Ed Minges

Edwin Lester Minges (born 1920 in Fallstown, North Carolina - died November 28, 2007 in Tuscaloosa) was the founder of the Tuscaloosa Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company, the first bottler to distribute Mountain Dew.

Minges' father, M. O. Minges, founded a bottler in Greenville, North Carolina in 1923. He later bought up Pepsi franchises around the south, which came into the hands of his seven sons.

Ed Minges studied chemistry and business at the University of North Carolina and went on to earn his Master's in business at Harvard University. He was stationed in Miami as a Navy Lieutenant Commander during World War II, then moved to Tuscaloosa in 1946 to take over the idle franchise owned by his father.

In the late 1950s Minges participated in the development of Mountain Dew as a competitor for Sun Drop on behalf of the drink's owner, Tip Corporation of Marion, Virginia. The formula was purchased by Pepsi in 1964 and further developed in house.

Minges also struck the first deal to sell Pepsi in Bryant-Denny Stadium in the mid-1980s. Minges sold the company to Buffalo Rock in 1986.

Minges died in 2007 and is interred at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park.

References

• Jones, Adam. (November 30, 2007). "Pepsi pioneer Minges dies at 87." The Tuscaloosa News