I miss my close personal friend Dr. Pepper

On the first day of class, I walked into Saga for Fried Chicken Wednesday. I got my plate and headed over to the drink machines to get my Dr. Pepper, only to be met by a devastating sight.

Mr. Pibb had taken Dr. Pepper’s place. I was shocked; however, after thinking it over, the decision was not surprising.

Troy is a Coca-Cola school. At every athletic event, in every vending machine and even in the Trojan Center, you will find Mr. Pibb instead of Dr. Pepper. Some will see the change at the dining hall as the natural next step, but for others, it means the school loses something rare.

I do not mind the taste of Mr. Pibb, and if I cannot get Dr. Pepper, it is my second choice. The dining hall offered me a chance to have the pop with a PhD without having to go off campus to buy one.

This is not the school replacing an unpopular soda with something else the students will enjoy. The staff has tried replacing and switching around different sodas on the drink machines before, but this is the first time they have gone for this popular of a drink.

Dr. Pepper is quickly becoming one of the most popular sodas in the world. According to Beverage Digest, Dr. Pepper has surpassed Pepsi as the number two soda in the United States, trailing only Coke.

Keurig Dr. Pepper owns Dr. Pepper. This is an independent company unaffiliated with Coca-Cola or PepsiCo. This allows Dr. Pepper to be paired on different drink machines, sometimes with Coke products and other times with Pepsi.

This is how we have seen Dr. Pepper paired with Coke in the dining hall these past few years, but also at Taco Bell, a Pepsi client. This adds to the charm of drinking the educated soda.

It can be anywhere. If a place tells you they only have Pepsi products, you know you cannot order Diet Coke, but it does not mean you cannot ask about a Dr. Pepper.

While it is rare, I have even seen Dr. Pepper in the Coca-Cola Freestyle soda machines. This is extremely rare, though, because Mr. Pibb was created as a competitor to Dr. Pepper.

On any can or bottle of Dr. Pepper, it says it was established in 1885. It is the oldest major American soda brand, invented one year before Coca-Cola.

Almost a century later, in the 70s, Coke launched Mr. Pibb, a competitor to Dr. Pepper. Over the years, Pibb has been rebranded and the flavors have changed, but the doctor has stayed consistent.

The original Dr. Pepper has not experienced any changes to its recipe, keeping its 23 iconic flavors to make the delicious soft drink. The consistency, growing popularity and flexibility have propelled Dr. Pepper to the number two spot.

If you are wondering why the popular drink was removed from the soda fountains, it is possibly because of the settlement of a lawsuit in 2025.

According to Yahoo News, Keurig Dr. Pepper sued and won the rights back for Dr. Pepper’s supply chain from a major Coca-Cola regional distributor. Being an independent company, Dr. Pepper had outsourced its syrup and bottling to regional companies in the markets it wanted to be in, like Coke or Pepsi.

However, this ruling now ends the partnership and has placed Dr. Pepper in charge of its own supply chain. This has led to some areas pulling the carbonated beverage and replacing it with the recently rebranded Mr. Pibb.

While I cannot find whether this ruling affected the distribution in Alabama, it is possible Coke chose to start replacing Dr. Pepper with its own drink. Coke would probably like to promote this rebranded drink rather than its competitor, which is right behind them in popularity.

It is also possible that Saga felt it was time for a change to match the rest of the school. In with Mr. Pibb, out with Dr. Pepper.

My memories from the last few years go with this departure from the dining hall. I have made friends, heard terrible news, laughed hard and watched time go by in the dining hall with a Dr. Pepper sitting on my table.

Now, in my final year at the school we love, I lose something reliable to me. Friends have graduated or dropped out; new faces replace the ones I am used to seeing, but my Dr. Pepper was consistent, like it had been for millions of people for over 141 years.

Instead of the warm memories and good laughs, I find myself sitting alone on Fried Chicken Wednesday with a Mr. Pibb instead, wondering where the time has gone.