Dr Pepper Snapple Group

From humble beginnings in Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, the company Morrison and Lazenby started has become one of the largest beverage manufacturers in North America. They formed the Artesian Manufacturing & Bottling Company.

Lazenby moved the company from Waco to Dallas in 1923. The company merged with 7-Up became Dr Pepper/Seven UP Inc. on May 19, 1986.

Dr Pepper/Seven UP was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes in March 2, 1995 after the conglomerate became debt-ridden and insolvent. It sold for about US$1.7 billion, plus about US$870 million of Dr Pepper/Seven UP debt.

Cadbury Schweppes emerged in 1969 from the merger of Cadbury plc, a British confectionary and a soft drink company and Schweppes, an international beverage brand.

In 2000, Cadbury Schweppes acquired the Snapple Beverage Group (Snapple).

Three years after acquiring Snapple Cadbury Schweppes combined its four North American beverage companies – Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Snapple, Mott’s and Bebidas Mexico into Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (CSAB).

In May 2008, under the direction of Larry Young, CSAB officially spun off from Cadbury’s confectionary manufacturing division and Dr Pepper brand became part of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, located in Plano Texas.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. now is a major beverage company with an integrated business model including brand ownership, bottling, and distribution on nonalcoholic beverages in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group

History of Dr Pepper

While working at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, Dr Alderton noticed that customers quickly tired of the beverage flavors offered at the soda fountain.

Old Corner Drug Store was located in the ground floor of Waco’s McClelland Hotel.

He mixed a variety of fruit extracts from the fountain and through trial and error, eventually devised a distinct tasting that both he and store owner Morrison enjoyed.

They shared beverage with customers and soon people were coming to the drugstore to try ‘Doc Alderton’s drink.’ The two later renamed the drink Dr Pepper.

Created in 1885, in Waco Texas, it was sold as a ‘tonic, brain food, and exhilarant’.

Exactly how Alderton’s creation came to be called Dr Pepper is unknown. It might have been chosen by Morrison, who had once worked at a drug store, owned by Dr Charles T Pepper in Rural Retreat, Virginia. Dr Charles T Pepper was the father of the woman Morrison once hoped to marry.

Morrison would often talk of how his girlfriend’s father had come between them in Virginia. Alderton at the store mixed up the concoction of flavors as a beverage for his customers, and it hopes of helping out Morrison’s romance, named it after the girl’s father.

In the beginning, Morrison and Alderton worked in a backroom at the Old Corner Drug Store, mixing up batches of the syrup for sale at their fountain and a few others. When demand increased, they decided to expand and rented a building for that purpose.

Robert S. Lazenby, Morrison’s soda fountain patron studied Alderton’s mixture for two year and patented the formula that is still used today.
History of Dr Pepper

The History of Dr Pepper

The History of Dr Pepper
In 1885, in Waco, Texas, a young pharmacist called Charles Alderton invented the soft drink "Dr Pepper". Originating at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, Dr Pepper was served first time on December 1 1885.

Morrison, owner of the drug store 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.

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. The Dr Pepper Company was incorporated in 1923 in Dallas. 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.
The History of Dr Pepper