10 Food and Beverage Products Made in Jacksonville
What does Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, packaged grocery store vegetables, blended coffee beans, fresh bread, candy and sausage links have in common? Other than being edible, their also produced in and distributed from Jacksonville in some level of capacity. Here's the story behind ten sites where this takes place.
1. Azar Sausage & Meat Company
Courtesy of Void Magazine
The original recipe for Azar Sausage was created by John Azar in 1954. Azar and his family had emigrated from Lebanon to American in the 1920s, moving to Jacksonville and opening up a small grocery store. Sausage making became somewhat of a pastime for Azar, and before long, he was selling sausages out of the back of that grocery store.
Word of Azar’s sausages spread and it gained popularity among locals very quickly. John eventually converted the family grocery store in to a state-inspected sausage plant and thus, Azar Sausage Company was founded. By 1960, Azar Sausage Company would grow to a national brand when Azar’s son, Raymond, came onboard the company.
The business ran in the same spot for over 20 years, before moving to Haines Street. It would then spend another eight years in the Springfield area, before rebuilding, revamping, and moving back to their original spot on the eastside.
Today, Azar is still a family-operated company running on its third-generation; Azar’s son, as well as Azar’s grandsons, Phillip and John. They still use the same, original family recipes; using the finest-quality of meats and herbs. Currently employing 23, Azar cleans, seasons, grinds, and rolls out 20,000 pounds of sausage and 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of smoked meat each week. Their products include fresh breakfast links, mild and spicy smoked sausage and Italian sausage, and bratwursts. They also offer limited cuts of meat, like ribs and neck-bones. Azar products are locally available at Winn-Dixie, in some independent meat markets and are served in several restaurants, including Bono's, Hoptinger, Woody's, Famous Amos, Country Cabin and Metro Diner. Their bratwursts are also served at Jacksonville Suns and Jacksonville Armada FC games. They also sell in bulk at the plant to anyone willing to pay them a visit.
Azar Sausage & Meats Company's factory is located at 719 East Union Street.
For more info, you can visit Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Azar-Sausage-Company/141570735889724
2. The Bruss Company
The Bruss Company’s roots began at the Chicago South Water Market, where it started up as a local meat spreader in 1937 under the careful watch of Sam and Selma Bruss. The company grew, and in 1973 moved to the Kilbourn Park area of Chicago.
Today, Bruss manufactures portion-controlled steaks and chops for restaurant chains throughout the country. It procures beef from only selected and approved packing plants, aging and skillfully portioning steaks to its customers’ exact specifications. In October of 2001, The Bruss Company became a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, one of the largest fresh meat companies in the world.
In 2011, the company applied for a $1.2 million incentive to purchase and renovate a vacant 47,000 square foot warehouse in West Jacksonville into an $11 million meat cutting facility. Now in operation, and employing 200, Jacksonville’s location receives beef and pork from meatpacking plants and cuts them into steaks and chops for restaurants and cruise lines in the Southeast. It was estimated that the 47,000 square foot would create 200 jobs with an annual payroll of almost $8 million.
Of interesting note, The Bruss Company opened its Jacksonville plant at 5441 W. Fifth Street, in 2012 as a part of their 75- year company celebration.
Jacksonville plant before Bruss moved in. Courtesy of wokv
For more information, visit: https://www.bruss.com/
3. Peterbrooke Chocolatier
Courtesy of Droolius.com
Peterbrooke was founded in 1983 by Phyllis Geiger, in the historic neighborhood of San Marco. Geiger chose the name for her children—named Peter and Brooke. Geiger had European training in the creation of fine chocolates. Something she was passionate about, she wanted to bring back the art of European chocolate making to America.
Today, seven retail locations serve North Florida. And the company is flourishing -- with additional stores and products on the drawing board. Peterbrooke offers a wide selection of European styled handmade chocolates. They offer traditional favorites like decadent truffles, hand-made, caramels and cherry cordials They also offer specialties such as chocolate covered cookies, pretzels, popcorn and strawberries, all hand-dipped daily.
