RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola) is an American brand of
cola
Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imita ...
invented by
Claud A. Hatcher
Claud Adkins Hatcher (August 20, 1876 – December 31, 1933) was an American pharmacist, businessman, and inventor from Columbus, Georgia, who is best known for creating RC Cola and other soft drinks.
Background
Claud Adkins Hatcher was born ...
in 1905.
Royal Crown Ginger Ale was the first product of the RC Cola line, and it referred to the original ingredient: ginger. More ingredients were introduced under the RC Cola name including lemon, strawberry, and
cane sugar
Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula .
For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...
. In the 1950s, Royal Crown company was leading the beverage industry to sell the first
canned soft drinks, followed by the first caffeine-free cola.
Despite the company's innovation and mass advertising campaign, total revenue was low due to a lack of initiative in distribution.
RC Cola is owned and distributed by
Keurig Dr Pepper
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (1981–2014) and Keurig Green Mountain (2014–2018), is a publicly traded American beverage and coffeemaker conglomerate with headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. Formed in ...
for the United States and RC Global Beverages Inc. for international markets.
History
In 1901, the Cole-Hampton-Hatcher Grocery Store was established in
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...
. In 1903, the Hatcher family took sole ownership and the name was changed to the Hatcher Grocery Store. The grocery store was located at what was 22 West 10th Street. Today's address (after house number changes) is 15 West 10th Street. At the same time, the popularity of bottled soft drinks rose rapidly, and grocery store owners wished to maximize their profit. As a grocery wholesaler, Claud A. Hatcher purchased a large volume of Coca-Cola syrup from the local company salesman, Columbus Roberts. Hatcher felt that the company deserved a special reduced price for the syrup since it purchased such large volumes. Roberts would not budge on the cost, and a bitter conflict between the two erupted. Hatcher told Roberts he would win the battle by never purchasing any more Coca-Cola, and Hatcher determined to develop his own soft drink formula. He started developing products in the basement of the store with a recipe for ginger ale.
![Claud A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Claud_A._Hatcher.jpg)
Hatcher launched the Union Bottling Works in his family's grocery store. The first product in the Royal Crown line was Royal Crown Ginger Ale in 1905, followed by Royal Crown Strawberry, and Royal Crown Root Beer. The company was renamed Chero-Cola in 1910, and in 1925 renamed
Nehi
Nehi (pronounced "knee high") is a flavored soft drink that originated in the United States. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works and founded by Claud A. Hatcher, a Columbus, Georgia grocer who began bottling ginger ale a ...
Corporation after its colored and flavored drinks. In 1934, Chero-Cola was reformulated by Rufus Kamm, a chemist, and re-released as Royal Crown Cola.
In the 1950s, Royal Crown Cola and
Moon Pies were a popular "working man's lunch" in the American South. In 1954, Royal Crown was the first company to sell soft drinks in a can, and later the first company to sell soft drinks in an aluminum can.
In 1958, the company introduced the first diet cola,
Diet Rite
Diet Rite is an American brand of no-calorie soft drinks that was originally distributed by the RC Cola company.
History
Diet Rite was introduced in 1958 and initially released as a dietetic product, but was introduced nationwide and markete ...
.
In 1976, the Raffel family sold
Arby's
Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, '' Food & Wine'' called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain (after Subway)".
Ar ...
to the Royal Crown Cola Company for $18 million.
Caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...
-free cola RC 100 was launched in 1980.
In 1984, RC Cola accounted for approximately 4-5% of soft drink sales in the United States, behind Coke, Pepsi,
Dr. Pepper
Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. It was created in the 1880s by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is now also sold in Europe ...
, and
7 Up
7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up comp ...
. In that year, it was purchased by DWG Corporation (later renamed Triarc).
In the mid-1990s, RC released Royal Crown Draft Cola, billed as a "premium" cola using pure
cane sugar
Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula .
For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...
as a sweetener instead of
high fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzym ...
. Offered only in 12-ounce bottles, sales were disappointing, due largely to the inability of the RC bottling network to get distribution for the product in single-drink channels, and it was discontinued with the exceptions of Australia, New Zealand, and France. It was later available only in New Zealand, parts of Australia, Thailand, and Tajikistan. The company also released Cherry RC, a cherry-flavored version of the RC soft drink to compete with
Cherry Coke
Coca-Cola Cherry (originally marketed and stil commonly referred to as Cherry Coke) is a cherry-flavored version of Coca-Cola. It is produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers in the United States and some international m ...
and
Wild Cherry Pepsi
Pepsi Wild Cherry is a cherry-flavored cola first introduced in 1988 by PepsiCo as a replacement for Cherry Cola Slice, introduced as part of the line in 1986. Two sugar-free versions are also available, with zero calories, named Diet Pepsi Wild ...
.
In September 2000, Royal Crown was acquired by
Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...
(which owned Dr Pepper) through its acquisition of Triarc's beverages business (which also included Snapple). Cadbury Schweppes' US based beverage business (including RC) was spun off as "Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG)" in 2008. DPSG merged with Keurig Green Mountain in 2018 as
Keurig Dr Pepper
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (1981–2014) and Keurig Green Mountain (2014–2018), is a publicly traded American beverage and coffeemaker conglomerate with headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. Formed in ...
, the current owners of the RC Cola brand.
