Double Cola - History

History

The company was originally founded in 1922 by former Chero-Cola employees Charles D. Little and Joe S. Foster as Good Grape Company, primarily to market the product Good Grape. With Little's creation of Marvel Cola in 1924, Good Grape Company changed its name to Seminole Flavor Company. Marvel Cola was reformulated and renamed Jumbo Cola. The Double Cola product was developed in 1933 and soon became the company's flagship product. It was soon followed by flavored Double-Orange, Double-Lemon, and Double-Grape and "Double-Dry" ginger ale.

During the 1930s, the vending machine market started to take off. Little had Westinghouse develop one which performed poorly in a key market for Seminole. Little basically pulled out of the vending market by not putting any more money into vending machines. Additionally, during World War II's sugar rationing, Seminole continued bottling Double-Cola in the larger bottles, which hurt production. PepsiCo was in the same position, and Little had a chance to buy them and refused as he preferred just going forward with the cola Seminole had. While Pepsi escaped bankruptcy and moved ahead of Seminole, Little changed the company's name to Double Cola Company in 1953. In 1956, the company developed Ski, a soda pop comparable to Sun Drop.

The year Diet Double Cola was launched, 1962, Little sold the company to Fairmont Foods, who drained the company of resources. It was purchased in 1980 by K.J. International, Inc., of London, England, from Canadian firm Pop Shops International, which acquired it from a consortium of private investors and remains wholly privately held. Pop Shops had allowed the company to flounder as they focused on their existing brands.