WE WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL MAY 7, 2008

The Pepsi-Cola story itself begins with a drugstore in New Bern,
North Carolina, and a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham. Bradham's aim
was to create a fountain drink that was both delicious and healthful
in aiding digestion and boosting energy. It would be free of the
impurities found in many bottled health tonics, and it would contain
none of the stronger narcotics often added to popular fountain drinks.
As most pharmacies


The cellar of Bradham's drugstore served as the original site
of Pepsi-Cola syrup manufacturing. Electing to start his new
business on a small, manageable scale, Bradham based his operation
on familiar territory. Ingredients were hauled downstairs to
cramped quarters where they were mixed together and then cooked
in a large kettle. The syrup was subsequently poured into one-gallon
jugs and five-gallon kegs
to be shipped to customers.

By 1902, the demand from surrounding drugstores increased so
dramatically it dawned on Bradham that Pepsi-Cola was something
special. On December 24, 1902, he filed incorporation papers with
the state of North Carolina; in these, he indicated his plans for
corporate branches in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.