In 2001, all non-US RC-branded businesses were sold to
Cott Beverages
Primo Water Corporation (formerly Cott Corporation) is an American-Canadian water company offering multi-gallon bottled water, water dispensers, self-service refill water machines, and water filtration appliances. The company is headquartered in ...
of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and became operated as Royal Crown Cola International. In 2021, Cott sold RCI International to Refresco for US$50 million. Simultaneously, Refresco sold RCI International to RC Global Beverages Inc.
In September 2022, Philippine-based
Macay Holdings
Macay Holdings, Inc. () is a company based in the Philippines engaged in the bottling and distribution of RC Cola and other soft drink beverages in the Philippines.
History
Macay Holdings, Inc. (Macay) was incorporated on October 16, 1930, as ...
announced it will acquire 100% of RC Global Beverages Inc. The transaction is subject to the finalization of a share purchase agreement and other closing conditions.
Brand portfolio
Advertising campaigns
![Louisville, Georgia Commercial Historic District (35)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Louisville%2C_Georgia_Commercial_Historic_District_%2835%29.jpg)
The RC Cola brand has been marketed through many campaigns. In the 1930s, Alex Osborn, with
BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...
, made an ad campaign, including the slogan "The season's best."
The 1940s saw a magazine advertising campaign with actress
Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Virginia Scott (born Emma Matzo; September 29, 1921 – January 31, 2015) was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir during ...
as the face, next to the slogan "RC tastes best, says Lizabeth Scott".
In 1966, Royal Crown Cola collaborated with Jim Henson on an ad campaign for Royal Crown Cola which featured two birds called Sour Bird (performed by
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...
) and Nutty Bird (performed by Henson and assisted by
Frank Oz
Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker.
He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...
) to promote the drinks. Nutty Bird would promote Royal Crown Cola by touting the benefits. The puppet for Nutty Bird was designed by Jim Henson and built by
Don Sahlin
Donald George Sahlin (June 19, 1928 – May 29, 1978) was a Muppet designer and builder who worked for Jim Henson from 1962 to 1977.
Sahlin began making puppets at age 11, initially building a shadow theater and cardboard figurines. As an a ...
. Sour Bird appeared on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' with the Rock and Roll Monster.
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer and actress. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato), and is best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.
Nancy Sinatra ...
was featured in two Royal Crown Cola commercials in her one-hour TV special, ''
Movin' With Nancy
''Movin' with Nancy'' is a television special featuring Nancy Sinatra in a series of musical vignettes featuring herself and other artists. Produced by Nancy's production company, Boots Enterprises, Inc., and sponsored by Royal Crown Cola, the s ...
'', which featured various singers and
David Winters choreography in December 1967. She sang, "It's a mad, mad, mad Cola...RC the one with the mad, mad taste!...RC!" The company was the official sponsor of
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
on and off at times from the team's inception in 1962 until the early 1990s. A television commercial in the New York area featured
Tom Seaver
George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cinc ...
, New York Mets pitcher, and his wife, Nancy, dancing on top of a dugout at
Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.[Louise Mandrell
Thelma Louise Mandrell (born July 13, 1954) is an American country music singer. She is the younger sister of fellow country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of actress Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successful singing career in country ...](_blank)
, went, "Me and my RC / Me and my RC /'Cause what's good enough / For other folks / Ain't good enough for me." RC was introduced to Israel in 1995 with the slogan "RC: Just like in America!" During the
Cola Wars
The cola wars are the long-time rivalry between cola producers The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, who have engaged in mutually-targeted marketing campaigns for the direct competition between each company's product lines, especially their flags ...
of the 1980s, RC used the 'Decide for yourself' campaign and would remind people 'There's more to your life than Coke and Pepsi."
In the Philippines, RC Cola released advertisements with artists popular in the country. In 2009, these had
Maja Salvador
Maja Ross Andres Salvador-Ortega (; born October 5, 1988) is a Filipino actress, performer, television host, occasional producer, and talent manager. Referred to as the “Majestic Superstar”and the "''Queen of Revenge Drama''", Salvador is ...
and
Kim Bum
Kim Sang-bum (; born July 7, 1989), known professionally as Kim Bum (alternatively Kim Beom), is a South Korean actor, dancer, singer and model. He is best known for his television roles as F4 member So Yi-jung in ''Boys Over Flowers'' (2009), ...
as celebrity endorsers.
The Philippine marketing of the brand also painted the front of
sari-sari store
A sari-sari store, anglicized as neighborhood sundry store, is a convenience store found in the Philippines. The word ''sari-sari'' is Tagalog meaning "variety" or "sundry". Such stores occupy an important economic and social location in a Fil ...
s with slogans like "RC ng (insert municipality/city)" (RC of my
own/city. In 2019, the advertisements tapped
Joshua Garcia
Joshua Espineli Garcia (; born October 7, 1997) is a Filipino actor, dancer, and commercial model. He began his professional acting career in 2015 after being part of the reality show '' Pinoy Big Brother: All In'' as a contestant. He rose to p ...
to be the year's celebrity endorser and launched th
"RC ng Bayan"campaign.
Andretti Autosport
Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...
driver
Marco Andretti
Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American auto racing driver who drives the No. 98 car for Bryan Herta Autosport, Andretti Herta Autosport part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the third generation of the famous Andretti racin ...
had RC Cola as his primary sponsor during the 2012 and 2013
IndyCar Series
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...
.
References
External links
Official RC Cola International siteKeurig Dr. Pepper website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rc Cola
1905 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
American cola brands
Caffeinated soft drinks
Keurig Dr Pepper brands
Products introduced in 1905