History of Dr Pepper

The soda was the oldest major soft drink brand in the United States. In 1885, in Waco, Texas, a young pharmacist called Charles Alderton invented the soft drink "Dr Pepper". To test his new drink, he first offered it to store owner Wade Morrison. At Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, Dr Pepper was served first time on December 1 1885.

They originally called it a "Waco" after the name of their town, but pharmacy owner Wade Morrison sensed they were onto something and wanted to give it a better name. Wade Morrison is credited with naming the drink "Dr Pepper" after a friend of his, Dr. Charles Pepper. Later in the 1950s the period was removed from the "Dr Pepper" name.

When they originally marketed Dr. Pepper, it was almost marketed for medical use with the claim that it could aid digestion and restore vigor and vitality for the user.

Other soda fountain workers in Waco began purchasing the popular syrup from Morrison and Alderton. As the soft drink's popularity grew, Alderton and Morrison had trouble manufacturing enough Dr Pepper to keep up with the demand for the product.

In 1891, Morrison and Lazenby formed the Artesian Manufacturing & Bottling Company, which later became the Dr Pepper Company. Under the direction of Mr. Lazenby Dr Pepper enjoyed steady growth in sales and began to spread in popularity across the country. Later Lazenby and his son in law, J.B O’Hara moved the company from Waco to Dallas in 1923.

Dr Pepper was introduced to United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as a new cola. In that year, the company introduced Dr Pepper to 20 million people attending the World's Fair Exposition in St. Louis.

The Dr Pepper Company was incorporated in 1923 in Dallas. In 1969, Dr. Pepper made an agreement with Coca-Cola to have them start distributing Dr. Pepper as well as to bottle it. The agreement was specific to the New York metro area at the time.

In the 1980's they merged with Seven Up, Inc. Corporate headquarters for Dr Pepper/Seven Up Inc. remains in Plano, north of Dallas. The Dr Pepper Company is the oldest major manufacturer of soft drink concentrates and syrups in the United States.
History of Dr Pepper

Carbonated soft drink Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew is a caffeinated, sweet, citrus-flavoured soft drink produced by PepsiCo, Inc. The formula was made and first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee, USA through the 1940s, then in Fayetteville, North Carolina by Barney and Ally Hartman.

The name Mountain Dew was first trademarked by two brothers, Barney and Ally Hartman, who ran a bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Soft drinks were regional in the 1930s, and the Hartmans had difficulty in Knoxville obtaining their preferred soda to mix with liquor, preferably whiskey, so the two men developed their own. Used as a mixer with whisky, it was a far cry from what it has become today, though people still mix it with various alcoholic beverages.

The perfect Mountain Dew taste many know and love today is credited to Bill Bridgforth, who joined the company in 1958. The original bottle was made to look as though it was a bootlegged beverage like those made in mountain stills and was decorated with hillbillies and outhouses, and pseudo-facts like 'Filled by Ed and Gene'.

The Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia bought the rights to Mountain Dew, revising the flavour and launching it in 1961. In 1964, PepsiCo purchased the Tip Corporation, then Mountain Dew’s appeal became nationwide.

It has been introduced globally at various stages, but the USA remains its stronghold. The days of outhouses and hillbillies are past: the target audience is now different. Current Mountain Dew's commercials appeal to fun-seeking, wild, outdoorsy teenagers making Mountain Dew one of the popular soft drinks in America.

Between the 1940s and 1980s, there was just one variety of Mountain Dew, which was citrus-flavored and caffeinated in most markets.

Diet Mountain Dew was introduced in 1988, followed by Mountain Dew Red, which was introduced and subsequently discontinued in 1988. In 2001, a cherry flavor called CodeRed debuted. As of 2007, Mountain Dew was the fourth-best-selling carbonated soft drink in the United States, behind only Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola, and Diet Coke.
Carbonated soft drink Mountain Dew

Charlie Nagreen: Hamburger’s inventor

Residents of Seymour, Wisconsin, hold a “Home of the Hamburger” celebration every August 5. Residents of that town claim their own Charlie Nagreen as the hamburger’s inventor.

Charlie Nagreen born in Hortonville, Wisconsin in 1870, where he spent his boyhood.

