Claud A. Hatcher
Claud Adkins Hatcher (August 20, 1876 – December 31, 1933) was an American pharmacist, businessman, and inventor from Columbus, Georgia who is best known for creating RC Cola and other soft drinks.
Claud Adkins Hatcher | |
|---|---|
 Hatcher, c. 1917 | |
| Born | August 20, 1876 |
| Died | December 31, 1933 (aged 57) |
| Resting place | Riverdale Cemetery Muscogee County, Georgia |
| Alma mater | University of Louisville School of Medicine |
| Known for | Creating RC Cola |
Background
Claud Adkins Hatcher was born on August 20, 1876 in Quitman County, Georgia to Lucius Adkins Hatcher and Eleanor Moore King.[1] Hatcher had originally intended to become a doctor, but he changed his studies after his first year in college and soon thereafter became a graduate pharmacist from the University of Louisville School of Medicine.[2] By 1901, Hatcher had established himself as a successful pharmacist, operating two pharmacies in Preston, Georgia and Dawson, Georgia.[2] However, later that year, Hatcher left the pharmaceutical field to join his father, a wholesale grocer who had recently started a new wholesale grocery store in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as the Cole-Hatcher-Hampton Grocery Company, the company was soon renamed to the Hatcher Grocery Company after Claud and his father bought out the other investors in the company.[2]
Creating RC Cola
Created in 1886, Coca-Cola had grown immensely in popularity in the decades that followed, and the product was sold in great quantities at the Hatchers' grocery store. However, following a disagreement with the Columbus representative of the Coca-Cola Company over wholesale pricing, Hatcher stopped carrying the product in his store and began developing his own soft drink in a laboratory in the basement of the grocery store.[3][4] In 1905, Hatcher introduced a ginger ale called Royal Crown Ginger Ale as an alternative to Coca-Cola.[3][4] Shortly thereafter, Hatcher created Chero-Cola, a cherry cola designed to compete directly with Coca-Cola.[3] Following a reformulation in 1934, Chero-Cola was renamed Royal Crown Cola, later shortened to just RC Cola.[5]
Along with these two products, Hatcher developed a line of several other flavored sodas under the Royal Crown moniker. In 1905, Hatcher formed Union Bottling Works, a company to bottle these products. The company was renamed to the Chero-Cola Company in 1912.[6] In 1924, the company introduce the Nehi line of fruit-flavored sodas, and the company was shortly thereafter renamed after this popular line.[3][6]
Later life
Hatcher died on December 31, 1933 at the age of 57 and was buried in the Riverdale Cemetery in Muscogee County, Georgia. His will established the Pickett & Hatcher Educational Fund, a non-profit student lender.[1][2]
Notes
- "Claud Adkins Hatcher". Database of the Hatcher Families Genealogy Association. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
- Winn, Bill (May 7, 1978). "R.C. Cola Gets Start in Basement". Ledger-Enquirer. Special Sesquicentennal Supplement IV. Columbus, Georgia: Knight Ridder. p. S-24. Retrieved March 26, 2018 – via usgwarchives.net.
- Wells, Jeff (April 14, 2016). "The Tragic History of RC Cola". Mental Floss. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
- "Happy birthday to Claud Adkins Hatcher, inventor..." The Hagley Vault. Hagley Museum and Library. August 20, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
- Taylor, Stacy (September 28, 2017). "The History of Royal Crown Cola". Our Everyday Life. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
- Allen, Gary J.; Albala, Ken (2007). The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries. ABC-CLIO. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-313-33725-3.