Type | Soft Drink |
---|---|
Manufacturer | The Dad's Root Beer Company LLC |
Distributor | Hedinger Brands, LLC. |
Country of origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Introduced | 1937 |
Color | Brown/Copper |
Flavor | Root Beer |
Related products | Hires Root Beer, Mug Root Beer, A&W Root Beer, Barq's, IBC Root Beer |
Website | www |
Industry | Beverages |
---|---|
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Keith Hedinger, president and CEO Andrea Hedinger, vice president of sales and marketing [1] |
Products | Dad's Root Beer, Sun Crest, Dr. Wells, Bubble Up [1] |
Owner | Hedinger Brands, LLC. [1] |
Website | www.DadsRootBeer.com |
Dad's Root Beer is an American brand of root beer that was created in Chicago in 1937 by Ely Klapman and Barney Berns. It is currently owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC, and sold and marketed by the Dad's Root Beer Company LLC. [1]
Dad's Root Beer was established in the 1930s [2] by partners Barney Berns and Ely Klapman in the basement of Klapman's Chicago-area home. The first trademark registration was filed on September 24, 1938, granted on February 14, 1939, to the Dad's Root Beer Company of Chicago, with the product name in use since February 1937. Jules Klapman, son of co-founder Ely, successfully took the Dad's brand international. [3] The name Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer was selected in honor of Ely Klapman's father.
Dad's Root Beer was the first product to use the six-pack format invented by the Atlanta Paper Company in the 1940s. [4] Dad's also introduced the half-gallon bottle, becoming the first brand to market this size. Dad's was marketed as a family: the "Junior" size was the smallest, 7, 10 or 12 ounces (355 mL). "Mama" was a quart bottle (950 mL), and "Papa" was a half gallon (1.9 liters). (The image of the young boy featured on the "Junior" size bottle is Barney Berns' son, Gene.) A common promotion in the 1940s was the 1 cent sale - purchase the Papa half gallon at regular price and get the Mama quart for 1 cent.
The Klapman and Berns families sold rights to the Dad's name and logo to IC Industries of Chicago in 1971. [5] [6]
The Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta acquired Dad's from IC Industries in 1986. At that time Dad's was distributed by the Coca-Cola bottler network, sold 12 million cases annually, and held the second largest share of the root beer category behind A & W. [1]
In 2007 Dad's Root Beer was purchased, along with the Bubble Up, Dr. Wells, and Sun Crest brands, by Hedinger Brands, LLC and licensed to the Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC. [7] The company headquarters is now located in Jasper, Indiana.
Dad's makes the following brands/flavors: [8]
The company's signs on the Edens Expressway (I-94) and one near Lake Shore Drive asking "Have you had it lately?" became fixtures on the Chicago landscape. [ citation needed ]
The product's jingle was a simple line sung several times, to a conga beat, with the "kick" coming on "Beer": [9]
In the mid-1950s, Dad's sponsored on a regional basis the syndicated TV adventure series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
During the 1970s, Chicago-based television advertising for Dad's featured a different jingle sung by an ensemble with the following lyrics:
If it foams up to meet you
It's gotta be Dad's, it's gotta be Dad's
If it foams up to treat you
It's gotta be Dad's, it's gotta be Dad's
(Announcer would read the ad copy while a short instrumental section of the jingle played, then the song continued)
So ask for Dad's, it's good old-fashioned
With the taste of yesteryear
If you don't ask for Dad's
All you're gonna get is,
All you're gonna get is,
All you're gonna get is,
...root beer!
Dad's Root Beer became an IndyCar Series associate sponsor in 2007. [10] The company continued the relationship until 2011. [11]
Stewart's Fountain Classics is an American brand of premium soft drinks. Stewart's are nostalgic "old fashioned" fountain sodas, having originated at the Stewart's Restaurants, a chain of root beer stands started in 1924 by Frank Stewart in Mansfield, Ohio. In 1990, the bottling rights to Stewart's were acquired by the Cable Car Beverage Corporation. Cream Soda and Ginger Beer flavors were introduced in 1992. Other flavors have been added since then. In November 1997 Cable Car Beverage Corporation was purchased by Triarc. Cadbury Schweppes PLC acquired the Stewart's brands in 2000 along with Snapple and Mistic Brands for $1.45 billion.
Barq's is a brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the beginning of the 20th century. It is owned by the Coca-Cola Company. It was known as "Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer" until 2012. Some of its formulations contain caffeine.
Mug Root Beer is an American brand of root beer that was originally produced in 1940 under the name Belfast Root Beer. It is now made by New Century Beverage Company of San Francisco, California, which was acquired by PepsiCo in 1986.
Bawls is a non-alcoholic, highly-caffeinated soft drink.
