Grapico
Encyclopedia
Grapico is a caffeine free
, artificially flavored
carbonated
soft drink
with a purple color and a grape taste that is sold in the Southeastern United States
. When introduced in 1914, the product quickly became a success, which in part was due to implying that Grapico contained real grape juice
even though it did not. In the spring of 1926, J. Grossman's Sons sold the Grapico business to New Orleans business Pan American Manufacturing Co. Pan American continued J. Grossman's Sons' improper practice of implying that Grapico contained real grape juice and lost the right to use the word "Grapico" to designate their artificial grape drink in 1929.
Although the J. Grossman's Sons line of the brand had ended, the Grapico brand continued on through Alabama
businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
based Grapico Bottling Works. R. R. Rochell had first become a wholesale
syrup customer of J. Grossman's Sons in the Summer of 1917 to serve the Alabama soft drink market. By the time Pan American had lost their artificial grape drink name in 1929, Rochell was selling bottled Grapico in Alabama, Florida
, Georgia
, Mississippi
, and Louisiana
.
Rochell received the federal trademark on Grapico in 1940, giving his Grapico Company of America the right to use the name "Grapico" everywhere in the United States. In 1955, Grapico Company of America attempted to expand its fruit flavored brands with Orangico, a sister product to Grapico that included real orange juice
. The orange juice based Orangico did not sell well and the federal trademark eventually expired. In September 1981, both the franchising rights to the Grapico brand name
and The Pepsi Bottling Group
in Newnan, Georgia
were acquired by Buffalo Rock
, an independent Pepsi
bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama
. Buffalo Rock revived the Orangico trademark in 1999 for an artificially flavored orange drink
and introduced Diet Grapico in 2005. Grapico is presently produced at Buffalo Rock's Columbus, Georgia
bottling facility, Sun Fresh Beverages, Inc.
by J. Grossman's Sons. In the Summer of 1917, businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
based Grapico Bottling Works purchased Grapico syrup barrels from J. Grossman's Sons and bottled and sold Grapico to the Alabama soft drink market. Present Grapico distributor Buffalo Rock, an independent Pepsi
bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama
, purchased the Grapico business in 1981. The J. Grossman's Sons' Grapico retail sales
line ended in 1929 and the present Grapico traces its roots to the Summer of 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama through R. R. Rochell's Grapico.
J. Grossman's Sons was a business that had been operating in New Orleans, Louisiana
since at least 1884. By the early 1900s, the business was being run by both Adolph Grossman and Isidore Grossman. Prior to developing Grapico, J. Grossman's Sons served as creditors. In 1905 for example, a collection attorney
successfully sued J. Grossman's Sons to recover legal fees for reducing to judgment a debt of $875 owed to J. Grossman's Sons. Also in 1905, J. Grossman's Sons unsuccessfully prevented the sale of their securing collateral, a debtor's home, to the debtor's daughter. In January 1912, J. Grossman's Sons lent $1000 to a Lewisburg, Louisiana
saloon owner who they successfully sued eleven months later to recover the amount against his real estate
.
J. Grossman's Sons began manufacturing Grapico in 1914. At that time, Grapico consisted of a syrup that, when mixed with soda water, had the taste, smell, and color of a genuine grape drink. The product was artificially colored and flavored with only an infinitesimal amount of grape juice or fruit of the grape.
Prior to 1916, J. Grossman's Sons contacted American
jazz
composers Peter DeRose
and Ivan Reid to write a song about Grapico. DeRose, who would later be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
, produced the piano accompanied song, Meet Me in the Land of Grapico. Meet Me in the Land of Grapico is a sentimental ballad from Tin Pan Alley that imagined a faraway Land of Grapico where love lives forever. The song (see below) and its cover sheet alluded to a grape vine-covered arbor
in the Land of Grapico, even though Grapico contained no grape juice
. Dedicating the song to all the drinkers of Grapico, J. Grossman's Sons published the song in 1916 and provided it free on request.
