Coca Cola History

Coca-Cola was invented on May of 1886 by Dr John Styth Pemberton in Atlanta. The name Coca-Cola was suggested by Pemberton's book-keeper, Frank Robinson. He penned the name Coca-Cola in the flowing script that is famous today. Coca-Cola was first sold at the soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. During the first year, sales of Coca-Cola aproximatly nine drinks a day, earning a total sales of of $50 in that year. Today, products of The Coca-Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day in over 200 countries. Coca-Cola first arrived in Great Britain in 1900 when Charles Candler, the owner of The Coca-Cola Company, brought a jug of syrup with him in a visit to London. It was first sold in Great Britain on 31st August 1900 and later went on regular sale through soda fountain, which included Selfridges and The London Coliseum.

August 31st 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Coca-Cola in Great Britain, and to celebrate the occasion we unveiled an historic plaque to commemorate Britain's favourite soft drink.The plaque shown below was unveiled by championship boxer and Olympic athlete Audley Harrison and other attending Special Olympics athletes. Coca-Cola has supported the Olympics since 1928 and the Special Olympics since 1968. The plaque was located at 76-79, St Paul's Churchyard, London EC4, the site where the first Coca-Cola was poured in the basement restaurant of Spence's department store, a silk merchant and general goods store. In 1999 The Coca-Cola Company purchased the soft drinks brands of Cadbury Schweppes plc in various countries, including Great Britain. This resulted in the extension of our existing product range which included Coca-Cola, diet Coke, Coca-Cola Cherry, Fanta, Sprite, Lilt and Five Alive to include the Schweppes' range, Dr Pepper, Oasis, Kia-Ora and Malvern water.

The Coca-Cola brand will always be the number one focus for CCGB but product innovation plays a vital role in the Company's business and future. In October 2001 the isotonic sports drink Powerade was launched, followed by the introduction of other brands including diet Coke with Lemon, Coca-Cola Vanilla and diet Coke Vanilla. In 2004, Fanta Apple Splash, our first low sugar brand, was launched. In 2004 The Coca-Cola Company's share of the carbonated soft drinks category in Great Britain was 45.3%, and market share of the non-alcoholic beverages was 9.9%. Source: Canadean 2004 In 2005, they launched their fifth diet Coke varient, diet Coke with Lime, and relaunched our range of diet fruit carbonates (Fanta, Sprite, Lilt and Dr Pepper) as the 'Z', for zero added sugar, range. they also introduced a new Fanta choice - Fanta Summer Fruits. Another new development in 2005 was the reformulation of Oasis to reduce the sugar content. These developments meant that by the end of 2005, over 35% of our sales by volume were either low in sugar or diet/light drinks. The last product launched by Coca-Cola company was en july of 2006 and it was named Coca-Cola Zero, this name was choiced because of its zero sugar taste.