In 2012, Jacksonville investor Billy Morris bought Peterbrooke. Morris has since relocated the company’s production facilities from San Marco to a former bacon slicing factory in Mixontown. The larger Mixontown location covers almost 28,000 square feet. When the Mixontown move is finally complete, Peterbrooke’s new manufacturing facility will be open to public tours and include a bakery and a factory retail store with an interactive kitchen.
For more information, visit: https://www.peterbrooke.com/
4. Beaver Street Fisheries
Beaver Street Fisheries is an import, distribution, and manufacturing company for frozen seafood products. The company began in the 1950s, when the Frisch family decided to open a small, fresh fish store on West Beaver Street here in Jacksonville. The Frisch family had one truck, which meant that in order to get fresh products to local restaurants and grocery stores during business hours, the Frisch boys, Alfred and Hans, would have to drive and pick up the fish from the gulf and Atlantic coasts at night.
This around the clock dedication paid off though, as the company began to evolve. They Frisch family built their reputation on quality food and service. In 1979, the company established their “Sea Best” brand. Now, decades later, they are a leader in the seafood industry. Beaver Street Fisheries has sister companies, the Bahamas Food Service and Tropic Seafood, which has allowed them to offer one of the largest seafood selections within the US.
Beaver Street Fisher’s “Sea Best” brand includes fresh seafood items like crab, scallops, shrimp, lobster and fish. They also have a full line of beef, pork, and poultry products produced in their massive complex, just west of downtown. They are located at 1741 W Beaver St, where their warehouse covers nearly two blocks.
Visit their website at: https://beaverstreetfisheries.com/
5. Flowers Baking Company
The Flowers Baking Company began with brothers William Howard and Joseph Hampton Flowers opening their first bakery in Thomasville, GA in 1919. Growth led to expansion opportunities, including the opening of a Jacksonville bakery along the S-Line and Myrtle Avenue, just west of downtown. In need of more space, the company opened a bakery at 2261 West 30th Street in 1965. At the time, it was the company’s second plant ever built from the ground up. The Jacksonville bakery distributes products as far north as Hilton Head, SC, to as south as Melbourne, FL.
Today, Flower Baking Company operates more than 40 highly efficient bakeries and is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States. At the Northwest Jacksonville bakery, 1.5 million pounds of bread is produced each week. In addition to freshly baked bread under the Sunbeam and Nature’s Own brands, the Jacksonville bakery makes buns, rolls, snack cakes, and tortillas. Employing 200, the Jacksonville bakery’s commercial clients include Burger King and Hardee’s restaurant chains.
For more information, visit: https://www.flowersfoods.com/
6. The French Pantry
Image from Bree
The French Pantry is widely popular in Jacksonville; characterized by the line that always seems to be “out the door.” Not only do they serve lunch, but they are actually a commercial bakery that makes products for hotels and restaurants.
The French Panty was established by Tim and Barbara Felver in 1996, when the couple decided to acquire the struggling St. Johns Bakery from Pete Podes. Podes, the owner of Truffles Coffee House & Bakery in Mandarin, had founded the St. Johns Bakery in a former television warehouse on Powers Avenue in 1993. At the time, Tim Felver was quoted as saying, "There's a definite need for European-style breads and desserts in this town. We're going to eventually get into chocolates and different candies. It's going to be a European-style bakery." The French Pantry's accounts in town include Ruth Chris Steak House, The Lodge & Club in Ponte Vedra, Taverna San Marco, bb's, Biscottis and Restaurant Orsay.
Recently, the Felver’s sold their company to Jacksonville businessman John Valentino. Valentino owns several other Jacksonville restaurants, including Mellow Mushrooms, Burrito Gallery, and Uptown Kitchen & Bar. Valentino promises to maintain the quality of French Pantry’s offerings, and is discussing a second location to open in Riverside.
The French Pantry is located at 6301 Powers Avenue.
Visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/The-French-Pantry-140349772669219/
7. Southeast Atlantic Beverage Corporation (Dr. Pepper Snapple Group)
Courtesy of Floridazone.blogspot.com
The Southeast Atlantic Beverage Corporation has been a fixture in Jacksonville’s manufacturing scene since the 1930s. For several decades, the company bottled Ginger Ale, Canada Dry Water, Tom Collins Mixer, Hires Root Beer, Sparkling Water, Tru-Fruit Flavors and Canada Dry in a building adjacent to the Springfield railyard at 635 East 12th Street. In fact, the Jacksonville bottling operation is the second oldest Canada Dry franchise in the country.
In 1978, the company relocated to a 109,236 square foot operation in Jacksonville’s Southside. By 2001, it was churning out 35,000 cases of beverages each day and in 2002, began bottling 7-UP soft drinks. Since the move, its 65,000 gallon water tank, designed to look like a replica 7-UP soda can, has become a fixture for Interstate 95 drivers. What many may not know is that 325,000 gallons of treated water pass through it every day to produce 7-UP, Canada Dry, Sunkist, Diet Rite, Hawaiian Punch and A&W drinks.
Today, the Jacksonville manufacturing center is one of two in Florida and 21 across North America, bottling drinks for the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Dr Pepper Snapple Group is the No. 1 flavored carbonated soft drink (CSD) company in the Americas. Dr. Pepper’s history dates back to the creation of soda itself. In 1783, Jean Jacob Schweppe finally perfected the process of carbonating water. About 100 years later, Charles Alderton, a pharmacist from Texas, invented Dr. Pepper.
The beverage was first served at the drugstore Alderton worked at. Customers called it “Waco,” after the city they lived in, but the name was eventually changed to “Dr. Pepper” in honor of Dr. Charles Pepper, a friend of the drugstore owner. Nearly 100 years after that, three New York-based health food storeowners created an apple flavored soda—it came to be known as “Snapple.”
In 1969, the company, known as Cadbury Schweppes, would begin amassing companies. These included: Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Mott’s, A & W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Sun Drop, and 7UP. As the portfolio built itself through the 90s, it would eventually be unified under common goals and business strategies, and would be referred to as Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages.
However, in 2006, the company broke away, becoming its own bottling and distribution network know as Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Today, it is one of North America's leading refreshment beverage companies, making more than 50 brands of carbonated soft drinks, juices, teas, mixers, waters and other premium beverages.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is located at 6001 Bowdendale Avenue.
For more information, visit: https://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/
8. Pepsi Beverages Company
Courtesy of Pepsi
Pepsi was created in North Carolina, by a guy named Caleb Bradham, in the year 1893. The beverage originally went by the name “Brad’s Drink,” and was sold exclusively at the drugstore at which Bradham worked. Bradham changed the name 5 years later, however, after the digestive enzyme “pepsin” and the “kola” nuts used in the recipe. Alongside these kola nuts, the original recipe also included vanilla and real, cane sugar.
The cola developed popularity and in 1902, the Pepsi-Cola Company was born. Cultural circumstances, such as the Great Depression, however, would cause trouble for the newly founded company. In 1931, they declared bankruptcy. The trademarked recipe and company would quickly be bought up by Charles Guth, who owned a syrup manufacturing business in Maryland. Gulf also owned Loft, a candy company, so he used these resources to his advantage to reformulate the Pepsi soda syrup.
However, Guth’s use of Loft’s resources and utilities quickly got out of hand, and he found himself in a lawsuit in 1935. Loft won the case ultimately, and in 1941, they absorbed Pepsi, and rebranded themselves under The Pepsi-Cola Company that same year.
In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc. From here, and through the mid-90s, PepsiCo. Expanded via acquisitions outside of its core focus. Over the years, Pepsi would own companies such as: Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and California Pizza Kitchen.
In August 2009, PepsiCo made a $7 billion offer to acquire the two largest bottlers of its products in North America: Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. In 2010 this acquisition was completed, resulting in the formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Pepsi Beverages Company.
Pepsi has been bottled in a variety of locations in Jacksonville since 1908. Former Pepsi Bottling Group plant sites include 634 West Bay Street, 1528 Enterprise Street, and 1770-1772 Evergreen Street (8th & Evergreen) in Springfield. The present 300 employee bottling plant at 5829 Pepsi Place was completed in 1986.
