I’ll Have an RC and A MoonPie
Published in
4 min readMay 30, 2024
There may be no greater Southern stereotype than the combination of MoonPies and RC Cola. There is no shortage of references to that Southern tradition, from TV sitcoms to standup comics; given that our mission is to respect and preserve all things Southern, we wanted to share some facts about the two great brands.
RC Cola
-RC Cola was initially called Royal Crown
-As recently as 2000, RC was the third largest producer of soft drinks in the US
-RC Cola was created in Columbus, GA., by Claud Hatcher in the basement of his family’s grocery store. The company left its Columbus operations in 2000.
-Offered its first pre-mix dispenser, like a vending machine/soda fountain, in 1960. It could mix three different flavors
-RC Cola’s parent company marketed the first low-calorie soft drink (Diet Rite) and the first caffeine-free soda (RC 100)
-RC was the first soft drink bottler to market their product nationally in cans (1954)
-Introduced fruit-flavored Nehi in 1924
-The legend is that Nehi got its name when a route salesman in the Columbus plant referred to a competitor’s bottle as being “knee-high.”
-At one time, the brand was endorsed by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Joan Crawford, Heddy Lamarr, John Wayne, Rita Hayworth, Jerry Lewis, Gary Cooper, Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, and Lucille Ball.
-Coca-Cola sued RC in 1914, claiming that “cola” was their trademark. RC prevailed in court
-Dr. Pepper/7 Up Inc. owns the brands today.
-The formula for RC Cola is top secret and guarded like Coke and Kentucky Fried Chicken, on a much smaller scale
-In 1976, the RC company purchased Arby’s
-Was the first national brand to offer a then-giant 16 oz. bottle
MoonPie
-Was first produced by the Chattanooga Bakery
-The company now produces around 1 million MoonPies per day
-In the 1930s, when paired with an RC Cola, the combination was referred to as “a working man’s lunch.”
-MoonPie started in 1917 when Earl Mitchell, Sr., a bakery salesman, was in a store frequented by coal miners. He asked a miner what his ideal snack would be. The response was, according to the legend, “A snack as big as the moon.”
-Workers in the factory at Chattanooga Bakery would often dip graham crackers into marshmallows, which spawned the idea of a cookie sandwich that would then be covered in chocolate.
-Country star Bill Lister (Frequent Hank Williams’ opening act) released a single in 1951 entitled “RC Cola and a MoonPie.” The band NRBQ released an album called RC Cola and a MoonPie in 1986, with a single by the same name.
-MoonPies today are available in three sizes; mini (five flavor choices), single (four flavor choices), and double-decker (seven flavor choices)
-Since 1994, the town of Bell Buckle, TN, has hosted an annual RC Cola-MoonPie festival. There is a parade, 5k, and 10K run contests, and entertainment, and it concludes with the cutting of the world’s largest MoonPie
-The MoonPie has been a part of Mobile, AL’s New Year’s Eve celebration. In 2008, the city partnered with MoonPie’s company to create a 600-pound MoonPie that lit up at midnight. They also served a 55-pound MoonPie and handed out 5,000 individual pies. The MoonPie drop is an annual event there
-Former NFL player and Georgia football All-American Mike Wilson is nicknamed MoonPie.
-Chattanooga Bakery has supplied MoonPies to US troops since WWII.