In the Summer of 1917, businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
based Grapico Bottling Works began purchasing Grapico syrup barrels from J. Grossman's Sons to bottle and sell the Alabama soft drink market. In that same year, Laurel, Mississippi
based Grapico Bottling Company
also became a wholesale
customer of J. Grossman's Sons and began bottling and selling Grapico in Mississippi. In 1918, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works opened a bottling plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
as a second Mississippi bottler and seller of Grapico.
By 1919, Grapico manufacturer J. Grossman's Sons was successful enough in their efforts to distribute Grapico that they awarded the Grapico advertising account to the Chambers Agency, Inc. of New Orleans. As early as November 1919, businessman J. C. Kramer was doing business in Louisiana under the name of the Grapico Bottling Works (Louisiana), a business unconnected with Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works.
In 1920, the demand for soft drinks significantly increased as a result of the prohibition against alcohol
in the United States that began on January 29, 1920. The Grapico product was so successful by 1920, that Grapico specifically was listed in the Louisiana law among generic items, Coca-Cola
, and RC Cola as items to be taxed: Section 22 of Act No. 233 of 1920, which read:
In addition to experiencing taxes as a result of its success, the Grapico efforts found labor troubles. In 1920, the International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers
presented Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) with a union agreement. When the company refused to sign the agreement, the 112 employees at Grapico Bottling Company were called to strike. The Grapico Bottling Co. eventually signed the agreement.
In June 1922, Grapico Bottling Works furthered the connection between the artificially flavored
beverage and real grape juice
through an advertisement campaign. On June 1, 1922, The Jacksonville Metropolis
published a Grapico Bottling Works advertisement announcing a ten-day writing contest that offered US$116 in prize money
for essays on why a consumer would prefer "Sparkling Grapico" over real, fresh grapes. The advertisement indicated that Grapico was made from Pure Grape Juice with pure sugar and carbonated water and had no coloring or preservatives. Although not true, this information was consistent with the Grapico product labels used by J. Grossman's Sons on the barrels that were shipped to and received by R. R. Rochell.
Mississippi based Grapico Bottling Company troubles did not end with its union problems. In September 1924, John Henry Ennis of Ellisville, Mississippi
purchased a Grapico. On drinking it, Ennis discovered that the contents were filled with filthy flies
, some of which he swallowed and became sick. On filing a lawsuit against Grapico Bottling Company and its sole stockholder, Philip Carriere, Ennis learned that Grapico Bottling Company had filed for and successfully dissolved
itself as a corporation between the time Ennis consumed the flies and filed suit against Grapico Bottling. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Mississippi
issued an opinion
that serve as precedent
in Mississippi for the rule that a stockholder of a corporation is not liable for the debts, liabilities, and other acts of the corporation. After Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) dissolved in 1925, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works became the sole supplier of Grapico to Mississippi.
and have an advantage over other imitation grape flavored beverage producers. A problem with this approach was that Grapico was an artificial grape drink that included neither real grape juice nor fruit from the grape.
In May 1926, J. Grossman's Sons became a defunct corporation and sold its Grapico formula and all rights connected to that formula to Pan American Manufacturing Co., Inc., a Louisiana corporation that had been manufacturing and selling extracts, ice cream powder, and syrups and flavors for soft drinks from New Orleans since 1911. Pan American began manufacturing Grapico syrup and concentrate and continued supplying its wholesale customers outside of Louisiana with one-gallon bottles of concentrated Grapico to allow them to make Grapico. In addition, through its subsidiary corporation, World Bottling Co., Pan American continued supplying its retail customers in Louisiana with bottled Grapico for consumption. At the time Pan American acquired the Grapico business, it had three wholesale Grapico customers: Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works in Birmingham, Alabama and two bottling plants operating in Mississippi. Grapico concentrate was sold by Pan American to its wholesale customers for $7.50 per gallon and the finished bottled Grapico was by sold by Pan American and its three wholesale customers at 5 cents per 7-oz bottle.
