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The Coca-Cola beverage was launched on May 8, 1886 by an Atlanta pharmacist, John S. Pemberton and his manager, Frank Robinson, chose the name of the drink and wrote it in the flowing handwriting that became Coca-Cola’s trademark.
Pemberton originally marketed his drink as a tonic for most common ailments, based on cocaine from the coca leaf and caffeine-rich extracts from the cola nut; cocaine was removed from the Coca-Cola formula around 1903.
This one sold its syrup to local soda fountains and, with the advertising, the drink was phenomenally successful. In 1891, another Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Griggs Candler, registered the trademark “Coca-Cola” in the United States Patent Office at 1886.
Under Candler’s leadership, sales increased from approximately 9 . gallons of syrup in 1890 a 200.877 gallons in 1900. Also during that decade, syrup production plants were established in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and the product was sold throughout the United States, as well as Canada.
In 1899, Coca-Cola Company signed its first agreement with an independent bottler , which was allowed to buy the syrup and produce, bottle and distribute the Coca-Cola beverage. These licensing agreements formed the basis of a unique distribution system that now characterizes most of the American soft drink industry.
Capitalized in $ 100, in 1892 at the time of its incorporation, Coca-Cola Company was sold in 1919 for $ 25 million to a group of investors led by Atlanta businessman Ernest Woodruff. His son, Robert Winship Woodruff, led the company as president and director for more than three decades.
In 1946, the company bought the rights to Fanta, a soft drink previously developed in Germany. The company also introduced the lemon-lime drink Sprite in 1948 and her first sugar-free diet cola Tab, in 1963.
In 1978, Coca-Cola became the only company authorized to sell cold-packed beverages in the People’s Republic of China.
In an effort to cope with declining market share, the company adopted a new Coca-Cola flavor in April 1985, using a formula he developed through testing taste. However, New Coke was not well received. Due to public outcry, Coca-Cola revived its original flavor in July, which was later marketed as Coca-Cola Classic.
In 1992, the company introduced its first bottle made partially from recycled plastic, a major innovation in the industry at the time.
At the beginning of the decade of 2000, Coca-Cola faced allegations of illegal contamination of soil and water, as well as complaints of serious human rights violations.
In 2005, the company introduced Coca-Cola Zero, a calorie-free soft drink with the taste of regular Coca-Cola.
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