Crush (soft drink) Crush (soft drink) Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda. Crush mainly competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta. It was created in 1911 by Canadian beverage and extract chemist Neil C. Ward. Most flavors of Crush are caffeine-free. In 1911, Clayton J. Howel, president and founder of the Orange Crush Company, partnered with Neil C. Ward and incorporated the company. Ward made the recipe for Orange Crush. Howel was not new to the soft drink business, having earlier introduced Howel’s Orange Julep. Soft drinks of the time
Independent soft drink Independent soft drink An independent soft drink is a soft drink generally made by smaller privately run businesses or smaller corporations who use alternative marketing strategies to promote their product. The label was arguably started in the early 1970s in response to Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola's mass media campaigns for the edge in the beverage market. Several groups decided to protest by making and in some cases publicly distributing their homemade brew. Jones Soda is one of the more commonly known "independent" companies, founded in 1987, as well as Jarritos, a popular "independent" soft drink company based from Guadalajara, Jalisco,