Pan American continued associating their artificial grape drink with real grape juice in advertisements in trade periodicals, display cards, newspapers, boys' caps for customers' use, and in its company stationery. Typically, advertising material displayed images of grape vineyards and bunches of grapes together with the qualifying statements:
In addition, Pan American continued J. Grossman's Sons practice of using 7-oz clear bottles with molded labels prominently featuring a pictorial representation of a bunch of grapes with word "Grapico". Given that the product was artificially colored and flavored to simulate the appearance, taste and smell of grape juice, the combination of the advertisements, the bottle grape bunch mold, and the product itself implied to others that the Grapico product was composed of pure grape juice.
In July 1928, the Federal Trade Commission
charged Pan American with unfair methods of competition and deceptive practices
. After learning of the Federal Trade Commission complaint, Pan American altered the labels it used on its one-gallon concentrate jugs. However, the efforts were too little, too late and Pan American and its "representatives, agents, servants, employees, and successors" lost the right to use the word "Grapico" to designate their artificial grape drink as of 1929. Pan American's wholesale customers, including R. R. Rochell, were seen as victims of Pan American's unfair competition
and the cease and desist
order regarding the Grapico name did not extend to them.
. His success came despite the fact that he was illiterate. He was one of two major stock holders in the Edgewood Amusement Company, which dissolved in 1924. Rochell began selling bottled Grapico in Alabama in 1917 and then in Mississippi in 1918. In June 1920, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works formally incorporated in Alabama as "The Grapico Bottling Works".
Rochell's early Grapico efforts were not without problems. For example, in November 1921, Grapico Bottling Works acquired a US$648 Baltimore Semi-Automatic Machine, Model B-1485 from New Orleans based Crown Cork and Seal Co.
to cork and seal soda water bottles. Within three months, the bottle capper
began to fail. Frequently, the neck of the moving bottles became stuck in the machine, which additionally broke bottles whose contents drenched workers. In addition, the caps made by the machine did not seal properly so that carbonation gas escaped from the Grapico bottles. After Grapico refused to pay the US$358 balance, the Sheriff seized the bottling machine from Grapico. The matter was resolved 3½ years later by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, who set aside
the machine sales contract so that Grapico Bottling Works no longer owed the balance.
By 1922, R. R. Rochell's Grapico had been expanded into the Florida soft drink market. With Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) dissolved in 1925 and Pan American prohibited from using the name "Grapico" in connection with the Grapico artificial grape drink, Rochell became the sole supplier of bottled Grapico in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana in 1929.
In 1938, R. R. Rochell was doing business in Alabama as "Orange Crush 7-Up Bottling Company." At that time, it cost .44312 cents to produce a case
of Grapico at Rochell's plant in Birmingham
and to deliver that same case approximately 100 miles (160.9 km) away cost .32734 cents, making a total cost of approximately .77 cents per case to deliver a case of soft drinks to the areas surrounding Birmingham. The product was sold at .80 a case, for a .03 cent profit per case.
Just before he died in early 1940, R. R. Rochell filed for a federal trademark on Grapico on behalf of Orange Crush 7-Up Bottling Company. The federal trademark issued just after Rochell. secured the national rights to the Grapico mark to the Orange Crush 7-Up Bottling Company. In that same year, Grapico was sold using the trademarked slogan,
In June 1947, Rochell's business began using the names "The Grapico Bottling Company" and "The Grapico Company of America." In October 1949, "The Grapico Bottling Company" name was changed to "Orange Crush 7 Up Bottling Company" to reflect the work it was doing in Alabama on behalf of the Seven-up Company
. Despites the Alabama company's efforts, the Seven-up
Company refused to grant The Grapico Company of America a bottling franchise to handle Seven-up soft drinks. The business was operating as Orange Crush-Grapico Bottling Company by 1953. In July 1957, the bottling business name
was officially changed to "Orange Crush Grapico Company."
In 1955, Grapico Company of America expanded its fruit flavored brands into orange with Orangico, a play on the name Grapico. Orangico was to include real orange juice
. The orange juice based Orangico did not sell well and the federal trademark eventually expired in 1999.
