Dr Pepper Isn't a Cola: The Surprising Story of How the Texas Soda Breached the Wide Moats of Pepsi and Coca-Cola to Become a National Sensation

In May of 1886, Dr. John Pemberton served his first glass of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) in an Atlanta drug store. But one year earlier, Charles Alderton had served up his first glass of Dr Pepper in Waco, Texas -- a carbonated beverage owned by Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ: KDP) today. This makes Dr Pepper older than Coca-Cola.

With its first-mover advantage and tasty product, one would think that Dr Pepper went toe-to-toe with Coca-Cola in the early days. However, its sales really underwhelmed for a long time, and companies such as (NASDAQ: PEP) and Canada Dry were Coke's true competition for many decades.

In 1961, Coca-Cola had net sales of $537 million and was way out in first place in the carbonated soda industry. PepsiCo (or The Pepsi-Cola Company as it was known at the time) was in a distant third place with sales of $174 million. However, Dr Pepper languished in fifth place with a mere $15 million in annual sales.

Source Fool.com