RC Cola

RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola) is a carbonated cola beverage owned in the United States by Keurig Dr Pepper and internationally by RC Global Beverages, Inc.

History

In 1901, the Cole-Hampton-Hatcher Grocery Store was established in Columbus, Georgia. 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 was determined to develop his own soft drink formula. He started developing products in the basement of the store with a recipe for ginger ale.

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. In 1907, cherry-flavored Chero-Cola was introduced. The company was later renamed Chero-Cola in 1910. In 1924, its new fruit-flavored beverage, Nehi was introduced. This led to the company's renaming in 1925 to Nehi, Inc. Following its founder, Claud A. Hatcher's death in 1933, and Chero-Cola being reformulated in 1934 by chemist Rufus Kamm, the company reintroduced the "Royal Crown" to launch Royal Crown Cola. The company itself went on to change its name from Nehi, Inc. to Royal Crown Cola Company in 1951.

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. It is now Filipino after being sold in 2022 In 1962, the company introduced the first diet cola, Diet Rite.

During the 1970s, Royal Crown Cola Company developed their international presence, including countries in Asia and Europe.

In 1976, the Raffel family sold Arby's to the Royal Crown Cola Company for $18 million.

Caffeine- and sugar-free cola RC 100 was launched in 1980.

In 1984, Cherry RC, Diet RC and Diet Rite flavors were introduced. That year, RC Cola accounted for approximately 4–5% of soft drink sales in the United States, behind Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and 7 Up.

In 1995, Royal Crown Draft Cola was released as the first premium draft cola. It was made with pure cane sugar as a sweetener (instead of high fructose corn syrup), the finest kola nuts, all-natural flavors and pure filtered water. Offered only in 12-ounce bottles, it was discontinued, 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 and Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Ownership changes

In 1993, Royal Crown Cola Company was purchased by Triarc Companies, Inc, adding approximately $25 million a year to the marketing budget.

In September 2000, Royal Crown was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes (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, the current owners of the RC Cola brand.

In 2001, all non-US businesses were sold to Cott Beverages of Canada and operated as Royal Crown Cola International. In 2021, Cott sold Royal Crown Cola International to Refresco for US$50 million. Simultaneously, Refresco sold to Royal Crown Cola International to RC Global Beverages Inc.

In September 2022, Philippine-based Macay Holdings announced it will acquire 100% of RC Global Beverages Inc., subject to the finalization of a share purchase agreement and other closing conditions. The transaction was completed in January 17, 2023 for approximately $47 million, comprising a $21.4 million cash payment for equity and the assumption of approximately $26 million of obligations.

Brand portfolio

Advertising campaigns

The RC Cola brand has been marketed through many campaigns. In the 1930s, Alex Osborn, with BBDO, made an ad campaign, including the slogan "The season's best."

In 1940, a publicity campaign was run, which saw Hollywood celebrities, next to the slogan "Best By Taste Test". Actress Lizabeth Scott 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) and Nutty Bird (performed by Henson and assisted by Frank Oz) to promote the drinks. Nutty Bird would promote Royal Crown Cola by touting its benefits. The puppet for Nutty Bird was designed by Jim Henson and built by Don Sahlin. Sour Bird appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' with the Rock and Roll Monster.

Nancy Sinatra was featured in two Royal Crown Cola commercials in her one-hour TV special, '' Movin' With Nancy'', 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 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, New York Mets pitcher, and his wife, Nancy, dancing on top of a dugout at Shea Stadium

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