In September 1981, both the franchising rights to the Grapico brand name and The Pepsi Bottling Group
in Newnan, Georgia were acquired by Buffalo Rock, an independent Pepsi
bottler founded in Birmingham, Alabama
in 1901. Both Buffalo Rock and R.R. Rochell's businesses were located in Birmingham since the early 1900s. For example, in October 1940, R.R. Rochell's business was located at 1031 11th Avenue North and Buffalo Rock's business was located at 10th Avenue and 26th Street North -- a distance of about three miles (5 km).
Between at least 1981 and 1988, Grapico was distributed in only three states: Alabama, Florida and Georgia. In August 1988, Buffalo Rock announced that they would expand distribution of Grapico the rest of the Southeastern United States
. The announcement coincided with the new, more contemporary Grapico packaging. By June 1990, Grapico was being sold in South Carolina
.
Buffalo Rock revived the Orangico trademark in 1999, this time to be used on an artificial orange syrup rather than a real orange based drink. Buffalo Rock introduced Diet Grapico in 2005. Grapico presently is produced by Buffalo Rock through its Columbus, Georgia
bottling facility, Sun Fresh Beverages, Inc.
, 1987 best selling novel
by Fannie Flagg
. Anne George's
1996 novel Murder on a Bad Hair Day: A Southern Sisters Mystery, and the 2004 novel Making Waves by Cassandra King, Grapico mixed with Absolut Peppar
jalapeño flavored vodka is a drink called the Ex-girlfriend. It's called the Ex-girlfriend because "it's sweet and seems like a good idea, but eventually it's going to burn you and make you sick."
Caffeine
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...
, artificially flavored
Flavor
Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
carbonated
Carbonation
Carbonation is the process of dissolving carbon dioxide in water. The process usually involves carbon dioxide under high pressure. When the pressure is reduced, the carbon dioxide is released from the solution as small bubbles, which cause the solution to "fizz." This effect is seen in carbonated...
soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
with a purple color and a grape taste that is sold in the Southeastern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. When introduced in 1914, the product quickly became a success, which in part was due to implying that Grapico contained real grape juice
Grape juice
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must"...
even though it did not. In the spring of 1926, J. Grossman's Sons sold the Grapico business to New Orleans business Pan American Manufacturing Co. Pan American continued J. Grossman's Sons' improper practice of implying that Grapico contained real grape juice and lost the right to use the word "Grapico" to designate their artificial grape drink in 1929.
Although the J. Grossman's Sons line of the brand had ended, the Grapico brand continued on through Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
based Grapico Bottling Works. R. R. Rochell had first become a wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
syrup customer of J. Grossman's Sons in the Summer of 1917 to serve the Alabama soft drink market. By the time Pan American had lost their artificial grape drink name in 1929, Rochell was selling bottled Grapico in Alabama, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Rochell received the federal trademark on Grapico in 1940, giving his Grapico Company of America the right to use the name "Grapico" everywhere in the United States. In 1955, Grapico Company of America attempted to expand its fruit flavored brands with Orangico, a sister product to Grapico that included real orange juice
Orange juice
Orange juice is a popular beverage made from oranges. It is made by extraction from the fresh fruit, by desiccation and subsequent reconstitution of dried juice, or by concentration of the juice and the subsequent addition of water to the concentrate...
. The orange juice based Orangico did not sell well and the federal trademark eventually expired. In September 1981, both the franchising rights to the Grapico brand name
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
and The Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. was the world's largest bottler of Pepsi-Cola beverages. PBG sales of Pepsi-Cola beverages accounted for more than one-half of the Pepsi-Cola beverages sold in the United States and Canada and about 40 percent worldwide...
in Newnan, Georgia
Newnan, Georgia
Newnan is a city in Coweta County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. The population was 16,242 at the 2000 Census. Newnan is one of the fastest growing cities in Georgia, with an estimated population of 27,097 in 2006 and 33,293 in July 2008...
were acquired by Buffalo Rock
Buffalo Rock
Buffalo Rock Company is an independent Pepsi bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama, and founded in 1901. In addition to bottling Pepsi products, the company produced Grapico in 1981, a grape tasting soft drink, and a ginger ale under its own brand name....