Nagreen was said to have been only 15 years old on August 5, 1885, when he first began frying his hamburger patties in butter and selling them from an ox-drawn cart at the Outagamie County Fair.

Charlie Nagreen of Wisconsin was said age 15 years old, sold hamburgers from his ox-drawn food stand at the Outagamie County Fair.

Business wasn't good and he quickly realized that it was because meatballs were too difficult to eat while strolling around the fair. In a flash of innovation, he flattened the meatballs, placed them between two slices of bread and called his new creation a hamburger.

This legend is so well known and retold, that in 2007, The State Assembly of Wisconsin proclaimed Seymour, Wisconsin as the “Original Home of the Hamburger”. The town of Seymour holds a festival every year to honor the hamburger.

He was known to many as "Hamburger Charlie." He continued to sell his creation at the county fair for the next 65 years.
Charlie Nagreen: Hamburger’s inventor

Nescafé in United States

Instant coffee was originally invented by a Japanese scientist from Chicago named Satori Kato. He exhibited his invention at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, in 1901.

After eight years of tinkering in the laboratory, Nestlé revolutionized the way instant coffee was made. Nestlé developed a new process for dehydrating the concentrated coffee which vastly improved the quality. In entailed spraying a fine mist of the solution into a heated tower where the droplets turned to powder almost instantly.

In 1938 in Switzerland, Nestlé had introduced Nescafé, its first nonmilk product; the next year it began to manufacture Nescafé in the United States.

Nescafé targeted primarily American housewives with its experience ad campaign, emphasizing the classiness of a café product combined with the ease of instantly brewed coffee.

During World War II, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States alone consumed more than three-quarters of all Nescafé coffee produced globally. The lion’s share was destined for American troops, as Nescafé was integral part of their field rations. It was so popular that the entire production of its US plant was reserved for military use.

This contributed to popularize the concept of coffee as a drink and made American forces ‘brand ambassador’ in Europe.

By the 1950s, coffee had become the beverage of choice for teenagers, who were flocking to coffeehouses to hear the new rock ’n’ roll music.
Nescafé in United States

History of Pepsi-Cola

In 1892, Caleb Davis Bradham opened a drug store called Bradham’s Pharmacy. He founded it as a fun to mix delicious a soft drink as it was to make medicines. His soda fountain grew popular as townspeople gathered to socialize.

In 1893, Bradham combined sugar, caramel coloring, rare oils and extracts a fruit juices. This created a syrup. The syrup would be mixed with carbonated water to make a soft drink. The name ‘Brad’s Drink’ didn’t convey the nature of the beverage and he decided to name it ‘Pepsi-Cola’.

In 1898, Bradham wisely bought the trade name ‘Pep Cola’ for $100 from a competitor from Newark, New Jersey that had gone broke.

Bradham filed incorporation paper for Pepsi-Cola Company with the state of North Carolina in 1902. A year later, the US patent Office granted Pepsi-Cola a trademark. By then, Bradham had decided that he needed to move his operation to a larger building.

At first Bradham mixed his own syrup, which was sold only through soda fountains, but he soon realized a greater market was to be had in bottling Pepsi, which people could drink and transport anywhere.

Pepsi-Cola went bankrupt in 1923 due to fluctuations of sugar price. In 1931, Pepsi-Cola was bought by the Loft Candy Company.
History of Pepsi-Cola

Travelers Cheque by American Express

Travelers Cheques were first issued on 1 January 1772 by the London Credit Exchange Company for use in ninety European cities and in 1874 Thomas Cook was issuing ‘circular notes’ that operated in the manner of Travelers Cheques

James Fargo, president of American Express on trip to Europe carried traditional letters of credit that wealthy people used to get cash while travelling.

However he found out that many of the smaller European banks wouldn’t accept them, even though he was the president of American Express. Incensed, he returned home and told an America Express employee, Marcellas Berry to create a solution to his problem.

1n 1891, American Express was the first company to develop a large scale Travelers Cheque system. Marcellas Berry combined the money order with an ordinary chequebook. The result was the first travelers cheque.

American Express Travelers Cheque was born. Travelers Cheque established American Express as a truly international company.

In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, American Express offices in Europe were among the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, despite other financial institutions having refused to assist these stranded travelers.
Travelers Cheque by American Express