A&W Root Beer is an American brand of root beer that was founded in 1919 by Roy W. Allen and primarily available in the United States and Canada. Allen partnered with Frank Wright in 1922, creating the A&W brand and inspiring a chain of A&W Restaurants founded that year. Originally, A&W Root Beer sold for five cents.
Sprecher Brewery is a brewery in Glendale, Wisconsin, U.S. It was founded in 1985 in Milwaukee by Randal Sprecher, and is Milwaukee's first craft brewery since Prohibition. Sprecher produces an assortment of beers, flavored malt beverages, and craft sodas, and it is famous for its root beer.
The Monarch Beverage Company Inc is a diversified, international beverage company based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company's CEO is Jacques Bombal. The company was founded in 1965 by Frank Armstrong. Monarch Beverage Company aimed to establish itself by offering lesser-known soft drink brands that had strong regional sales and appeal. Monarch Beverage Company purchased Dad's Root Beer product line from IC Industries of Chicago in 1986. Around that time, it was the second largest volume root beer brand and was distributed by the Coca-Cola bottler network. In 2007, The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC of Jasper, Indiana, acquired the Dad's Root Beer brand as well as the rights to Bubble Up, Dr. Wells and Sun Crest in the U.S. and some other countries from The Monarch Beverage Co. of Atlanta.
Virgil's Root Beer is a brand of root beer that originated in the United States. The beverage was created in 1994 by Edward Crowley and Jill Fraser Crowley, owners of Crowley Beverage Company.
Fitz's Bottling Company is a regional soda brand in the St. Louis area. The flagship brand is its root beer popularized by its microbrewery and restaurant in University City, Missouri, on the historic Delmar Loop.
Frostie Root Beer is an American brand of root beer that was originally produced in 1939 by The Frostie Beverage Company of Catonsville, Maryland, owned by George Rackensperger. In 1971, Frostie Enterprises, as the parent company was known, purchased a competing rootbeer brand and drive-in chain, Stewart's Restaurants. Another expansion happened in 1974, when Frostie Enterprises purchased the Dog n Suds Root Beer Drive-in and brand.
White Rock Beverages is an American beverage company located in Whitestone, Queens, New York City. The company was established in 1871 by pharmacist H.M. Colver in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Potawatomi Indians and settlers believed that the nearby White Rock natural spring had special medicinal powers, so White Rock Beverages started out as a destination for vacationers and health seekers. By 1876, the company was bottling and distributing the natural spring water throughout the country.
Sun Crest is a brand of flavored carbonated soft drink manufactured by The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC, of Jasper, Indiana, and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC, except for six countries in Asia owned by The Monarch Beverage Company, Inc., of Atlanta, Georgia. Sun Crest Orange is currently available in fountain service and glass bottles in select markets in the U.S.
Bubble Up is a lemon-lime soft drink brand created in 1919 by Sweet Valley Products Co. of Sandusky, Ohio. It is now manufactured by the Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC, and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC, for the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and by Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta for international markets.
Dr. Wells is a "pepper-style" carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC. of Jasper, Indiana, and owned by Hedinger Brands, LLC. Developed and introduced in 1935 as a "pepper-style" carbonated soft drink by Ludford Fruit Products of Los Angeles, California, the brand is currently available in 12-ounce cans, in 12-ounce glass bottles, in 20-ounce plastic bottles and on fountain service in select markets in the United States.
Mason's Old Fashioned Root Beer is an American brand of root beer. It is owned by the Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta, Georgia, but is not widely distributed.
Filbert's Old Time is a beverage company based in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1926, it has bottled and distributed soft drinks as well as non-carbonated beverages. The warehouse is located on 3430 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60608.
Zevia is a Los Angeles based company that produces soft drinks, organic tea, energy drinks, and mixers sweetened with stevia. All Zevia products are zero-calorie, sugar-free, gluten free, vegan, certified kosher, and certified by The Non-GMO Project. In June 2021, Zevia filed to go public with an IPO.
Incorporated in May 1997, Cool Mountain Beverages, Inc. (CMB) manufactures a line of gourmet sodas. The company is based in Des Plaines, Illinois, with franchise operations in West Jefferson, North Carolina, and Real Soda Ltd in Gardena, California. Cool Mountain Beverage products are licensed and distributed through franchisees throughout the U.S. The company's bag n box operations are based in Chicago, Illinois.
Small Town Brewery was a brewing company based in Wauconda, Illinois, best known for creating the Not Your Father's brand of flavored beers.
Seaman's Beverages was a family-run business involved in the manufacturing of carbonated beverages. It was established in 1939 by F.R. Seaman, and operated independently until 2002 where it was sold to The Pepsi Bottling Group. Only two of the beverage flavours survived into the modern era, and the brand was finally discontinued in 2020.