For more information, visit their website at: https://www.pepsico.com/
9. Publix Fresh Foods Operations
Publix was founded in Winter Haven, FL in 1930 by George Jenkins. Publix is a private corporation, owned strictly by past and present employees. The company employs over 168,000 people at its 1,103 retail locations, cooking schools, corporate offices, grocery distribution centers, and Publix brand manufacturing facilities. Publix stands as one of the largest US regional grocery chains, and one of a very small number of grocery chains to operate over 1,000 locations.
In 1987, Publix opened its Jacksonville distribution center at 9800 West Beaver Street. Today, the Jacksonville distribution center employs 450 workers and also includes a Fresh Foods manufacturing plant. Here, fruits and vegetables are assembled in packages for the chain’s retail stores. The Jacksonville processing plant is one of four owned and operated by Publix. Together, these four operations employ more than 250 associates. It is estimated that between the 4 plants, nearly 80 million packages of product are produced annually.
For more information, visit: https://corporate.publix.com/careers/support-areas/manufacturing
10. Dupuy Silo Facility LLC
Dupuy first began in 1936, with John Dupuy. A bit different from the company we know it as today; Dupuy began as a single coffee warehouse in New Orleans. Dupuy remains based in New Orleans, but also have operations in Jacksonville, Houston, and Miami. The company is currently run by Allan Colley, the grandson of the original founder. Customers import beans from all over the world, and bring them to Dupuy, who blends the beans, and/or, stores them.
In Jacksonville, Dupuy purchased and renovated the former Kraft Foods North America Inc. warehouse in the Edgewood Industrial Park in 2005. Home to a 152-foot silo, the Dupuy facility blends raw, green coffee beans to Maxwell House specifications, shuttling them by truck to the Jacksonville factory and by train to a coffee roasting factory in Houston.
The Dupuy Group provides over 1.5 million square feet of facility space among their plants. Their Jacksonville plant is located at 1520 Edgewood Ave. N.
For more information, visit their website at: https://dupuygroup.com/
Article by Kristen Pickrell & Ennis Davis
Courtesy of Void Magazine
The original recipe for Azar Sausage was created by John Azar in 1954. Azar and his family had emigrated from Lebanon to American in the 1920s, moving to Jacksonville and opening up a small grocery store. Sausage making became somewhat of a pastime for Azar, and before long, he was selling sausages out of the back of that grocery store.
Word of Azar’s sausages spread and it gained popularity among locals very quickly. John eventually converted the family grocery store in to a state-inspected sausage plant and thus, Azar Sausage Company was founded. By 1960, Azar Sausage Company would grow to a national brand when Azar’s son, Raymond, came onboard the company.
The business ran in the same spot for over 20 years, before moving to Haines Street. It would then spend another eight years in the Springfield area, before rebuilding, revamping, and moving back to their original spot on the eastside.
Today, Azar is still a family-operated company running on its third-generation; Azar’s son, as well as Azar’s grandsons, Phillip and John. They still use the same, original family recipes; using the finest-quality of meats and herbs. Currently employing 23, Azar cleans, seasons, grinds, and rolls out 20,000 pounds of sausage and 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of smoked meat each week. Their products include fresh breakfast links, mild and spicy smoked sausage and Italian sausage, and bratwursts. They also offer limited cuts of meat, like ribs and neck-bones. Azar products are locally available at Winn-Dixie, in some independent meat markets and are served in several restaurants, including Bono's, Hoptinger, Woody's, Famous Amos, Country Cabin and Metro Diner. Their bratwursts are also served at Jacksonville Suns and Jacksonville Armada FC games. They also sell in bulk at the plant to anyone willing to pay them a visit.
Azar Sausage & Meats Company's factory is located at 719 East Union Street.
For more info, you can visit Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Azar-Sausage-Company/141570735889724
2. The Bruss Company
The Bruss Company’s roots began at the Chicago South Water Market, where it started up as a local meat spreader in 1937 under the careful watch of Sam and Selma Bruss. The company grew, and in 1973 moved to the Kilbourn Park area of Chicago.
