The History of Coca Cola John Pemberton was the inventor of Coca Cola By Mary Bellis In May, 1886,

Coca Cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. John Pemberton concocted the Coca Cola formula in a three legg ed brass kettle in his backyard. The name was a suggestion given by John Pembert on's bookkeeper Frank Robinson. Birth of Coca Cola Being a bookkeeper, Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. It was he who first scripted "Coca Cola" into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today. The soft drink was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacob's Phar macy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886. About nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day. Sales for that first y ear added up to a total of about $50. The funny thing was that it cost John Pemb erton over $70 in expanses, so the first year of sales were a loss. Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine a s well as the caffeine-rich kola nut. In 1887, another Atlanta pharmacist and businessman, Asa Candler bought the form ula for Coca Cola from inventor John Pemberton for $2,300. By the late 1890s, Co ca Cola was one of America's most popular fountain drinks, largely due to Candle r's aggressive marketing of the product. With Asa Candler, now at the helm, the Coca Cola Company increased syrup sales by over 4000% between 1890 and 1900. Advertising was an important factor in John Pemberton and Asa Candler's success and by the turn of the century, the drink was sold across the United States and Canada. Around the same time, the company began selling syrup to independent bot tling companies licensed to sell the drink. Even today, the US soft drink indust ry is organized on this principle. Until the 1960s, both small town and big city dwellers enjoyed carbonated bevera ges at the local soda fountain or ice cream saloon. Often housed in the drug sto re, the soda fountain counter served as a meeting place for people of all ages. Often combined with lunch counters, the soda fountain declined in popularity as commercial ice cream, bottled soft drinks, and fast food restaurants became popu lar. New Coke On April 23, 1985, the trade secret "New Coke" formula was released. Today, prod ucts of the Coca Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day.