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Pepsi Incorporated Caleb Bradham was born in Chinquapin, Duplin County, in 1866. Intelligent and enterprising, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then entered medical school at the University of Maryland. Unfortunately, his family's financial problems forced him to give up the study of medicine after only two years and take a job teaching school in New Bern. Still driven by his interest in medicine, he left teaching to buy a pharmacy in 1893. Using his personality and salesmanship abilities, Bradham convinced the pharmacy’s owner to sell him the business based almost solely on credit because he did not have any money to purchase the business. In those days pharmacies were a favorite gathering place, and Bradham set out to create a soft drink that would increase business at his store's soda fountain. He created one such drink that became quite popular at the Bradham Pharmacy, a combination of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, and cola nuts, and the patrons started calling it "Brad's Drink." As the popularity of Brad's Drink grew, Bradham changed the name to Pepsi-Cola, after the pepsin and kola nut extract it contained. The name emphasized the supposed health benefits of the drink. Pepsin, an enzyme, was thought to aid in digestion, and caffeine, an alkaloid found in kola nuts, was believed to bestow beneficial energy. In 1903, Bradham filed for a trademark for Pepsi-Cola with the state of North Carolina. However, he had to register it again a second time with the U.S. Patent Office because there was already a product named "Pep-Kola" on the market. Rather then change the name of his product, Bradham bought the rights to the "Pep-Kola" trademark and reapplied for his trademark August 28, 1898. By 1902, he had taken on an assistant, R.F. Butler, and put him in charge of running the pharmacy, while he threw all of his energy to producing and marketing his beverage. Bradham mixed the soft drink syrup himself in his store and sold it to pharmacies for their soda Vecchio 2 fountains. In 1903 he sold 7,968 gallons of syrup, aided by the advertising slogan "Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion." In 1905 they change the logo for the first time since 1898. By the end of the year he began selling 19,848 gallons a year, and also began selling Pepsi-Cola bottling franchises to independent investors. The first two franchises in the state opened in Charlotte and Durham. In 1906, the number of franchises grew to fifteen. In 1907, the company's forty franchises sold over one hundred thousand gallons of syrup. By 1915, Bradham's company had assets of more than $1 million. Pepsi's popularity skyrocketed, thanks in part to Bradham's foresight and marketing expertise. In 1908 his company was among the first in the country to switch from horse-drawn wagons to motor vehicles. This new mode of transportation not only facilitated widespread distribution of Pepsi but also increased its visibility. In 1909 automobile racer pioneer Barney Oldfield endorsed Pepsi-Cola in the newspaper ads as "A bully drink. Refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race." The following year, Bradham attracted attention by building a spectacular headquarters in New Bern. Pepsi's sales grew steadily until World War I. During the war, sugar prices rose rapidly as supplies decreased, and Bradham's company began operating at a loss. Prices continued to fluctuate after the war. Sugar went from 5˝˘ per pound in 1917 to 22˝˘ per pound in 1920. To protect himself from further price increases, Bradham decided to buy a huge quantity of sugar.
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