Today, Bruss manufactures portion-controlled steaks and chops for restaurant chains throughout the country. It procures beef from only selected and approved packing plants, aging and skillfully portioning steaks to its customers’ exact specifications. In October of 2001, The Bruss Company became a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, one of the largest fresh meat companies in the world.
In 2011, the company applied for a $1.2 million incentive to purchase and renovate a vacant 47,000 square foot warehouse in West Jacksonville into an $11 million meat cutting facility. Now in operation, and employing 200, Jacksonville’s location receives beef and pork from meatpacking plants and cuts them into steaks and chops for restaurants and cruise lines in the Southeast. It was estimated that the 47,000 square foot would create 200 jobs with an annual payroll of almost $8 million.
Of interesting note, The Bruss Company opened its Jacksonville plant at 5441 W. Fifth Street, in 2012 as a part of their 75- year company celebration.
Jacksonville plant before Bruss moved in. Courtesy of wokv
For more information, visit: https://www.bruss.com/
3. Peterbrooke Chocolatier
Courtesy of Droolius.com
Peterbrooke was founded in 1983 by Phyllis Geiger, in the historic neighborhood of San Marco. Geiger chose the name for her children—named Peter and Brooke. Geiger had European training in the creation of fine chocolates. Something she was passionate about, she wanted to bring back the art of European chocolate making to America.
Today, seven retail locations serve North Florida. And the company is flourishing -- with additional stores and products on the drawing board. Peterbrooke offers a wide selection of European styled handmade chocolates. They offer traditional favorites like decadent truffles, hand-made, caramels and cherry cordials They also offer specialties such as chocolate covered cookies, pretzels, popcorn and strawberries, all hand-dipped daily.
In 2012, Jacksonville investor Billy Morris bought Peterbrooke. Morris has since relocated the company’s production facilities from San Marco to a former bacon slicing factory in Mixontown. The larger Mixontown location covers almost 28,000 square feet. When the Mixontown move is finally complete, Peterbrooke’s new manufacturing facility will be open to public tours and include a bakery and a factory retail store with an interactive kitchen.
For more information, visit: https://www.peterbrooke.com/
4. Beaver Street Fisheries
Beaver Street Fisheries is an import, distribution, and manufacturing company for frozen seafood products. The company began in the 1950s, when the Frisch family decided to open a small, fresh fish store on West Beaver Street here in Jacksonville. The Frisch family had one truck, which meant that in order to get fresh products to local restaurants and grocery stores during business hours, the Frisch boys, Alfred and Hans, would have to drive and pick up the fish from the gulf and Atlantic coasts at night.
This around the clock dedication paid off though, as the company began to evolve. They Frisch family built their reputation on quality food and service. In 1979, the company established their “Sea Best” brand. Now, decades later, they are a leader in the seafood industry. Beaver Street Fisheries has sister companies, the Bahamas Food Service and Tropic Seafood, which has allowed them to offer one of the largest seafood selections within the US.
Beaver Street Fisher’s “Sea Best” brand includes fresh seafood items like crab, scallops, shrimp, lobster and fish. They also have a full line of beef, pork, and poultry products produced in their massive complex, just west of downtown. They are located at 1741 W Beaver St, where their warehouse covers nearly two blocks.
Visit their website at: https://beaverstreetfisheries.com/
5. Flowers Baking Company
The Flowers Baking Company began with brothers William Howard and Joseph Hampton Flowers opening their first bakery in Thomasville, GA in 1919. Growth led to expansion opportunities, including the opening of a Jacksonville bakery along the S-Line and Myrtle Avenue, just west of downtown. In need of more space, the company opened a bakery at 2261 West 30th Street in 1965. At the time, it was the company’s second plant ever built from the ground up. The Jacksonville bakery distributes products as far north as Hilton Head, SC, to as south as Melbourne, FL.
