| Type | Soft drink |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1952 |
| Flavour | chocolate, black cherry, ginger ale, root beer |
No-Cal was the first zero-calorie soda.[1]
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Hyman Kirsch and his son Morris, both Russian immigrants living in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, began selling sodas in 1904.[2] Their involvement with the Jewish Sanitarium for Chronic Disease (now known as Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center), led them to the invention of a sugar-free drink to meet the needs of the hospital’s diabetic patients.[3]
Hyman and Morris developed a line of carbonated, sugar-free, zero-calorie soft drinks which they called No-Cal, that they began selling in 1952.[1] The soda was produced at the company’s plant in College Point, Queens, New York.[4]
No-Cal was known for special flavors like chocolate and black cherry.
No-Cal used up-and-coming Hollywood starlets such as Kim Novak and Julie Adams in their print ads.[4] Cartoonist Stan Goldberg became famous for his classic No-Cal pop art billboard.[4]
As major soda producers such as the Coca Cola Company and Pepsico launched their own diet brands in the 1960s, No-Cal found it hard to compete, lost market share, and slowly disappeared.
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