, an independent Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. Buffalo Rock revived the Orangico trademark in 1999 for an artificially flavored orange drink
Orange drink
The term orange drink refers to a sweet, sugary, sometimes fizzy, orange-flavored drink.Typically such beverages contain little or no orange juice and are mainly composed of water, sugar or sweeteners, flavor, coloring, and additives, sometimes in that order...
and introduced Diet Grapico in 2005. Grapico is presently produced at Buffalo Rock's Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
bottling facility, Sun Fresh Beverages, Inc.
History
Grapico was first sold in 1914 in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
by J. Grossman's Sons. In the Summer of 1917, businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
based Grapico Bottling Works purchased Grapico syrup barrels from J. Grossman's Sons and bottled and sold Grapico to the Alabama soft drink market. Present Grapico distributor Buffalo Rock, an independent Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
bottler based in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, purchased the Grapico business in 1981. The J. Grossman's Sons' Grapico retail sales
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
line ended in 1929 and the present Grapico traces its roots to the Summer of 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama through R. R. Rochell's Grapico.
J. Grossman's Sons' Grapico
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
since at least 1884. By the early 1900s, the business was being run by both Adolph Grossman and Isidore Grossman. Prior to developing Grapico, J. Grossman's Sons served as creditors. In 1905 for example, a collection attorney
Collection agency
A collection agency is a business that pursues payments of debts owed by individuals or businesses. Most collection agencies operate as agents of creditors and collect debts for a fee or percentage of the total amount owed....
successfully sued J. Grossman's Sons to recover legal fees for reducing to judgment a debt of $875 owed to J. Grossman's Sons. Also in 1905, J. Grossman's Sons unsuccessfully prevented the sale of their securing collateral, a debtor's home, to the debtor's daughter. In January 1912, J. Grossman's Sons lent $1000 to a Lewisburg, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
saloon owner who they successfully sued eleven months later to recover the amount against his real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
.
J. Grossman's Sons began manufacturing Grapico in 1914. At that time, Grapico consisted of a syrup that, when mixed with soda water, had the taste, smell, and color of a genuine grape drink. The product was artificially colored and flavored with only an infinitesimal amount of grape juice or fruit of the grape.
Prior to 1916, J. Grossman's Sons contacted American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
composers Peter DeRose
Peter DeRose
Peter DeRose was an American Hall of Fame composer of jazz and pop music during the Tin Pan Alley era.-Biography:DeRose was born in New York City and as a boy exhibited a gift for things musical...
and Ivan Reid to write a song about Grapico. DeRose, who would later be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
, produced the piano accompanied song, Meet Me in the Land of Grapico. Meet Me in the Land of Grapico is a sentimental ballad from Tin Pan Alley that imagined a faraway Land of Grapico where love lives forever. The song (see below) and its cover sheet alluded to a grape vine-covered arbor
Pergola
A pergola, arbor or arbour is a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained...
in the Land of Grapico, even though Grapico contained no grape juice
Grape juice
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must"...
. Dedicating the song to all the drinkers of Grapico, J. Grossman's Sons published the song in 1916 and provided it free on request.
In the Summer of 1917, businessman R. R. Rochell and his Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
based Grapico Bottling Works began purchasing Grapico syrup barrels from J. Grossman's Sons to bottle and sell the Alabama soft drink market. In that same year, Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel is a city located in Jones County in Mississippi, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,393 although a significant population increase has been reported following Hurricane Katrina. Located in southeast Mississippi, southeast of...
based Grapico Bottling Company
Bottling company
A bottling company is a commercial enterprise whose output is the bottling of beverages for distribution.Many bottling companies are franchisees of corporations such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo who distribute the beverage in a specific geographic region...
also became a wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
customer of J. Grossman's Sons and began bottling and selling Grapico in Mississippi. In 1918, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works opened a bottling plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
as a second Mississippi bottler and seller of Grapico.
