The origin of RC Cola and its decades-long reign as a contender in the soft drink market is a bit of a David-and-Goliath story. Introduced in 1905, the brand traces its roots to a quietly rebellious grocer. A mild-mannered pharmacist by trade, Claud Hatcher was the owner of two drug stores in Georgia when he decided to shutter the pharmacies and join his father's Columbus-based wholesale grocery business.
At the time, Coca-Cola was all the rage. Back then, the soft drink, introduced in 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton, was sold to grocers in syrup form (remember old-school soda fountains?). The grocers, in turn, combined the syrup with carbonated water to create soda. Some businesses, including the Hatcher Grocery Company, distributed bottled Coca-Cola to customers at cost as a loyalty perk. By carefully guarding the secret formula for the syrup — still a closely held recipe even today — Coca-Cola had distributors like Claud Hatcher and his father, Lucius, on the ropes.
Fed up with increasing prices, the younger Hatcher decided to create his own soft drink syrups, experimenting with flavors and recipes in the basement of the Hatcher Grocery Company. First up, Royal Crown Ginger Ale. But Claud didn't stop there. He kept combining and tasting flavors until he had a fully developed line of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks. He named the brand Melo. Even though Hatcher's debut soda wasn't actually a cola-flavored soft drink, the basement of the family grocery business was where it all began.
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