Posted on 01/13/2012 8:34:18 AM PST by texas_mrs
DUBLIN, Texas — Dublin Dr Pepper is no more.
The Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company has sold its rights to produce the iconic beverage in a settlement over a long-running feud.
The plant opened more than a century ago, filling containers with Dr Pepper made with pure cane sugar. But the oldest Dr Pepper bottler in the world has now produced its final "pick me up."
The development is cutting deep, stripping the very identity of this small Erath County town 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
It is the conclusion of a lawsuit pitting Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group and its most famous bottling plant — a 120-year-old facility that started building a brand that later defined this community.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
"hundreds of thousands every year" ?
That seems like a stretch.
I lived in Texas for 28 years and never heard of Dublin, nor the Dr. P story.
I visited the Dr. Pepper museum a few years back and picked up a few six-packs of the Dr. Pepper made with real sugar cane.
Are you sure you’re a real Texan?
(just a wee bit of sarcasm)
It may indeed be a stretch, but when my family visited the museum, there were a lot of people there. I bet the gift shop does a decent business.
Back in the mid-50s my mom used to take us on our annual trek to visit all of our Texas relatives. I remember having cases of Dublin Dr. Pepper on some of the family farms. We all enjoyed it very, very much. It was kind of the family drink at the time.
I could not understand until today why that drink there seemed so much better than what is available to us now here in Michigan. I guess now I know.
By the way, it’s the fastest growing city in the country.
It’s Dublin.
I read the article and I am still not sure exactly why the change and why the fuss. It seems to be just a change of name and a 14 person downsize.
It's quadruplin'!
I always liked Dr. Pepper. It was a strong but good taste, then in the early 70’s I think, they changed the taste to a milder one. I originally liked it even better but would sort of like to try an old one again.
When I was working in the North Carolina Mountains, my favorite was Cheerwine. Then I noticed it had changed. I was talking to the delivery truck driver one day and he said they had actually changed it slightly, several different times. He then handed me a Pepsi Cherry Cola and said to try it.
Sure enough it tasted much like the ones I used to order at the drug store. Unfortunately I no longer see it around here. Not sure if they dropped it or not.
Amen. I believe it is my childhood memories of Dr. Pepper and Coke (real sugar, glass bottles) that sustains any current interest in these sodas. Today's grocery-shelf product always tastes familiar but ultimately disappointing.
I guess you have to live here to appreciate it. The drink was the Dublin plant’s own, in that it kept the old-fashioned recipe going by using sugar when years ago all the others went to sucrose, or whatever they use. Now that it is so popular, Dublin Dr. Pepper bottling is having to give it up to the parent company and take their name off the product. The cans even had a picture and story of Mr. Kloster (now deceased) and how it all began. Granted, much of it has been bottled in another city now and shipped here, due to the antiquated plant couldn’t possible keep up with the demand. But it likely wouldn’t even be marketed if Dublin hadn’t kept the tradition going way back when.
I know this is happening but i really don’t understand Dr Pepper’s thinking. Dublin is the coolest PR for DP in the US. The logic of closing it down escapes me.
It must be Dublin every year, with that many people comin’ thru...
Such a sad story.......our past and heritages of all kinds are fading away more every day. Dr. Pepper is and always will be my favorite soft drink.
I hope this very bad move by Dr. Pepper comes back to haunt them as bad as New Coke did to to Coca Cola some 30 years ago.
I’ve been to Dublin - I’ve tasted your Dr. Pepper. It reminded me of the sodas of my youth. I cannot drink the fructose sodas of today. ~Yuck~ I prefer the diet free sodas before I’ll dring a regular one.
But Dublin Dr. Pepper? It was original and it was good. The article did say they will still bottle the real (sugar) DP? Will they still keep the gift shop and soda fountain?
DDP was ‘violating’ distribution contracts DPSG had set up with other bottlers in nearby territories.
The problem was that DDP was selling like hotcakes via the internet, and shops were requesting the DDP instead of the regular DP sold by DPSG. Owners of the neighboring territories took the dispute to corporate, who took them to court.
Legally, DPSG had them dead to rights. It didn’t matter however that DPSG couldn’t have gotten the parties together to explain the vast goodwill that will have been lost with the closure of DDP in Dublin.
Exacerbating the problem is that DPSG is making a mint. They have so much cash they don’t know what to do with it all, and as such nobody saw this loss of goodwill as a problem, except maybe their accountants, who may or may not write down the loss in ‘goodwill’ in their 10-K.
Further exacerbating things is the fact that DPSG has never sold a bottle of soda outside of North America, even though they have 7 non-cola drinks holding the number one market position in their categories. Most of their production is actually purchased from their competitors, Coke and Pepsi.
Strategically, DPSG isn’t the best run place on earth, but they have outstanding brand managers.
I moved to Dallas from out of state about 5 years ago. When I was flying to Dallas to visit before the big move I heard about Dublin DP from the passenger sitting next to me.
I am not a Dr. Pepper fan but that short bottle of Dublin DP served ice cold is yummy !!!!
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