In 1920, the demand for soft drinks significantly increased as a result of the prohibition against alcohol
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
in the United States that began on January 29, 1920. The Grapico product was so successful by 1920, that Grapico specifically was listed in the Louisiana law among generic items, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, and RC Cola as items to be taxed: Section 22 of Act No. 233 of 1920, which read:
That all persons, associations of persons, firms and corporations engaged in the sale of soda water, ice cream, confections, soda pop, Coca Cola, Chero-Cola, Grapico or other similar soft drinks or beverages or refreshments, shall pay license based on the gross annual sales, and such licenses are hereby fixed and graded as follows.
In addition to experiencing taxes as a result of its success, the Grapico efforts found labor troubles. In 1920, the International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers
International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers
The International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers was an labor union in the United States. The union merged with the Teamsters in 1973.-Early history:...
presented Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) with a union agreement. When the company refused to sign the agreement, the 112 employees at Grapico Bottling Company were called to strike. The Grapico Bottling Co. eventually signed the agreement.
In June 1922, Grapico Bottling Works furthered the connection between the artificially flavored
Flavor
Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
beverage and real grape juice
Grape juice
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must"...
through an advertisement campaign. On June 1, 1922, The Jacksonville Metropolis
Jacksonville Journal
Jacksonville Journal is a now-defunct afternoon newspaper in the Jacksonville, Florida area. It began publication as the Metropolis in 1887. Renamed The Florida Metropolis in the early 1900s, it was renamed the Jacksonville Journal in 1922 upon its purchase by John H. Perry. The Journal's new...
published a Grapico Bottling Works advertisement announcing a ten-day writing contest that offered US$116 in prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
for essays on why a consumer would prefer "Sparkling Grapico" over real, fresh grapes. The advertisement indicated that Grapico was made from Pure Grape Juice with pure sugar and carbonated water and had no coloring or preservatives. Although not true, this information was consistent with the Grapico product labels used by J. Grossman's Sons on the barrels that were shipped to and received by R. R. Rochell.
Ellisville, Mississippi
Ellisville is a city in Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 3,465 at the time of the 2000 census.-History:The city is named for Powhatan Ellis, a former U.S. Senator for Mississippi and descendant of Chief Powhatan, father of Pocahontas...
purchased a Grapico. On drinking it, Ennis discovered that the contents were filled with filthy flies
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
, some of which he swallowed and became sick. On filing a lawsuit against Grapico Bottling Company and its sole stockholder, Philip Carriere, Ennis learned that Grapico Bottling Company had filed for and successfully dissolved
Dissolution (law)
In law, dissolution has multiple meanings.Dissolution is the last stage of liquidation, the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed....
itself as a corporation between the time Ennis consumed the flies and filed suit against Grapico Bottling. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Mississippi
Supreme Court of Mississippi
The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was created in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817. Initially it was known as the "High Court of Errors and Appeals." The Court is an appellate court, as...
issued an opinion
Legal opinion
In law, an opinion is usually a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling....
that serve as precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
in Mississippi for the rule that a stockholder of a corporation is not liable for the debts, liabilities, and other acts of the corporation. After Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) dissolved in 1925, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works became the sole supplier of Grapico to Mississippi.
Unfair competition through deceptive advertising
Since almost its inception in 1914, Grapico was associated with real grape juice by J. Grossman's Sons through its advertisements and business stationery. Publicly associating Grapico with genuine grape juice allowed J. Grossman's Sons to compete directly with real grape juice producers such as Welch Grape Juice Co.Welch's
Welch Foods Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It is owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers....
and have an advantage over other imitation grape flavored beverage producers. A problem with this approach was that Grapico was an artificial grape drink that included neither real grape juice nor fruit from the grape.
