Pemberton, a Confederate veteran and pharmacist, concocted a caramel-colored syrup as a coca-wine tonic alternative after Atlanta introduced prohibition. Mixed with carbonated water at a soda fountain, it sold modestly at first — averaging just nine drinks a day that first year — before evolving into the world's most recognized beverage brand.
John Stith Pemberton was chasing a cure, not a fortune, when he stirred together a syrup of coca leaf extract, kola nut caffeine, and assorted flavorings in a backyard kettle. He had been selling a popular French Coca Wine, but when Atlanta passed a prohibition ordinance in 1886, he needed a non-alcoholic substitute, so he adapted the recipe and brought it to Jacobs' Pharmacy on Marietta Street.
His bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, gave the drink its alliterative name and penned the flowing script logo still used today. Sales in that first year totaled a mere $50 against $70 in advertising costs — hardly an auspicious debut for what would become one of the most valuable brands on Earth.
Pemberton, in declining health and addicted to morphine, sold off rights to the formula in pieces before his death in 1888, never seeing its rise. Atlanta businessman Asa Candler acquired full control soon after and built the marketing machine — including the distinctive contour bottle and global bottling network — that turned a modest soda-fountain tonic into a symbol of American consumer culture found in nearly every country on Earth.
Key people: John Pemberton, Frank Robinson