QUALITY ORANGE KIST BEVERAGES

The Quality Beverage Company incorporated on February 22, 1929 (2) at 213 South Boone Street (1), but started production in April of the same year.(3) Samuel V. Tarver was President, John W. Sherrod Vice President, and Adelia G. Tarver (Sam's wife) as Secretary Treasurer.(1) Also listed in the charter was W. J. Barton, SR, and Harry Rosenblatt.(2) The leader product for Quality Beverage was Orange Kist, Stone Mountain Ginger Ale, and Blue Bird Grape, all three of which were products of the Citrus Products Company of Chicago. In September 1934 the company picked up the franchise for Jumbo A Super Cola (4), which was the precursor of Double Cola, produced the Seminole Flavors Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 many bottlers, and even dairies, jumped on the opportunity to distribute beer, Quality Beverage was no exception when they announced in 1934 that they were distributing Kingsbury beer and ale, along with Rams Head Ale, and Fehrs Kentucky Beer.(4)

By 1934 the name has been changed to Quality Orange Kist Beverage with John W. Sherod no longer listed.(1) In a May 1936 advertisement the company lists everything they bottle or distribute. For sodas we have Pepsi-Cola, Dr. Herring's Ginger Ale, produced by Herring Ginger Ale Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., and Pep-ade, a Lithiated Lemon soda.(3) They are also bottling a long line of Citrus Products Company products including Orange, Lemon, Strawberry, Peach, Cherry, Lime, and Root Beer Kist.(3) They are also still bottling Blue Bird Grape along with the Kist mixer flavors of Sparkling Sour, Lime Ricky, and Pale Dry Ginger Ale.(3) Their beer offerings include Fehr’s Beer, McSorley Ale, Cooks Goldblume, and Stubby Piel bottled in No Deposit No Return bottles.(3)

In 1937 they have added Hire's Root Beer to their soda offerings.(3) They find themselves having to build a new bottling plant, due to the growing popularity of Pepsi-Cola, which they purchase the land on the corner of West Market Street and Knob Creek Road on September 4, 1937.(2) Sometime in February 1938 (3) the company moves to the new location at 840 West Market Street, and changes its name to the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company.(1) I will continue the Tarver’s story on that page. The South Boone Street location becomes home to the Double Cola Bottling Company on May 3, 1938.(3)

This is the Quality Orange Kist Bottling Company building as it stood in 1936

This is the Quality Orange Kist Bottling Company building as it stands today

Company owners Samuel V. Tarver and Adelia G. Tarver from 1936.

6oz Kist Bottle

September 30, 1933 ad for Blue Bird and Orange Kist

8oz Blue Bird Bottle dated 1929

September 21, 1934 ad from the introduction of Jumbo Cola

Of course the bottle pictured doesn’t have a town name on it, but this is the bottle that the company would have used to bottle Jumbo A Super Cola.

Jumbo A Super Cola cap

7oz Stone Mountain Ginger Ale Bottle dated 1935

Stone Mountain Pale Dry Ginger Ale bottle label

Stone Mountain Pale Dry Ginger Ale cap

6oz Orange Kist Bottle dated 1935, from it's design I surmise that this bottle was used for Dr. Herring's Ginger Ale.

Full page ad celebrating the seventh year anniversary of the bottling company with pictures of the employees working at the company at the time.(3) Just click on the ad to enlarge.

12oz Orange Kist Co. Pepsi-Cola paper label bottle missing label. After finding a shard of this bottle while digging, I wondered what the possibility of it being from this company; however, it had no bottom. Then I found the complete one pictured, unfortunately there was no town name. I knew of only one Orange Kist Company that eventually was associated with Pepsi in the area and that was the one in Johnson City, the only way to prove it, aside from a picture of a bunch of these bottles with labels at the plant, was if proof that the company was indeed bottling the brand in the mid to late 1930's when these type of custom bottles were prevalent, see the ad above.

July 20, 1937 ad for Hires Root Beer from the Hires Bottling Company, of course the address is still the Quality Kist location on South Boone. It's ads like this that if they didn't have the address and you didn't know better you'd end up thinking that it was a separate bottling company.

This is a foil and paper label Hires Root Beer bottle similar to the ones that would have been used in Johnson City, although this was found in Pennsylvania.

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