RC Cola and Pizza: Chicago's Unofficial House Combo

Walk into an old-school Chicago pizzeria — the kind with wood paneling, a neon sign in the window and a stack of steel trays behind the counter — and there is a good chance the cooler is stocked with RC Cola. Not the giant national brands. RC. Blue can, red swoosh, and a taste that regulars swear cuts through mozzarella better than anything else.

Royal Crown Cola started in 1905 in Columbus, Georgia, when a grocer named Claud Hatcher got into a dispute with his Coca-Cola supplier and decided to mix his own. For most of the last century RC lived as the third-place cola, the underdog that innovated first — first canned cola, first diet cola — while the giants outspent everyone on advertising.

Q: Why did RC Cola catch on in Chicago pizzerias?

A: Price and independence. Neighborhood pizzerias were family shops, not franchises, and RC's distributors offered better deals, smaller minimums and friendlier terms than the national brands. When your pizzeria is a corner storefront on the Southwest Side, that matters more than a Super Bowl commercial.

There's a flavor argument too. RC runs a touch sweeter and softer on the carbonation than its rivals, which is exactly what you want against a salty, fennel-heavy sausage pie. Tavern-style pizza in Chicago is thin, crackery and aggressively seasoned — a cracker crust with a hard char at the edges. A cola with rounder sweetness plays referee between the oregano, the grease and the giardiniera.

The combo hardened into tradition the way most Chicago food traditions do: through repetition. Friday nights, a large sausage cut into squares, a two-liter of RC on the table, everyone reaching for the middle pieces first. Bowling alleys, VFW halls, Little League banquets, church basements — RC was the pour.

Q: Is RC Cola still a Chicago thing?

A: Yes, though it's quieter now. Plenty of independent pizzerias, hot dog stands and corner groceries still stock it, and for a lot of people the taste is pure nostalgia — Friday-night pizza with the family.

Q: What pizza style goes best with RC Cola?

A: Tavern-style thin crust, square cut. The sweetness balances the salt and the crunch. Deep dish works too, but the thin crust pairing is the classic one.

If you want to run the experiment yourself: order a sausage tavern pie, cut it into squares, ignore the plates, and crack a cold blue can. That's the whole tradition, and it hasn't needed updating in seventy years.