A neon sign that hung at Barq’s Beverages of Baton Rouge’s bottling plant from 1949 until 2000, along with a collection of historic ephemera, images, and promotional items, was installed at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. The rare sign is the only known example to exist in the red Louisiana Barq’s trade dress.
It is significant to note that after the Mississippi Barq’s descendants and the New Orleans operations were sold, Barq’s Beverages of Baton Rouge and its 41 parish territory remained the last family-owned portion of Barq’s.
Edouard Barq, born in New Orleans, began experimenting with cordials and flavored soft drinks until moving to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1898. There he met and hired Jesse Louis Robinson as his apprentice. Robinson eventually moved to New Orleans and established his own soft drink business. In 1934, Barq perfected his root beer and branded it in a diamond shouldered glass bottle. Robinson was given the exclusive rights to make the secret formula and distribute the product throughout Louisiana. The two enterprises differed in trade dress—Louisiana wore red and Mississippi, blue.
Barq’s Root Beer quickly became a cultural icon and part of the Gulf Coast culinary landscape. The Baton Rouge Barq’s holdings were sold to Coca-Cola in 2000 marking the end of an era. Today, Barq’s is the number one root beer in the world.
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