Coca-Cola formula

The formula for Coca-Cola syrup, which bottlers combine with carbonated water to create the famous soft drink, is a closely guarded trade secret that belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. Company founder Asa Candler initiated the veil of secrecy that surrounds the formula in 1891 as a publicity, marketing, and intellectual property protection strategy. Several recipes, each purporting to be the authentic formula, have been published, but the company maintains that the actual formula remains a secret known only to very few employees, who each know a different part.

History

Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton is known to have shared his original formula with at least four people before his death in 1888. In 1891, Asa Candler purchased the rights to the formula from Pemberton's estate, founded the Coca-Cola Company, and instituted the shroud of secrecy that has since enveloped the formula. He also made changes to the ingredients list, which by most accounts improved the flavor, and entitled him to claim that anyone in possession of Pemberton's original formula no longer knew the "real" formula.

In 1919, Ernest Woodruff led a group of investors in purchasing the company from Candler and his family. As collateral for the acquisition loan, Woodruff placed the only written copy of the formula in a vault at the Guaranty Trust Company of New York. In 1925, when the loan had been repaid, Woodruff relocated the written formula to the Trust Company Bank (Truist Financial) in Atlanta. On December 8, 2011, the company placed it in a vault on the grounds of the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, with the vault on public display.