Dad's Root Beer
TypeSoft Drink
ManufacturerThe Dad's Root Beer Company LLC
DistributorHedinger Brands, LLC.
Country of origin Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Introduced1937 (1937)
ColorBrown/Copper
FlavorRoot Beer
Related productsHires Root Beer, Mug Root Beer, A&W Root Beer, Barq's, IBC Root Beer
Websitewww.dadsrootbeer.com Edit this on Wikidata
The Dad's Root Beer Company, LLC
IndustryBeverages
Headquarters
Jasper, Indiana
,
United States
Key people
Keith Hedinger, president and CEO
Andrea Hedinger, vice president of sales and marketing
[1]
ProductsDad's Root Beer, Sun Crest, Dr. Wells, Bubble Up[1]
OwnerHedinger Brands, LLC.[1]
Websitewww.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]

History

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.

Flavors

Dad's Root Beer Glass Bottles
Dad's Root Beer glass bottle products

Dad's makes the following brands/flavors:[8]

  • Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer
  • Diet Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer
  • Dad's Old Fashioned Cream Soda
  • Dad's Old Fashioned Orange Cream Soda
  • Dad's Old Fashioned Red Cream Soda
  • Dad's Old Fashioned Blue Cream Soda
  • Bubble Up
  • Sun Crest Orange
  • Dr. Wells

Advertising

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.

The product's jingle was a simple line sung several times, to a conga beat, with the "kick" coming on "Beer":[9]

{\clef bass \key g \major g g e d g4. b8 (-^ b2)} \addlyrics {Dad's old fash ioned root beer }

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!

IndyCar sponsorship

Dad's Root Beer became an IndyCar Series associate sponsor in 2007.[10] The company continued the relationship until 2011.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Dad's Root Beer Co., LLC". Beverage World. Ideal Media. November 15, 2007. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
  2. ↑ Haddix, Carol; Kraig, Bruce; Sen, Colleen Taylor (August 16, 2017). The Chicago Food Encyclopedia. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-09977-9.
  3. ↑ Senate, United States Congress (1966). Hearings. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  4. ↑ Grammond, Jay (February 16, 2022). Fading Ads of the Twin Cities. Arcadia Publishing. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4396-7420-8.
  5. ↑ Weston, John Fred; Chung, Kwang S.; Hoag, Susan (1990). Mergers, Restructuring, and Corporate Control. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-577172-3.
  6. ↑ Johnson, William B. (1973). IC Industries. Newcomen Society in North America.
  7. ↑ "Hedinger Brands, LLC purchases Dad's Root Beer®". BevNET. March 2, 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  8. ↑ Archived February 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ YouTube video retrieved August 2016
  10. ↑ "The Dad's Root Beer Company and Racing Professionals Form Strong Partnership for the Indy 500 and Beyond". BevNET.com. BevNet. Retrieved May 22, 2007.
  11. ↑ Latif, Ray. "Dad's Root Beer Returns to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2011 Season". BevNET.com. BevNet. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
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