Dublin Dr. Pepper and Why Corporate America Doesn’t Get It

When you hear a story like this, you just have to shake your head.

For many years the town of Dublin, Texas put together and bottled Dr. Pepper and did it a little differently than a lot of other bottlers.  They did it with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.  For those of us that have tried the throwback editions of some of the drinks that have come out in the last several years, we know that cane sugar just makes it taste better.

Dublin, being a town of opportunists, decided to market the difference and for years many enthusiasts bought it up, knowing that this was a little different (and a little better) than the average run of the mill Dr. Pepper.  Now the company has come down on the plant, saying that they can't sell it like this, since it makes a difference to the sales of the Dr. Pepper brand.  In a settlement, the plant will stop making the stuff and will destroy anything that has the logo on it that you see in the picture.

Enthusiasts far and wide are now in a buying frenzy, getting what they can of it before it disappears.  That includes anyone from a consumer like you and me to Food Network's own Alton Brown.

For me, I think the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group has missed the point on this.  Its not time to come down on this development and punish people for knowing when they have a good thing.  Its time to work with them and develop a drink that the town, the plant and the people there can mass produce and make a fortune on.  Dublin Dr. Pepper could have been one of those variants that are made along the lines of Pepsi Throwback or Sprite Remix.  This is something that the public at large could embrace and people could experience the goodness that the town of Dublin, Texas knew well  that they had.

As it is, now 14 people there are out of work and the drink has died rather than being continued on as a proud 100+ year tradition.  This is where the corporate world needs to have a heart and realize that with a little constructive thinking, they could have made a killing on the beverage market.