Today, it’s “The Big Two.” Colas, that is, as Pepsi and Coke battle it out for the lion’s share in the multi-billion-dollar soft drink industry.
Years ago, it was “The Big Three” – Coke, Pepsi and RC Cola. An RC and a Moon Pie was considered a working man’s lunch in the South back in the 50s. RC was invented in 1905 by a pharmacist who bought some cola syrup and experimented until he found just the right taste.
Daddy preferred RC to Pepsi and Coke and since it was he that went grocery shopping every Saturday morning, that was our family’s soda of choice. RCs came in a six-pack of 16-oz. bottles and there was a 2c deposit on each bottle. We were careful to accumulate all the empties so Daddy could redeem them the following week. Twelve cents may not seem like much now, but when you consider that a loaf of bread in 1955 was also 12c (bread in now around $4 a loaf), that was no paltry sum.
Daddy liked RC because it was a bit sweeter than Coke, but not as sweet as a Pepsi. RC Cola was an innovator as well, the first to sell soda in a can and one of the first on the market with diet cola.
Huge advertising budgets for Coke and Pepsi left RC Cola far behind in sales, but – believe it or not – RC is now making a serious comeback.
Now owned by Dr. Pepper and Associates, RC Cola is seeing a surge in sales as buyers crave all things nostalgic. Most of the large grocery stores don’t carry RC because the accountants say, “Not enough demand”, but many independents do carry RC – as well as Moon Pies, Next time I see a six-pack of RC, I’ll buy it. I might even save the empties just for old time’s sake.
