Over the next decade, sales would jump tenfold, and the Nehi Corporation was back in the game. According to Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the new Royal Crown cola was perfected over six months by a chemist, but the work paid off as the soda became an "instant sensation.
Overall, the '40s were a very successful decade for Royal Crown. In , the company innovated to hold "publicly performed blind taste tests" versus competitors — and won.
Meanwhile, a judge ruled in that the word "cola" was again fair game for manufacturers, so the company was renamed once more as Royal Crown Cola Company. Now with some momentum, Royal Crown contributed plenty more innovations within the soda scene. According to New Georgia Encyclopedia , the company manufactured the first nationally-available canned sodas in , then created bigger ounce bottles in Royal Crown was also the first company to unleash diet soda on the masses, called Diet Rite, later following with a caffeine-free version called RC , and a cherry-flavored variety, Diet Cherry RC.
The diet sodas were created for diabetics, but they proved to be a hit with weight-watchers, too via Our Everyday Life. Though Dr Pepper Snapple Group hails Diet Rite as "the first diet soft drink," released in , there had been other diet sodas before — but none on a national scale, as Diet Rite achieved by via Culinary Lore. Unfortunately, the diet soda generated controversy due to the inclusion of cyclamates as a sweetener, which was eventually banned in over health concerns.
In a strange twist, the company "diversified" by acquiring two fruit juice makers and seven home furnishings companies, followed by the fast-food chain Arby's. Unfortunately, the company's next owner, Victor Posner who took over in , later received a conviction for tax evasion and was also under suspicion for insider trading.
The downturn hit Royal Crown particularly hard. Diet Rite had been its star performer, the one advantage it had over Coke and Pepsi.
After a few weeks, the company re-released Diet Rite, this time sweetened with saccharine. Eventually, Coke and Pepsi re-entered the market with better formulas and marketing, and once again, Royal Crown Cola had merely served as the guinea pig for its competitors. Today, cyclamate is widely used as a sweetener in countries like Australia, South Africa, and throughout the European Union.
Scientists around the world say it's safe for consumption, yet the results of the studies still linger. The United States, Japan, and 45 other countries have upheld their ban on the additive.
How could such dubious results be admissible? Donovan pointed to a legal loophole called the Delaney Clause , an amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of established by a senator named James Delaney, who investigated insecticides and carcinogens in the food industry in the late '50s. No matter if it was a granule or a gallon, if it proved hazardous to human or animal health, the ingredient had to be pulled.
Vowing to never again put so many resources behind a single product, the company began to diversify. It bought two fruit juice manufacturers, Texsun and Adams Packing. Then it took the truly bizarre step of purchasing seven home furnishing companies.
The downhill slide accelerated. That acquisition, at least, made some sense, as it would give the company an outlet for its fountain sodas.
But Royal Crown mismanaged the chain, introducing burgers and other conventional fast-food fare to a company that had made its name with roast beef sandwiches. In , the government convicted him on tax evasion charges, and soon after investigated him for insider trading.
While Royal Crown was busy cutting costs and making lampshades, Coca-Cola and Pepsi were dumping millions into an unprecedented marketing arms race. Beginning in the mid-'70s, the two began one-upping each other with taste tests, rewards programs, TV ads, new products, and numerous other promotions. In , after it found out that Coke was putting a specially engineered Coke can aboard the Challenger space shuttle, Pepsi quickly rigged up its own can and pressured NASA into letting it onboard.
Neither can worked the way it was supposed to, and the astronauts complained about the gimmick. But no matter: The two companies had been to outer space. From the consumer perspective, the cola wars looked to be two giants bent on destroying each other. The reality, though, was that both of them benefited from the exposure. With its limited ad budget, RC came out with some standard-issue TV spots showing people chugging from a bottle before pausing to smile at the camera. The company had a loyal following and national distribution, but in the eyes of a Coke-and-Pepsi nation, it was the loser, the perennial bronze medalist.
Things only got worse for RC. As the two cola giants continued to grow, they inked deals with retailers that guaranteed them ample shelf space. They offered special discounts to supermarkets and began paying slotting fees, a practice that still exists today.
RC tried to wedge its way back into the fight. Pepper Snapple Group. None of the new products managed to move the dial, and today no RC product is anywhere near the best-seller charts. So who drinks RC Cola these days? According to Encyclopizzeria , that arrangement began back in the '60s, when a creative local bottler got in good with local pie shops, figuring the pairing of RC and deep dish pizza would generate good vibes with customers. It did, and today many a Chicagoan has a soft spot for the underdog cola.
For fans of RC, that image as the overlooked, underappreciated casualty of the cola wars is just what they love about it. Its name recognition could have grown, and its clout with restaurants and retailers along with it. Could it have joined Coke and Pepsi in the stratosphere of soda sales, or even have overtaken them? The entire soft drink industry is declining , and has been for more than a decade as consumers opt for healthier choices.
Over the past 20 years, sales of full-calorie soft drinks have fallen by more than 25 percent. Drinking less soda is surely a good thing. But for many people, there will always be something wonderful about a full-calorie, ice-cold cola. But if history had gone just a bit differently, they could be just as easily reaching for an RC Cola.
Basically, don't lose that magical red can, Coke. It's apparently doing wonders for your brand loyalty. Best Comments : "Oh man, that one is very effervescent. Comparisons to Pepsi were drawn, but everyone seemed to suspect this was the grocery store brand cola namely, Whole Foods that it totally was.
Still, it did better than Coke, and who knows what kind of terrifyingly healthy things Whole Foods will do with that power. Best Comments : "That is very sugary, almost stings the nostrils. I don't hate it. Mexican Coke still did pretty well for itself, receiving neutral to positive marks for its unique sweetness cane sugar! It was also the only seed to nab more than one 1 score, besides our ultimate victor. Best Comments : "It tastes like someone put a little bit of root beer in this.
Really good. Cola Score : 64 General Consensus : Walgreens, you sly dark horse! Most of our tasters loved this knock-off soda for its vanilla, old-school soda fountain taste. Of course, there were one or two detractors, but overall, Walgreens, nice!
Best Comments : "Very subtle, smooth. It doesn't taste domestic. It wasn't even close, actually. Even the Coke diehards were secretly fans, just like those old Pepsi Challenge commercials said! Where Pepsi might've lost points for being a little boring, it apparently made them all back for being a well-balanced mix of sweet corn syrup and fizzy soda carbonation.
Best Comments : "That is the truest cola so far. The most cola.
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