It’s the most common question we get asked — do you get a free Dr Pepper when you visit the Dr Pepper Museum? Until February of 2019, the answer was, unfortunately, “no.” The Staff and Board of the Dr Pepper Museum & Free Enterprise Institute are incredibly excited to announce that we can now offer a free, handcrafted Dr Pepper with every paid admission to the Museum!
The Details
- Visitors who pay admission (any price, discounts included) get a free Dr Pepper handcrafted in our Soda Fountain.
- Admissions staff will give you a printed ticket along with your payment receipt to turn into the Soda Fountain.
- You can use the ticket to get your free Dr Pepper, or use it as $1 towards an upgrade to something else on the menu.
- Free drinks are only redeemable on the date you purchase your admission tickets.
- Free admission vouchers, free events, Groupon deals (as of 2/1/2019), Pogo Passes, and free child admission (4 years old and younger) do not include a free drink. Drink vouchers can be purchased at Admissions for $1 when paired with free admission promotions, but cannot be purchased separately.
FAQs
Why didn’t you offer a free drink with admission before now?
The Dr Pepper Museum is a nonprofit organization, and is not owned or operated by Keurig Dr Pepper. Unlike the World of Coke in Atlanta, we are not a corporate Museum. As a small history museum, we rely on the revenue from our Admissions, Gift Shop, and Soda Fountain sales to keep our doors open to the public. That means YOU – loyal Peppers – have made it possible for us to keep our operation going for almost 30 years, even in lean times before Waco experienced the renaissance it is enjoying now. We purchase our product for the Gift Shop and Soda Fountain just like any other vendor, and it just has not been possible for us to offer a free drink, or even a small sample, until now.
Why now?
In 2016 our annual visitation increased over 100% and we have enjoyed steady growth every year since then. Our first priority was to open the East Wing Building to the public, which expanded our exhibits, Gift Shop, and Soda Fountain. In 2017 our attention turned towards renovations to our historic 1906 bottling plant building, which we are still working on every day. It is the original bottling plant and Museum building, and it needs some TLC! The Staff and Board of the DPM have wanted to do free drinks with admissions for YEARS. We agree with our visitors — this absolutely should be a part of visiting the Historic Home of Dr Pepper! But we didn’t want to do it until we could do it the right way. To us, that means a free full-size drink, not a little Dixie cup-size sip. As a Dr Pepper commercial from the 1990s used to say, “Now is the time, this is the taste!” 2019 is the year of a free Dr Pepper with admission, and we are thrilled.
What is Dr Pepper Museum & Free Enterprise Institute’s relationship with Keurig Dr Pepper?
Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), formerly Dr Pepper Snapple Group, has a longstanding relationship with the Museum. For every $1 donated to the Museum, KDP matches up to $100,000 through its generous Challenge Grant. In addition, KDP offers national product pricing to the Museum on Dr Pepper products and has contributed to the infrastructure to make free drinks to visitors possible. In addition, the Museum is the keeper of KDP history. The Museum maintains and cares for the KDP historical collection, which includes over 100,000 items.