Texana Thursday: 4 Things You Might Not Know about Big Red

Big Red is a popular soft drink created in Texas (Creative Commons photo courtesy Larry Leen)

Last week’s article discussed Dr Pepper, the popular soft drink that was created in Texas. Dr Pepper, however, isn’t the only soft drink with a Texas birthright. Big Red soda—its color comes from Red #40 food coloring—is also Texas-based.

Some other things you might not know about Big Red include:

1. Waco is the birthplace for both Big Red and Dr Pepper.

Grover C. Thompson and R.H. Roark created Big Red in 1937 in Waco. Dr Pepper was created in 1885. Today Big Red is distributed by the same folks who distribute Dr Pepper.

2. The original name of the product was “Sun Tang Red Cream Soda.”

The “big” was added in 1959, when the product was renamed Sun Tang Big Red Cream Soda. After that, the president of the San Antonio bottling plant was playing golf one day and overheard some caddies referring to the drink as a “Big Red.” He decided to change the name to what we know today.

3. Big Red might not be the biggest selling soft drink, but it has a strong market share in Texas.

According to a Texas Monthly article, the only beverage that consistently outsells Big Red in San Antonio is Coca-Cola.

4. Big Red is known for more than just being a soda.

Many sodas are used as ingredients in various food recipes. Big Red is part of such recipes as barbecue sauce, cakes, and ice cream. The Houston Chronicle featured a slideshow with various foods in which Big Red is a key ingredient.

Big Red is known to serve other purposes, too. In the Texas Monthly article, the company’s executive vice president of Big Red Bottling Company, in San Antonio, said he saw a baby crying in a shopping basket at a grocery store one day. He said the mother took a two-liter bottle of Big Red off the shelf, opened it, filled the baby’s bottle with it, and gave it to the baby.

The baby quit crying.