The Sad True Story Behind John Pemberton and the Invention of Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company

For a long time, the concoction was sold exclusively at pharmacies as a syrup – mixed on the spot. Eight years later, Pemberton finally decided to bottle up the drink, cut out the middle man, and expand into a retail business. He formed the Pemberton Chemical Company to market it and made his son the head of production.

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Unfortunately, Charles was struggling with a morphine addiction of his own and eventually died (but we’ll get to that later). It was actually Frank Robinson, Pemberton’s bookkeeper that came up with the billion-dollar name, Coca-Cola. Robinson also designed the legendary logo that is still used now, over a century later.

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