, named after the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe. The original recipe also included sugar and vanilla. The drink proved popular, so in 1902 Bradham incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company. In 1905, Bradham began selling Pepsi-Cola in six-ounce bottles and awarded two franchises to Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina. The following year, 15 franchises were awarded, with another 40 by 1907. In 1910 there were 250 franchises in 24 states and in January of that year the Pepsi Cola Company held their first Bottler Convention. The Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1919. After many years of moderate prosperity, the company fell on hard times after World War I and was reorganized and reincorporated several times in the 1920s. The Company merged with the National Pepsi-Cola Corporation (of Virgina) which was incorparated on July 31, 1928.
In 1931 the company’s trademark and assets were picked up by Charles G. Guth (1876–1948), founder of the modern Pepsi-Cola. He established a new Pepsi-Cola Company, had a chemist formulate a better drink, set up new bottling operations, and began merchandising a hugely successful 12-ounce bottle for five cents. About that same time (per Steven Dick), he rebranded the crowns from green and white to red and yellow. Guth was also president of Loft, Incorporated, a candy manufacturer and soda-fountain chain (founded 1919). He further contracted to stock the soda in Loft's large chain of candy shops and restaurants, which were known for their soda fountains, used Loft resources to promote Pepsi, and moved the soda company to a location close by Loft's own facilities in New York City. In legal battles in 1936–39, Guth lost a controlling interest in the Pepsi-Cola Company to the new management of Loft. When in 1941 the company was merged into Loft, the name Loft, Inc., was changed to Pepsi-Cola Company.
In 1950 Alfred N. Steele (1901–59), a former vice president of Coca-Cola Company, became chief executive officer. His emphasis on giant advertising campaigns and sales promotions increased Pepsi-Cola’s net earnings 11-fold during the 1950s and made it the chief competitor of Coca-Cola. (After Steele’s death, his wife, actress Joan Crawford, became an active director of the company.) In 1965 Pepsi-Cola merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. and became PepsiCo, Inc., and in 1970, PepsiCo moved from New York City to its new world headquarters in Purchase, N.Y. The newly enlarged company diversified further with the purchase of three restaurant chains, Pizza Hut, Inc. (1977), Taco Bell Inc. (1978), and Kentucky Fried Chicken Corp. (1986; now called KFC), and Seven-Up International (1986), but in 1997 the restaurant chains were spun off into a new, separate company called Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. PepsiCo acquired the Tropicana and Dole juice brands from the Seagram Company in 1998. In 2001 PepsiCo merged with the Quaker Oats company to form a new division, Quaker Foods and Beverages. With the merger PepsiCo’s popular brands included Pepsi cola, Frito-Lay snack products, Lipton Tea, Tropicana juices, Gatorade sports drinks, Quaker Oats cereals, and Rold Gold pretzels |
| | | | | | | Other names used for this Brewer/bottler | | | Extra info | New York City (1965-1970)
Purchase, NY (after 1970) |
| | Name 2 | Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Co. Inc. (New York, NY) |
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