Dr Pepper Thrives Amid Hard Times for Soft Drinks

Brand's market share has been steadily growing for years
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 28, 2022 6:27 PM CST
Dr Pepper Thrives Amid Hard Times for Soft Drinks
Bottles of Dr Pepper sit on a shelf in a market in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018.   (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dr Pepper has been the "bright spot" amid a decline in soft drink sales over the last 20 years and is closing in fast on its biggest rivals, industry analysts say. According to the Beverage Digest factbook, the soda is the fourth most popular in America, behind only Coke, Pepsi, and the PepsiCo-owned Mountain Dew. Its maker, Keurig Dr Pepper, is the third-largest in the market, with 25% of sales by volume compared to 29% for PepsiCo and 40% for Coca-Cola in the first nine months of 2022, CNN reports. PepsiCo's market share declined by 1% year-on-year while Keurig Dr Pepper's rose by the same amount.

According to Keurig Dr Pepper—formed when Keurig Green Mountain, formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, acquired Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2018 —the soda's share of revenue the soft drink market grew 9% from 2003 to 2021 as the overall sector shrank by 26%. Dr Pepper was founded in Texas in 1885, but it remained a relatively obscure regional drink until the 1960s, when it won a legal battle to be declared "not a cola," opening up national distribution deals with bottlers that worked with Coca-Cola or Pepsi under deals that barred them from partnering with competitors, CNN reports in a look at the soda's history.

Though it's officially not a cola, Dr Pepper's identity as a drink has long been hard to define, CNN notes. The company says its secret recipe includes 23 flavors. Nasdaq predicts strong growth ahead for KDP, whose other brands include 7Up, A&W Root Beer, Crush, and Schweppes, along with the coffee K-Cups that helped the company maintain strong sales figures during the pandemic. (More Dr Pepper stories.)

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