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Pepsi Corporation History and Major Problems

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Pepsi Corporation History and Major Problems
I. PEPSI CORPORATION HISTORY

The Pepsi-Cola story began in a drugstore in New Bern, North Carolina, USA in 1896. Caleb Davis Bradham, a pharmacist, owned a drugstore named Bradham Drug Company in downtown New Bern. Like many of the drug stores at the time, Bradham’s store also housed a soda fountain. Here, Bradham offered his own soda concoctions which attracted most of the small-town folks. On August 28, 1898, Bradham invented a new recipe, blending kola nut extract, vanilla and “rare oils.” This soda drink, initially known as Brad’s Drink, gathered so much popularity not only for its delicious and refreshing taste but people believed it helped them by aiding digestion and boosting their energy. Bradham likened the effect to digestion to the enzyme pepsin, even though it was not used as an ingredient. By combining the terms pepsin and cola, Bradham renamed his recipe Pepsi-Cola.

Pepsi’s early growth was less significant than that of Coke's, and its real strength as a competitor to Coke began after became CEO in 1950, a time when Pepsi was nearly bankrupt. Bradham was expected to liquidate the Pepsi-Cola Co. Instead, he made it his goal to "beat Coke" (, 2003). Pepsi spread to Canada in 1906, and the year after that, it was registered in Mexico. By 1908, Pepsi had upgraded their transportation delivery services from horse-drawn carts to automobiles. Pepsi seemed to be becoming successful in such a short time. But there is still a problem. By the time Pepsi Cola came out, Coke had already made its mark among the public and the newcomer Pepsi found it hard to find a consumer base.
In the 1920’s, the company released the ad Drink Pepsi. It will satisfy you. However, despite industrious efforts, the Pepsi Company still fell into bankruptcy due to the fall of the sugar market. After seventeen years of success, Caleb Bradham lost Pepsi Cola. He had gambled on the fluctuations of sugar prices during W.W.I, believing that sugar prices would continue to rise but they

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