Coca-Cola, 1886
The company produces Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton. In 1889, the formula and brand were sold for $2,300 to Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1892.
At first, Coca-Cola was advertised as a drink that relieves headaches and was at first meant to be on sale in drugstores as a medicinal beverage. It was actually Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, who came up with the name of the drink and created its logo. The name, Coca-Cola, was chosen because of its two main ingredients at the time (coca leaves and kola nuts) and because of the pleasant-sounding alliteration of the words.
It's very first ad read, "Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!" By 1895, Coca-Cola was so popular, it was being sold in every state in the US. And that's in large part due to Candler mailing out thousands of coupons for a free glass of Coca-Cola. The marketing stunt worked and Coca-Cola forever cemented itself as a global brand.
That's correct.
It also became a soft drink by accident. One day someone walked into Jacobs Pharmacy with a headache and needed a bottle. It was originally intended to be mixed with water before drinking. He didn't want to wait to get home and asked for it to be mixed at the soda fountain there in the drugstore. The tap was down at the other end of the counter, so the man behind the counter just mixed it with soda water. The result is what we know today.
More trivia: In Chinese, "Coca cola" translates to "Bite the wax tadpole."
That's correct.
It also became a soft drink by accident. One day someone walked into Jacobs Pharmacy with a headache and needed a bottle. It was originally intended to be mixed with water before drinking. He didn't want to wait to get home and asked for it to be mixed at the soda fountain there in the drugstore. The tap was down at the other end of the counter, so the man behind the counter just mixed it with soda water. The result is what we know today.
More trivia: In Chinese, "Coca cola" translates to "Bite the wax tadpole."