Today, Flower Baking Company operates more than 40 highly efficient bakeries and is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States. At the Northwest Jacksonville bakery, 1.5 million pounds of bread is produced each week. In addition to freshly baked bread under the Sunbeam and Nature’s Own brands, the Jacksonville bakery makes buns, rolls, snack cakes, and tortillas. Employing 200, the Jacksonville bakery’s commercial clients include Burger King and Hardee’s restaurant chains.
For more information, visit: https://www.flowersfoods.com/
6. The French Pantry
Image from Bree
The French Pantry is widely popular in Jacksonville; characterized by the line that always seems to be “out the door.” Not only do they serve lunch, but they are actually a commercial bakery that makes products for hotels and restaurants.
The French Panty was established by Tim and Barbara Felver in 1996, when the couple decided to acquire the struggling St. Johns Bakery from Pete Podes. Podes, the owner of Truffles Coffee House & Bakery in Mandarin, had founded the St. Johns Bakery in a former television warehouse on Powers Avenue in 1993. At the time, Tim Felver was quoted as saying, "There's a definite need for European-style breads and desserts in this town. We're going to eventually get into chocolates and different candies. It's going to be a European-style bakery." The French Pantry's accounts in town include Ruth Chris Steak House, The Lodge & Club in Ponte Vedra, Taverna San Marco, bb's, Biscottis and Restaurant Orsay.
Recently, the Felver’s sold their company to Jacksonville businessman John Valentino. Valentino owns several other Jacksonville restaurants, including Mellow Mushrooms, Burrito Gallery, and Uptown Kitchen & Bar. Valentino promises to maintain the quality of French Pantry’s offerings, and is discussing a second location to open in Riverside.
The French Pantry is located at 6301 Powers Avenue.
Visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/The-French-Pantry-140349772669219/
7. Southeast Atlantic Beverage Corporation (Dr. Pepper Snapple Group)
Courtesy of Floridazone.blogspot.com
The Southeast Atlantic Beverage Corporation has been a fixture in Jacksonville’s manufacturing scene since the 1930s. For several decades, the company bottled Ginger Ale, Canada Dry Water, Tom Collins Mixer, Hires Root Beer, Sparkling Water, Tru-Fruit Flavors and Canada Dry in a building adjacent to the Springfield railyard at 635 East 12th Street. In fact, the Jacksonville bottling operation is the second oldest Canada Dry franchise in the country.
In 1978, the company relocated to a 109,236 square foot operation in Jacksonville’s Southside. By 2001, it was churning out 35,000 cases of beverages each day and in 2002, began bottling 7-UP soft drinks. Since the move, its 65,000 gallon water tank, designed to look like a replica 7-UP soda can, has become a fixture for Interstate 95 drivers. What many may not know is that 325,000 gallons of treated water pass through it every day to produce 7-UP, Canada Dry, Sunkist, Diet Rite, Hawaiian Punch and A&W drinks.
Today, the Jacksonville manufacturing center is one of two in Florida and 21 across North America, bottling drinks for the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Dr Pepper Snapple Group is the No. 1 flavored carbonated soft drink (CSD) company in the Americas. Dr. Pepper’s history dates back to the creation of soda itself. In 1783, Jean Jacob Schweppe finally perfected the process of carbonating water. About 100 years later, Charles Alderton, a pharmacist from Texas, invented Dr. Pepper.
The beverage was first served at the drugstore Alderton worked at. Customers called it “Waco,” after the city they lived in, but the name was eventually changed to “Dr. Pepper” in honor of Dr. Charles Pepper, a friend of the drugstore owner. Nearly 100 years after that, three New York-based health food storeowners created an apple flavored soda—it came to be known as “Snapple.”
In 1969, the company, known as Cadbury Schweppes, would begin amassing companies. These included: Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Mott’s, A & W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Sun Drop, and 7UP. As the portfolio built itself through the 90s, it would eventually be unified under common goals and business strategies, and would be referred to as Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages.
However, in 2006, the company broke away, becoming its own bottling and distribution network know as Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Today, it is one of North America's leading refreshment beverage companies, making more than 50 brands of carbonated soft drinks, juices, teas, mixers, waters and other premium beverages.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is located at 6001 Bowdendale Avenue.
