Pepsi

Pepsi's luck began to change when Charles Guth, the owner and operator of a chain of New York-based candy stores, teamed up with Megargel to buy the trademark for the embattled soda. Dissatisfied with the cost of Coca-Cola, which provided the cola syrup to his chain of candy stores, Guth instead replaced them with Pepsi, whose formula he had changed to his liking. While Pepsi's sudden availability in Guth's candy stores helped save the company from failure, it was Guth's decision to bottle Pepsi and sell it for the low price of five cents that helped sales skyrocket. By 1936, Guth owned 91% of Pepsi and was making over $2 million a year in profit.

After a period of exponential growth in the 1900s, Pepsi found itself struggling in the period after World War I. The War saw the price of sugar, a key ingredient, quadruple, causing Bradham to buy massive amounts of it in anticipation of even higher prices. However, the price of sugar instead fell drastically, causing Pepsi to fail and file for bankruptcy in 1923. The bankrupt company was bought by New York investor Roy Megargel later that year. Megargel however had no luck saving Pepsi either, and the company filed for bankruptcy again in 1931 due to the Great Depression.

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced by multinational beverage and food corporation PepsiCo. The drink was invented by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina in May 1893, and later launched under the name Pepsi-Cola in 1898. Available in a wide variety of flavors, Pepsi is the second-most popular soft drink in the United States, behind its main competitor Coca-ColaCoca-Cola.

Pepsi was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham under the name Brad's Drink in 1893. Bradham began selling the beverage, made of a mix of sugar, water, caramel, lemon oil, kola nuts, nutmeg and other additives, out of his pharmacy in downtown New Bern, NC, and eventually changed the name to Pepsi-Cola in 1898 as the drink grew in popularity. Bradham filed a trademark for Pepsi-Cola in 1903, starting a period of rapid expansion for the company. The next ten years saw Pepsi open up multiple bottling franchises and an office in North Carolina. By 1910, Pepsi had 240 bottling franchises across 24 states.

After a period of exponential growth in the 1900s, Pepsi found itself struggling in the period after World War I. The War saw the price of sugar, a key ingredient, quadruple, causing Bradham to buy massive amounts of it in anticipation of even higher prices. However, the price of sugar instead fell drastically, causing Pepsi to fail and file for bankruptcy in 1923.

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced by multinational beverage and food corporation PepsiCo. The drink was invented by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina in May 1893, and later launched under the name Pepsi-Cola in 1898. Available in a wide variety of flavors, Pepsi is the second-most popular soft drink in the United States, behind its main competitor Coca-Cola.

Pepsi was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham under the name Brad's Drink in 1893. Bradham began selling the beverage, made of a mix of sugar, water, caramel, lemon oil, kola nuts, nutmeg and other additives, out of his pharmacy in downtown New Bern, NC, and eventually changed the name to Pepsi-Cola in 1898 as the drink grew in popularity.

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.

History

Pepsi was first introduced as "Brad's Drink" in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold.

It was renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898, "Pepsi" because it was advertised to relieve dyspepsia (today more commonly known as indigestion or an upset stomach) and "Cola" referring to the cola flavor. Some have also suggested that "Pepsi" may have been a reference to the drink aiding digestion like the digestive enzyme pepsin, but pepsin itself was never used as an ingredient to Pepsi-Cola.

The original recipe also included sugar and vanilla. Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was appealing and would aid in digestion and boost energy.

The original stylized Pepsi-Cola wordmark used from 1898 until 1905

In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi from his drugstore to a rented warehouse. That year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, and sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first celebrity to endorse Pepsi, describing it as "A bully drink...refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race." The advertising theme "Delicious and Healthful" was then used over the next two decades.

A 1919 newspaper ad for Pepsi-Cola

In 1923, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy—in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on the wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful in efforts to find funding to revive the brand and soon Pepsi-Cola's assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the president of Loft, Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after The Coca-Cola Company refused to give him additional discounts on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.

On three occasions between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola Company, which it declined on each occasion.

On three occasions between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola Company, which it declined on each occasion.