A Brief History of Keurig Dr. Pepper, Formerly Keurig Green Mountain

Did you know that Keurig Dr. Pepper is the earliest significant maker of soft drink concentrates and syrups? Dr. Pepper is America’s signature taste, first developed, produced, and supplied in the Central Texas town of Waco in 1885.

How it Started

Dr. Pepper is a "native Texan" whose origins may be traced back to Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store. It is the earliest of the soft drink labels in the United States. The roots of Dr. Pepper, like its taste, are unique. The now-famous drink is thought to have been invented by Charles Alderton, a youthful pharmacist operating at Morrison’s shop.

Alderton devoted much of his time preparing medication for Waco residents. He also enjoyed serving fizzy beverages at the soda fountain in his leisure time. Charles fancied how the pharmacy shop smelled, with all the different flavors of fruit syrup mingling in the air. He came up with the idea of making a drink that tasted like that scent. He kept a notebook, and after several trials, he came up with a theory.

To put his novel drink to the test, he gave it to store owner Morrison, who liked it as well. Alderton was ready to give his drink to some of the fountain consumers after continuous inspection by the two. It was warmly received by them as well. Other customers at Morrison’s soda fountain quickly discovered Alderton’s new cocktail and started requesting him to make them a "Waco."

Giving the Beverage its Name

Morrison is recognized for coining the term "Dr. Pepper" for the beverage (the period was dropped in the 1950s). Regrettably, the origin of the name is unfamiliar. Over a dozen distinct accounts on how the drink later became known as Dr. Pepper have been gathered by the Museum.

How the Dr. Pepper Company was Established

Dr. Pepper’s popularity grew when other Waco soda fountain owners began purchasing Morrison’s syrup and offering it. For Alderton and Morrison, this quickly became an issue. They couldn’t keep up with the pace at their fountain anymore.

A youthful beverage chemist, Robert S. Lazenby, had also tried the novel drink and was delighted. The drink’s creator, Alderton, was more engaged in pharmaceutical work and had no plans for it. Morrison and Lazenby should work on it more, he said.

Morrison and Lazenby were pleased by Dr. Pepper’s development. They established the Artesian Mfg. & Bottling Company in 1891. Dr. Pepper Company was formed afterward. In 1923, Lazenby and his son-in-law, J.B. O’Hara, relocated the business from Waco to Dallas.

Formation of Dr. Pepper Snapple

As a byproduct of a spin-off from Cadbury, plc, which owned the Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages business group, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) became a stand-alone. It was a publicly listed corporation on the New York Stock Exchange on May 7, 2008.

DPS is a prominent refreshing beverage company in North America, with more than Fifty brands of carbonated drinks, juices, teas, mixers, waters, and other specialty beverages on the marketplace. The strategy of the company, branding and employees have all contributed to its success.

DPS was formed as a result of a mix of exploration, innovation, and cooperation. This illustrious past includes the invention of the soft drink in 1783 when Jean Jacob Schweppe mastered carbonating water and developed the first carbonated mineral water on the planet.

Dr. Pepper and Snapple, DPS’s major brands, have roots in the same enterprising mentality as Schweppe. As mentioned before, Dr. Pepper was created in 1885 by Charles Alderton, and it was renamed Dr. Pepper.

Nearly a century later, 3 health food shop owners in the New York region invented Snapple, a distinctive apple drink. In 1973, they started selling the first Snapple in fitness centers. The Unadulterated Food Corporation, which subsequently became Snapple Beverage Corp, was the business that owned Snapple in the 1970s.

Cadbury Schweppes was founded in 1969 when Cadbury and Schweppes merger, and via a succession of smart mergers over the next 30 years, the business accumulated the third biggest share of the North American beverage industry.

Cadbury Schweppes purchased the Duffy-Mott Company (later known as Mott’s) in 1982, making it one of the world’s leading apple juice producers. The firm introduced Canada Dry, Sunkist Soda, Crush, and Sun Drop over the rest of the 1980s. In 1993, A&W Brands entered the portfolio, bringing with it the iconic root beer and cream soda, and also Squirt and Vernors.

Cadbury Schweppes bought Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. in 1995. Dr. Pepper and 7UP, as well as IBC Root Beer as well as Welch’s soft drink brand, were added to the Cadbury Schweppes group. Cadbury Schweppes bought Snapple Beverage Group in 2000, which includes the eponymous product as well as RC Cola, Diet Rite, and Stewart’s.

Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages was formed in 2003 when the four North American beverage companies within Cadbury Schweppes – Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., Snapple Beverage Corp., Mott’s, and Bebidas Mexico – were merged under a similar point of view, corporate goal, and organizational structure.

