Claude A. Hatcher

Claud Adkins Hatcher (August 20, 1876 – December 31, 1933) was an American pharmacist, businessman, and inventor from Columbus, Georgia, who is best known for creating RC Cola and other soft drinks.

Background Claud Adkins Hatcher was born on August 20, 1876, in Quitman County, Georgia, to Lucius Adkins Hatcher and Eleanor Moore King. Hatcher had originally intended to become a doctor, but he changed his studies after his first year in college and soon thereafter became a graduate pharmacist from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. By 1901, Hatcher had established himself as a successful pharmacist, operating two pharmacies in Preston, Georgia, and Dawson, Georgia. In 1905, Hatcher introduced a ginger ale called Royal Crown Ginger Ale as an alternative to Coca-Cola.

Along with these two products, Hatcher developed a line of several other flavored sodas under the Royal Crown moniker. In 1905, Hatcher formed Union Bottling Works, a company to bottle these products. The company was renamed to the Chero-Cola Company in 1912. In 1924, the company introduced the Nehi line of fruit-flavored sodas, and the company was shortly thereafter renamed after this popular line.

Later life Hatcher died on December 31, 1933, at the age of 57 and was buried in the Riverdale Cemetery in Muscogee County, Georgia. His will established the Pickett & Hatcher Educational Fund, a non-profit student lender.