In 1925, Nell Raleigh and Esther Jarson convinced their boyfriend and husband, Walter Gross and Isaac Jarson, to purchase the New York Mineral Water Company in Cincinnati, OH. They received franchising rights from Pepsi in 1935 and grew the business throughout Ohio and Kentucky. Today, G&J Pepsi is the largest independent Pepsi bottler in the country, still lead today by four members of the 3rd generation of the founding families: Steve Kaplan, Rick Kaplan, T.R. Gross and Walter Gross III. G&J Pepsi carries a portfolio of over 650 products and employs over 1,900 people.