When it purchased full control of Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group, the biggest autonomous bottler in the United States, in 2006, the business developed its own bottling and distribution network. Following that, it bought All-American Bottling Co., 7UP Bottling Co. of San Francisco and Dr. Pepper/7-Up Bottling Co. of the West, and Davis Bottling Co. (PA), among others.

The bottler acquisitions have given DPS control of over half of its entire volume in the United States and Canada, adding to its finished products manufacturing presence for the sale of teas, mixers, juices, and applesauce. Bai Brands LLC was acquired by DPS in 2017, bringing with it a full array of antioxidant-infused waters, carbonated waters, coconut water, and gourmet teas.

Finally, DPS and Keurig Green Mountain combined in 2018 to become Keurig Dr. Pepper. Check out the link for further details about Keurig Dr. Pepper: www.keurigdrpepper.com

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters started off as a small specialty coffee store in Waitsfield, Vermont. Gourmet coffee wasn’t exactly a "trend" in 1981, but it was something that businessman Bob Stiller intended to change. He was such an enthusiast that when he tried their products in a local ski resort, he enquired about the origins of the beans. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters would eventually be purchased by him.

Stiller took to the streets and later branched out into mail order, offering coffee to anybody who would listen. He quickly established Green Mountain’s image as an environmentally conscious promoter of fair-trade coffee. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has grown to $11 million in yearly sales after 10 years as well as 1,000 retail contractual arrangements.

History of Keurig

John Sylvan and Peter Dragone, two technical enthusiasts, founded the venture capital firm Keurig in 1993. Their goal was to create a household single-cup coffee maker. They selected the title since they assumed it meant "excellence" in Dutch, but it really means "proper" or "neat."

Sylvan and Dragone talked with Bob Stiller and his colleague Sweeney to discuss creating a single cup coffee machine, and Stiller purchased a share in the firm. The K-Cup was founded four years later, in 1997. It was compatible with third-party K-Cup suitable coffee machines from well-known brands including Cuisinart and Mr. Coffee. The first Keurig brewer arrived a year later.

This collaboration between Green Mountain and Keurig couldn’t have come at a better time. It all happened in the 1990s when a new Starbucks store appeared to open every ten minutes or so from across the United States. However, Stiller progressively grew his interest in Keurig until he became the sole owner of the firm in 2006.

With complete ownership of Keurig and its unique K-Cup coffee delivery model, Bob Stiller and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters began shifting from providing wholesale coffee to ridiculous-margin single-serving coffee. According to several calculations, today’s Keurig K-Cups sell between $40 and $50 per pound.

When you make a comparison to Keurig’s own Green Mountain Coffee, which costs less than $10 per 10-ounce bag, you get why the business plan changed. Green Mountain’s sales increased as franchise coffee stores and the "gourmet" coffee industry continued to fuel the rise of a new coffee lifestyle in America and overseas.

Their net income in 2007 was less than $13 million, according to their yearly survey. By 2013, net income had grown to be over $483 million, a 37-fold increase. Green Mountain’s shareholders decided in 2014 to rename the business Keurig Green Mountain, presumably to better represent the source of all that cash.

Bob Stiller was wasting a lot of money that he didn’t have. And, despite his stake in Keurig during the coffee boom of the 1990s, his judgment in this instance could not have been worse. Short sellers on Wall Street relentlessly pushed down the stock value of Keurig Green Mountain while Stiller chased the luxurious lifestyle of a millionaire.

Stiller’s creditors, in response, went into a frenzy and compelled him to surrender his Green Mountain stock. Stiller’s dumping of such a large amount of shares was a breach of Keurig Green Mountain’s regulations, given the stock price was already falling due to short-sellers.

Stiller was not welcomed back when the company’s stock price rebounded and reached an all-time peak of $177 per share in late 2014. Even now, there is some discussion over whether Stiller’s Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ ideals drifted away with him.

What About the K-Cup

Despite the fact that Keurig created the K-Cup in 1997, the public uproar about the ecological repercussions of its difficult-to-recycle design didn’t truly take off until around 2010. The Boston Globe subsequently released a story regarding the K-environmental Cup’s effect, which was quite severe.

In conclusion, Keurig has taken the commendable step of making its coffee pods recyclable, following an incredibly terrible 2015. They also just purchased Dr. Pepper Snapple Group for $18.7 billion in cash. Keurig Green Mountain is currently known as Keurig Dr. Pepper. Ideally, this will not result in any unpleasant shocks for customers. I hope you found this article interesting! Let me know your thoughts and queries in the comments section below.