Chero

Chero-Cola Company

Columbus, GA    

From The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink: "In 1905, Claud A Hatcher, a pharmacist, established the Union Bottling Works in the basement of his family's grocery store in Columbus, Georgia. Chero-Cola was the first of his Royal Crown line of beverages; it was followed by ginger ale, strawberry soda, and root beer. In 1912, Hatcher changed the name of the company to the Chero-Cola Company. The company struggled through the sugar rationing of World War I and suffered financial difficulties during the early 1920s, but in 1924, Hatcher was able to launch a new brand, Nehi, with orange and grape sodas leading the new line. No one seems to know what the name Nehi meant."