Why Dr Pepper Comes In 3 Different Bottle Shapes

If you're a fan of Dr Pepper — one of the oldest soft drinks in America — you might've noticed that several variations of the soda's plastic bottles are available to purchase, even more so than other soda brands like it. This is the result of Keurig Dr Pepper — the company that creates Dr Pepper — partnering with both Coca-Cola and Pepsi to bottle its product in different parts of the country. So, instead of being confined to just one style of soda bottle, Dr Pepper is sold in three, with some fans even favoring one over the other when they find them at the store.

Which Dr Pepper bottles you can find depends on where the store you're at sources the popular drink from. Since Coca-Cola and Pepsi both have bottling rights to Dr Pepper in specific regions, it might be hard to find a specific style of Dr Pepper bottles if you live in an area that doesn't receive shipments from those specific regions. This agreement is seen by many as mutually beneficial for Dr Pepper, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola in one way or another, since Dr Pepper doesn't need to pay to operate as many bottling factories, while the latter two are compensated for their role in producing the drink.

Dr Pepper is a unique drink in the world of soda, not only because it's not a cola or a root beer — and is instead made of 23 secret flavors — but also because it's the only top 5 soft drink that isn't owned by either Pepsi or Coca-Cola. This means that even though Dr Pepper is an incredibly hot commodity, it isn't part of the long-standing war between the two industry leaders, thus allowing it to partner with both companies to strengthen its distribution.

While the bottling agreements are among the more obvious cases of cooperation between Dr Pepper and the two soda juggernauts, fast food fans will also notice collaboration when ordering a fountain drink. Regardless of whether it's a Coca-Cola-partnered chain like McDonald's — which arguably has the best fountain soda — or a Pepsi-partnered chain like Taco Bell, Dr Pepper is often featured on the drink menu alongside each company's products. Even Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, which come with countless different drink brands and flavors, most of which are owned by Coca-Cola, include Dr Pepper and its several variations in its lineup.