Pan American continued associating their artificial grape drink with real grape juice in advertisements in trade periodicals, display cards, newspapers, boys' caps for customers' use, and in its company stationery. Typically, advertising material displayed images of grape vineyards and bunches of grapes together with the qualifying statements:
Sparkling
Grapico
Naturally Good
Acknowledged
The Best
Grape Drink
On The Market
Sparkling
Grapico
Naturally Good
The Drink of The Nation
In addition, Pan American continued J. Grossman's Sons practice of using 7-oz clear bottles with molded labels prominently featuring a pictorial representation of a bunch of grapes with word "Grapico". Given that the product was artificially colored and flavored to simulate the appearance, taste and smell of grape juice, the combination of the advertisements, the bottle grape bunch mold, and the product itself implied to others that the Grapico product was composed of pure grape juice.
In July 1928, the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
charged Pan American with unfair methods of competition and deceptive practices
Federal Trade Commission Act
The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 started the Federal Trade Commission , a bipartisan body of five members appointed by the president of the United States for seven-year terms. This commission was authorized to issue “cease and desist” orders to large corporations to curb unfair trade...
. After learning of the Federal Trade Commission complaint, Pan American altered the labels it used on its one-gallon concentrate jugs. However, the efforts were too little, too late and Pan American and its "representatives, agents, servants, employees, and successors" lost the right to use the word "Grapico" to designate their artificial grape drink as of 1929. Pan American's wholesale customers, including R. R. Rochell, were seen as victims of Pan American's unfair competition
Unfair competition
Unfair competition in a sense means that the competitors compete on unequal terms, because favourable or disadvantageous conditions are applied to some competitors but not to others; or that the actions of some competitors actively harm the position of others with respect to their ability to...
and the cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
order regarding the Grapico name did not extend to them.
R. R. Rochell's Grapico
R. R. Rochell was a successful business man operating in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. His success came despite the fact that he was illiterate. He was one of two major stock holders in the Edgewood Amusement Company, which dissolved in 1924. Rochell began selling bottled Grapico in Alabama in 1917 and then in Mississippi in 1918. In June 1920, Rochell's Grapico Bottling Works formally incorporated in Alabama as "The Grapico Bottling Works".
Rochell's early Grapico efforts were not without problems. For example, in November 1921, Grapico Bottling Works acquired a US$648 Baltimore Semi-Automatic Machine, Model B-1485 from New Orleans based Crown Cork and Seal Co.
Crown Holdings
Crown Holdings Incorporated , formerly Crown Cork & Seal Company, is an American company producing packaging. Founded in 1892, it is currently headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From a modest beginning in 1892, the company had emerged as the world’s leading packaging company, and as of...
to cork and seal soda water bottles. Within three months, the bottle capper
Food packaging
Food packaging is packaging for food. It requires protection, tampering resistance, and special physical, chemical, or biological needs. It also shows the product that is labeled to show any nutrition information on the food being consumed....
began to fail. Frequently, the neck of the moving bottles became stuck in the machine, which additionally broke bottles whose contents drenched workers. In addition, the caps made by the machine did not seal properly so that carbonation gas escaped from the Grapico bottles. After Grapico refused to pay the US$358 balance, the Sheriff seized the bottling machine from Grapico. The matter was resolved 3½ years later by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, who set aside
Rescission
In contract law, rescission has been defined as the unmaking of a contract between parties. Rescission is the unwinding of a transaction. This is done to bring the parties, as far as possible, back to the position in which they were before they entered into a contract .-In court:Rescission is an...
the machine sales contract so that Grapico Bottling Works no longer owed the balance.
By 1922, R. R. Rochell's Grapico had been expanded into the Florida soft drink market. With Grapico Bottling Company (Mississippi) dissolved in 1925 and Pan American prohibited from using the name "Grapico" in connection with the Grapico artificial grape drink, Rochell became the sole supplier of bottled Grapico in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana in 1929.
In 1938, R. R. Rochell was doing business in Alabama as "Orange Crush 7-Up Bottling Company." At that time, it cost .44312 cents to produce a case
Case (goods)
A case of some merchandise is a collection of items packaged together. In the United States, typically a standard case contains a certain number of items depending on what the merchandise is. For consumer foodstuffs such as canned goods, soda, cereal and such, a case is typically 24 items,...
of Grapico at Rochell's plant in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and to deliver that same case approximately 100 miles (160.9 km) away cost .32734 cents, making a total cost of approximately .77 cents per case to deliver a case of soft drinks to the areas surrounding Birmingham. The product was sold at .80 a case, for a .03 cent profit per case.
