Am I the only one who felt it keenly when Mr. PiBB seemed to suddenly, and inexplicably disappear from most of the civilized world? If memory serves it happened somewhere around the mid 80s (the specifics of my childhood are often a little foggy). I do remember having a conversation with my Dad about which was better, Mr. PiBB or Dr Pepper? He came in on the side of Dr Pepper, so his life wasn’t greatly affected when Mr. PiBB disappeared.
Well, Mr. PiBB has finally returned to my life! It is everywhere in northern California. I have lived in various parts of southern Cal and I never saw it, so it must be exclusive to northern Cal. Of course, my journalistic nature took over and I had to investigate this phenomenon further.
Side note: I apologize if no one but me cares about the life story of Mr. PiBB. I know my sister, at least, was as excited as I was to see Mr. PiBB on the menu of every restaurant we went to during her visit.
Apparently, the Coca-Cola Company developed Mr. PiBB to compete for the growing Dr Pepper market. According to the Mr. PiBB website, Coke realized an opportunity in the early 1980s to form a strategic partnership with the Dr Pepper Company, which exchanged use of superior Coca-Cola bottling facilities for a share in Dr Pepper sales profits. Only in regions of the country where Pepsi or 7up outbid Coke for this right did Coke resort to the production of Mr. PiBB.
Ah ha! I guess that means Pepsi and 7up outbid Coke in northern California. That answer isn’t very exciting, but at least I now have regular access to Mr. PiBB, which I still maintain is better than Coke or Dr. Pepper.
Are there any other closeted, or not so closeted, Mr. PiBB fans out there?
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