Thursday, January 12, 2012

It's Probably a Texas Thing

When Farrah Fawcett (who????)  left Corpus Christi, Texas in the 70's to make it big in Hollywood, she realized it was a Texas thing.  It was not sold outside the state of Texas.  When the ex and I had moved to Connecticut in the late 80's it was only available in New York City.

Dr. Pepper.

Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Plant
Transportation, distribution, mass marketing (Farrah may have helped a little) got the name out and soon Dr. Pepper became available everywhere.  Then in the 80's came the high fructose corn syrup version and it really wasn't quite the same.  (In the 2000's the diet version made it tolerable to me again.)

05 Dr Pepper Museum, Dublin (2)

Word spread of the original still being bottled at the original plant in Dublin, Texas with real Imperial Cane (Texas brand) sugar. Dublin became one those places to go to bring back some of the original as if some "G" rated version of Smokey and the Bandit.  Coming on-line, the internet made this sugary sweet Texas tonic available everywhere once more; some local grocery stores even had it on their shelves (rumor was you could sometimes find it at Walmart).

Enter Dr. Pepper/Snapple, who decides this little bottling plant in Dublin, Texas was working outside of their territory (making more than their share?).  Long story short, Dublin Dr. Pepper has been bought out, 14 plant employees laid off, gift shop cleared and all evidence of Dublin Dr. Pepper has been removed.  The sugar formula will be made at a big plant elsewhere.
Clicking this photo will take you to the WFAA story and video link.

Turn off the light to the little town of Dublin and the end of an era.


11 comments:

BernieH said...

What a real shame! Another small enterprise bits the dust. It seems to happen all too often.

Anonymous said...

Too bad. I never knew it started in Texas.

creekside rummager said...

I didn't know any of that. Interesting story.

The Sage Butterfly said...

So sad...it seems many of the things we grew up with are falling by the wayside. I remember Dr. Pepper...for a while it was my favorite soda.

HolleyGarden said...

I saw this on the news, and it's such a sad story. This makes me have craving for a Dr. Pepper! But, I'm trying to stay away from HFCS! There must have been a lot of internal politics going on for it to have come to this.

greggo said...

I thought it was in waco. shame.

Casa Mariposa said...

Dr Pepper is way too sweet for me but I now like Snapple a lot less than I used to. Interesting but sad for the folks who lost their job.

Unknown said...

Original did start in Waco with smaller bottlers coming online around the state. This back in the day before distribution and trucking brought us products from far away. Dublin was one still operating as they had since the start.

Karen said...

Now, I say, UNFAIR! What a shame. We have a little bottling plant in our little town that makes their own brand of pop, too, and it has a loyal following. Sometimes their bottles show up in antique stores which is kinda funny, seeing as how they are still in business.

How sad to lose a business and lay off people, all because of a big corporation's fears of losing profits. Just isn't right!

Shyrlene said...

I love Dr. Pepper (diet, now-a-days)! This could be a (another) piece of Americana that is lost forever. All that is newer/bigger, is not always better... why don't we ever get that??! (It usually means we settle for less, too.)

Cat said...

It was a sad day, wasn't it?! I'm gonna "like" on FB too. My son LOVES him some Dr. Pepper! When we go out of state he is always so disappointed when he orders Dr. Pepper and they say "is Pepsi okay?"...No, Pepsi isn't okay!