Coca Col A Symbol Of American Culture - 1599 Words

The history of Coca-cola told by the company, is a story of innovation, economic growth, and American pride. The way they tell it Coca-cola is truly a symbol of American culture, however everyone’s favorite soft drink may not be so sweet once you know the full history. Coca-Cola was founded in 1886. It’s inventor was a pharmacist named John Pemberton. Pemberton originally sold Coke as a pharmaceutical drug in the form of syrup containing cocaine and wine. It was intended to cure morphine addiction, however soon after Pemberton finalized his formula the campaign for prohibition began and he was forced to replace the wine with other ingredients. After much trial and error Pemberton settled on carbonated water, and this is how Coca-cola†¦show more content†¦Candler quickly liquidated the pharmaceutical share of the business and focused on the soda portion. In his first year he increased the company’s profit nearly ten times over.The following year Candler made the company public and opened at $20 a share, which while factoring in inflation, amounts to about $500 by today’s standards. Candler continued to facilitate the growth of the company, and in 1894 the first Coca-Cola syrup factory opened in Georgia, quickly follo wed by plants in Illinois, Texas, and California, and by 1895 Coke was drunk in every state in the U.S.. The company’s fast, and quickly accelerating growth generated the need for larger factories, and more jobs and provided opportunity for new business. Joe Biedenharn was the first â€Å"Bottler† of Coca-Cola. Biedenharn ran a candy shop on the side of his father’s shoe store, and surprised by the high demand for Coca-Cola, installed a bottling system, with which he used to sell cases of coke to farmers, and camp workers. This was the beginning of the Coca-Cola Bottling business; several privately owned business bottling Coca-Cola on their own for larger sales. Bottling only became widespread industry when Candler obtained the rights to bottling Coca-Cola throughout the entire country. Shortly after the first bottling plant was opened in 1899 and over the next twenty years the company grew by over one thousand percent. As the company continued to grow, it became a symbol in American culture. What