For more information, visit: https://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/
8. Pepsi Beverages Company
Courtesy of Pepsi
Pepsi was created in North Carolina, by a guy named Caleb Bradham, in the year 1893. The beverage originally went by the name “Brad’s Drink,” and was sold exclusively at the drugstore at which Bradham worked. Bradham changed the name 5 years later, however, after the digestive enzyme “pepsin” and the “kola” nuts used in the recipe. Alongside these kola nuts, the original recipe also included vanilla and real, cane sugar.
The cola developed popularity and in 1902, the Pepsi-Cola Company was born. Cultural circumstances, such as the Great Depression, however, would cause trouble for the newly founded company. In 1931, they declared bankruptcy. The trademarked recipe and company would quickly be bought up by Charles Guth, who owned a syrup manufacturing business in Maryland. Gulf also owned Loft, a candy company, so he used these resources to his advantage to reformulate the Pepsi soda syrup.
However, Guth’s use of Loft’s resources and utilities quickly got out of hand, and he found himself in a lawsuit in 1935. Loft won the case ultimately, and in 1941, they absorbed Pepsi, and rebranded themselves under The Pepsi-Cola Company that same year.
In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc. From here, and through the mid-90s, PepsiCo. Expanded via acquisitions outside of its core focus. Over the years, Pepsi would own companies such as: Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and California Pizza Kitchen.
In August 2009, PepsiCo made a $7 billion offer to acquire the two largest bottlers of its products in North America: Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. In 2010 this acquisition was completed, resulting in the formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Pepsi Beverages Company.
Pepsi has been bottled in a variety of locations in Jacksonville since 1908. Former Pepsi Bottling Group plant sites include 634 West Bay Street, 1528 Enterprise Street, and 1770-1772 Evergreen Street (8th & Evergreen) in Springfield. The present 300 employee bottling plant at 5829 Pepsi Place was completed in 1986.
For more information, visit their website at: https://www.pepsico.com/
9. Publix Fresh Foods Operations
Publix was founded in Winter Haven, FL in 1930 by George Jenkins. Publix is a private corporation, owned strictly by past and present employees. The company employs over 168,000 people at its 1,103 retail locations, cooking schools, corporate offices, grocery distribution centers, and Publix brand manufacturing facilities. Publix stands as one of the largest US regional grocery chains, and one of a very small number of grocery chains to operate over 1,000 locations.
In 1987, Publix opened its Jacksonville distribution center at 9800 West Beaver Street. Today, the Jacksonville distribution center employs 450 workers and also includes a Fresh Foods manufacturing plant. Here, fruits and vegetables are assembled in packages for the chain’s retail stores. The Jacksonville processing plant is one of four owned and operated by Publix. Together, these four operations employ more than 250 associates. It is estimated that between the 4 plants, nearly 80 million packages of product are produced annually.
For more information, visit: https://corporate.publix.com/careers/support-areas/manufacturing
10. Dupuy Silo Facility LLC
Dupuy first began in 1936, with John Dupuy. A bit different from the company we know it as today; Dupuy began as a single coffee warehouse in New Orleans. Dupuy remains based in New Orleans, but also have operations in Jacksonville, Houston, and Miami. The company is currently run by Allan Colley, the grandson of the original founder. Customers import beans from all over the world, and bring them to Dupuy, who blends the beans, and/or, stores them.
In Jacksonville, Dupuy purchased and renovated the former Kraft Foods North America Inc. warehouse in the Edgewood Industrial Park in 2005. Home to a 152-foot silo, the Dupuy facility blends raw, green coffee beans to Maxwell House specifications, shuttling them by truck to the Jacksonville factory and by train to a coffee roasting factory in Houston.
The Dupuy Group provides over 1.5 million square feet of facility space among their plants. Their Jacksonville plant is located at 1520 Edgewood Ave. N.
For more information, visit their website at: https://dupuygroup.com/
Article by Kristen Pickrell & Ennis Davis