Another Big Corporation Destroys a Small Town Business

[Obama 2012 1,714]

After decades of drinking Dr. Pepper, this Texan is DONE.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is just another bunch of corporate bastards that need to go f--- themselves. Dublin Dr. Pepper was an institution in this state and was the oldest bottling plant in the world! 121 years there and Dr. Pepper corporation doesn't care. Screw you Dr. Pepper. May you fail miserably.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577155493228157130.html

The world's oldest bottler of Dr Pepper will stop distributing the popular soft drink after settling a trademark dispute with Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., the owner of the brand.

Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co., which began selling Dr Pepper in Texas in 1891, has agreed to sell its distribution rights to Dr Pepper Snapple for an undisclosed sum under terms of the agreement, both companies said Wednesday.

Dr Pepper Snapple sued the tiny Dublin, Texas, bottler last June, accusing it of diluting the Dr Pepper brand by selling bottles with the label "Dublin Dr Pepper.'' It also accused Dublin Dr Pepper of selling the soft drink beyond its approved territory, a 44-mile radius around Dublin, a rural town with a population of 3,800.

Dublin Dr Pepper, with about $7 million in annual revenue, sells less than 1% of Dr Pepper's overall volume. Dr Pepper Snapple, based in Plano, Texas, the third-largest U.S. soft-drink company by sales, has more than $5 billion in annual revenue and controls a portfolio of brands that also includes Sunkist soda, Mott's apple juice and Snapple tea.

Still, Dublin Dr Pepper's cachet had grown in recent years as it touted that it had always used cane sugar to sweeten its soft drinks, unlike most U.S. bottlers who switched to high-fructose corn syrup in the 1970s. It also increasingly sold its version of Dr Pepper through its website, alongside other "Dublin Dr Pepper" paraphernalia including coffee mugs and clocks.

Jeff Kloster, vice president of the Dublin bottler, said his family-controlled company laid off 14 of its 37 workers Wednesday following the settlement. It will continue doing business as Dublin Bottling Works Inc. and bottle a handful of smaller soft-drink brands, including Triple XXX Root Beer, under distribution deals with other companies.

"It's a sad day, but we needed some certainty,'' said Mr. Kloster, 50 years old, in a telephone interview after announcing the settlement to stop bottling and selling Dr Pepper.

Under the agreement, Dr Pepper Snapple will distribute Dr Pepper—sweetened with cane sugar—in Dublin Dr Pepper's former six-county territory. It also will continue selling the cane-sugar version in other parts of Texas in nostalgic packaging, without "Dublin" on the label.

"Our main focus has always been on protecting the strength and integrity of the Dr Pepper trademark,'' Rodger L. Collins, president of packaged beverages at Dr Pepper Snapple, said in a statement.

Much of the Dublin bottler's machinery dates back to the 1930s. Recently the antiquated plant would only operate about once a month, enough to refill about 2,000 glass bottles, many of which have circulated for decades. The company outsourced most of its production to a larger independent Dr Pepper bottler more than a decade ago.

In addition to continuing to bottle other soft drinks at its plant, the Dublin bottler will keep operating a soda shop and soft-drink museum in the town center.

Each year as many as 80,000 visitors flock to Dublin, about 115 miles southwest of Dallas, many of them drawn by the lure of old-fashioned soda.