It was a prohibition law, enacted in Atlanta in 1886, that persuaded physician and chemist Dr. John Stith Pemberton to rename and rewrite the formula for his popular nerve tonic, stimulant and headache remedy, ‘Pemberton’s French Wine Coca/ sold at that time by most, if not all, of the city’s druggists.
So when the new Coca-Cola debuted later that year— still possessing “the valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties of the coca plant and cola nuts,” yet sweetened with sugar instead of wine—Pemberton advertised it not only as a ‘delicious, exhilarating, refreshing and invigorating’ soda-fountain beverage but also as the ideal ‘temperance drink’.
Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs’ Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced ‘excellent’ and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. Carbonated water was teamed with the new syrup to produce a drink that was at once ‘Delicious and Refreshing’. Dr. Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the name and penned the now famous trademark ‘Coca-Cola’ in his unique script. The first newspaper ad for Coca-Cola soon appeared in The Atlanta Journal, inviting thirsty citizens to try the new and popular soda fountain drink. Hand-painted oilcloth signs reading ‘Coca-Cola’ appeared on store awnings, with the suggestion ‘Drink’ added to inform passersby that the new beverage was for soda fountain refreshment.
Dr. Pemberton never realized the potential of the beverage he created. He gradually sold portions of his business to various partners and, just prior to his death in 1888, sold his remaining interest in Coca-Cola to Asa G. Candler. An Atlantan with great business acumen, Candler proceeded to buy additional rights and acquire complete control.
On May 1, 1889, Asa Candler published a full-page advertisement in The Atlanta Journal, proclaiming his wholesale and retail drug business as ‘sole proprietors of Coca-Cola…Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating’. Sole ownership, which Candler did not actually achieve until 1891, cost a total of $2,300.
By 1892, Candler’s flair for merchandising had boosted sales of Coca-Cola syrup nearly tenfold. He soon liquidated his pharmaceutical business and focused his full attention on the soft drink. With his brother, John S. Candler, John Pemberton’s former partner Frank Robinson and two other associates, Candler formed a Georgia Corporation named
The Coca-Cola Company. Initial capitalization was $100,000.
The trademark ‘Coca-Cola’, used in the marketplace since 1886, was registered in the United States Patent Office on January 31, 1893. (Registration has been renewed periodically.) That same year the first dividend was paid; at $20 per share, it amounted to 20 percent of the book value of a share of stock.
A firm believer in advertising, Candler expanded on Dr. Pemberton’s marketing efforts, distributing thousands of coupons for a complimentary glass of Coca-Cola. He promoted the product incessantly, distributing souvenir fans, calendars, clocks, urns and countless novelties, all depicting the trademark. The business continued to grow, and in 1894, the first syrup manufacturing plant outside Atlanta was opened in Dallas, Texas. Others were opened in Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, the following year.
While Candler’s efforts focused on boosting soda fountain sales, another concept was being developed that would spread the enjoyment of Coca-Cola worldwide. In 1894, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Joseph A. Biedenharn was so impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola at his soda fountain that he installed bottling machinery in the rear of his store and began to sell cases of Coca-Cola to farms and lumber camps up and down the Mississippi River. He was the first bottler of Coca-Cola.
Large-scale bottling was made possible in 1899, when Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead of Chattanooga, Tennessee, secured from Candler the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in practically the entire United States. With contract in hand, they joined another Chattanoogan, John T. Lupton, and began to develop what is today the worldwide Coca-Cola bottling system.
