Caleb D. Bradham was born in Chinquapin, North Carolina in 1866 to a well-to-do family.1

　　Caleb was a very well liked young man who was not only very smart, but very popular

　　as well. He seemed to be destined for great things in life.2 Caleb wanted to become a doctor and after graduating the University of North Carolina he entered medical school at the University of Maryland. However, in his second year of medical school his father's business failed. Caleb had to quit school and take a job, so he moved to New Bern, North Carolina and took a job teaching school. However, Caleb still loved medicine, so when the town's pharmacy, at the corner of Middle and Pollock Streets, was placed on the market in 1893, Caleb convinced the owner to sell him the business. Exactly how Caleb pulled this off must be a testament to his great personality and his salesmanship ability because Caleb didn't actually have any money to purchase the business.3 He convinced the pharmacy owner to sell him the business based almost solely on credit.

　　Caleb immediately changed the name of the pharmacy to "Bradham Pharmacy" and started putting his medical training to use putting together prescriptions for the community of New Bern.4 In those days a pharmacy was more than just a place you picked up your medicine. In those days a pharmacy was also the social gathering place of the town's more educated men, and Caleb's warm and engaging personality brought these men to his pharmacy on a pretty regular basis.5 Many pharmacies of that era also had soda fountains from which they served their customers soft drinks (as opposed to the hard drinks6 served in saloons). Caleb's pharmacy was no different, and Caleb was pretty good at concocting new soft drinks of his own making.7 Sometime in the 1890s Caleb created one such drink that became quite popular at the Bradham Pharmacy, and the patrons started calling it "Brad's Drink" in Caleb's honor. However, Caleb preferred another name for this drink, and he decided to call it Pepsi-Cola.

　　Cola is a term based on the African kola nut8 and it was used for its caffeine content. Caleb's drink didn't contain either the kola nut or any caffeine, but it did taste pretty close to the already popular "Coca-Cola" and that was the reason for using the term "Cola" in its name. The "Pepsi" part of the Pepsi-Cola name comes from pepsin, an enzyme which aids in digestion and was also a popular ingredient in early soft drinks (and chewing gum).9 There has been some dispute as to whether or not the original Pepsi-Cola actually contained pepsin as an ingredient.

　　The term "Pepsi" in its name is surely an indicator. One of Pepsi-Cola's earliest known advertisement is found in the Feb. 25th, 1903 New Bern Daily Journal, and one of it's claims was "Pepsi-Cola is an absolutely pure combination of pepsin—that's what your stomach needs these days—acid phosphate10 and the juices of fresh fruits." (However, it is a fact that by 1923 Pepsi-Cola no longer contained pepsin as an ingredient).

　　Nobody really knows when Brad's Drink actually became Pepsi-Cola but when Caleb filed11 for a trademark for his drink in 1902 the documents stated that Pepsi-Cola had been in continual use since August 1, 1901. However, in 1903 Caleb filed for a trademark for Pepsi-Cola with the state of North Carolina, and the documents there indicate that Pepsi-Cola had been in continual use since August 28, 1898. However, in 1906 Caleb had to register "Pepsi-Cola" a second time with the U.S. Patent Office because there was already a product named "Pep-Kola" on the market. The patent office believed these two names were too similar and since Pep-Kola had been trademarked on Feb. 15, 1896, Pepsi-Cola had to come up with a new trademark. Instead of changing the name of his product, Caleb bought the rights to the "Pep-Kola" trademark and reapplied for his trademark in 1906. On these papers he gave the date Feb 15, 1896 as the earliest date Pepsi-Cola or names thus derived were used by him12. However, August 28, 1898 is the date most people set as the date that Pepsi-Cola came into being.

　　In any event, by 1902, Caleb had taken on an assistant named R.F. Butler, but better known as "Uncle Dick," and while Uncle Dick was put in charge of running the pharmacy, Caleb threw all of his energy into Pepsi-Cola. By the end of his first year he had sold 7,968 gallons of syrup13. By 1904 he was selling 19,848 gallons a year, and this is also the same year he started bottling Pepsi-Cola. A year later he also began selling Pepsi-Cola Bottling franchises14, and then he started expanding rapidly. By 1910 he had 280 bottling franchises and covered at least 24 states. By 1907 he was selling over 100,000 gallons of syrup a year, and in 1915 Pepsi-Cola Corporation had assets of over $1,000,000.

　　Almost one century had passed. Pepsi Cola Company now produces and markets nearly 200 refreshment beverages to retail, restaurants and food service customers in more than 190 countries and territories around the world and generates revenue of over 18 billion dollars. Although Pepsi begins to become diverse in such fields as the snack industry and restaurants industry, but its core and highly successful business is still the beverage. Pepsi has evolved into the world's second-largest beverage company and its fans are found everywhere.