"The Drink of the Nation • Made its Way by the Way its Made."
In June 1947, Rochell's business began using the names "The Grapico Bottling Company" and "The Grapico Company of America." In October 1949, "The Grapico Bottling Company" name was changed to "Orange Crush 7 Up Bottling Company" to reflect the work it was doing in Alabama on behalf of the Seven-up Company
Dr Pepper/Seven Up
Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. was a Plano, Texas-based soft-drink manufacturing company created by the merger of Dr Pepper, Inc. and The Seven Up Company on May 19, 1986. The merger was a result of the independent bailouts of both companies and the subsequent FTC blockage of a Dr Pepper merger with...
. Despites the Alabama company's efforts, the Seven-up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
Company refused to grant The Grapico Company of America a bottling franchise to handle Seven-up soft drinks. The business was operating as Orange Crush-Grapico Bottling Company by 1953. In July 1957, the bottling business name
Trade name
A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes, although its registered, legal name, used for contracts and other formal situations, may be another....
was officially changed to "Orange Crush Grapico Company."
In 1955, Grapico Company of America expanded its fruit flavored brands into orange with Orangico, a play on the name Grapico. Orangico was to include real orange juice
Orange juice
Orange juice is a popular beverage made from oranges. It is made by extraction from the fresh fruit, by desiccation and subsequent reconstitution of dried juice, or by concentration of the juice and the subsequent addition of water to the concentrate...
. The orange juice based Orangico did not sell well and the federal trademark eventually expired in 1999.
In September 1981, both the franchising rights to the Grapico brand name and The Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group
The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. was the world's largest bottler of Pepsi-Cola beverages. PBG sales of Pepsi-Cola beverages accounted for more than one-half of the Pepsi-Cola beverages sold in the United States and Canada and about 40 percent worldwide...
in Newnan, Georgia were acquired by Buffalo Rock, an independent Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
bottler founded in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
in 1901. Both Buffalo Rock and R.R. Rochell's businesses were located in Birmingham since the early 1900s. For example, in October 1940, R.R. Rochell's business was located at 1031 11th Avenue North and Buffalo Rock's business was located at 10th Avenue and 26th Street North -- a distance of about three miles (5 km).
Between at least 1981 and 1988, Grapico was distributed in only three states: Alabama, Florida and Georgia. In August 1988, Buffalo Rock announced that they would expand distribution of Grapico the rest of the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
. The announcement coincided with the new, more contemporary Grapico packaging. By June 1990, Grapico was being sold in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
Buffalo Rock revived the Orangico trademark in 1999, this time to be used on an artificial orange syrup rather than a real orange based drink. Buffalo Rock introduced Diet Grapico in 2005. Grapico presently is produced by Buffalo Rock through its Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
bottling facility, Sun Fresh Beverages, Inc.
In popular culture
Grapico is mentioned in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop CafeFried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991.-Plot:...
, 1987 best selling novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Fannie Flagg
Fannie Flagg
Patricia Neal , known professionally as Fannie Flagg, is an American actress, comedienne and author. She is perhaps best-known for the 1988 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for...
. Anne George's
Anne George (writer)
Anne Carroll George was an American author and poet. A collection of her poetry, Some of it is True , was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, and her Southern Sisters mystery series was honored with the coveted Agatha Award. She was Alabama's 1994 state poet and cofounder of Druid Press...
1996 novel Murder on a Bad Hair Day: A Southern Sisters Mystery, and the 2004 novel Making Waves by Cassandra King, Grapico mixed with Absolut Peppar
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, Skåne, in southern Sweden. Since July 2008 the company has been owned by the French firm Pernod Ricard who bought V&S Group from the Swedish government....
jalapeño flavored vodka is a drink called the Ex-girlfriend. It's called the Ex-girlfriend because "it's sweet and seems like a good idea, but eventually it's going to burn you and make you sick."