Cola Wars

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There has been a war going on for a hundred years against pepsi and coke. A battle to be the number one soft drink company all across the globe. It is labeled as “The Cola Wars” and has been in effect since the early 1900's. The beverage industry in the U.S. is all controlled by top two competitors, Coca-Cola being #1 and Pepsi #2. United States Beverage industry statistics shows the American consumer drinking soft drinks more than anything else in the market including water, and the numbers in gallons increase every year. From the looks of the statistics chart, soda is Americas number one addiction falling in front off coffee and alcoholic beverages. The evolution of the soft drink has come a long ways from being developed in a lab to being manufactured in a factory.

The production and distribution process consists of four parts concentrate producers,bottlers, retail channels, and suppliers. The concentrate producer is where the drink is manufactured at and the ingredients is mixed and stored in containers. It is then purchased and shipped off to the bottlers where they would can or bottle the drink. The bottlers is the last process before distribution. The bottlers would add the finishing touches into the drink, and was considered the most important part because it relied on one's quality before shipment. The bottlers would be the boss of all advertising, packaging, and selling decisions. The retail channels is where the finished product where be shipped of to for availability for consumers. Distribution statistics in the late nineties shows 40% of food stores, 17% of fountain outlets, 14% of convenience stores, 8% of vending machines, and 21% to other outlets (drug stores, retail warehouses, etc). That's more than five channels for distributing. Being that food stores bought the most packaged drinks, fountain drink sales were very profitable for restaurants and were prominently ran by Coca-Cola.

The Coca-Cola company started out as an insignificant one man business and over the last one hundred and ten years and it has grown into the number one beverage company in the world. Consolidating with The first operator of the company was Dr. John Pemberton and the current operator is Roberto Goizueta. Without societies help, Coca-Cola could not have become over a 50 billion dollar business. Coca-Cola was invented by Dr. John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist. He concocted the formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard on May 8, 1886. He mixed a combination of lime, cinnamon, coca leaves, and the seeds of a Brazilian shrub to make the fabulous beverage. Coca-Cola debuted in Atlanta's largest pharmacy, Jacob's Pharmacy, as a five cent non-carbonated beverage. Later on, the carbonated water was added to the syrup to make the beverage that we know today as Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola was originally used as an medicine for mental or physical disorders. Coca-Cola was named by Frank Robinson, one of Pemberton's close friends, he also penned the famous Coca-Cola logo in a unique skirt bottle shape which is the face of today's soda pop. Coca-Cola was sold after the Prohibition Era to Ernest Woodruff for 25 million dollars. He gave Coca-Cola to his son, Robert Woodruff, who would be president for six decades. Robert Woodruff was an influential man in Atlanta because of his contributions to area colleges, universities, businesses and organizations. When he made a contribution, he would never leave his name, later to be known as "Mr. Anonymous." Woodruff introduced the six bottle carton in 1923. He also made Coca-Cola available through vending machine in 1929, that same year, the Coca- Cola bell glass was made available. He started advertising on the radio in the 1930s and on the television in 1950. Currently Coca-Cola is advertised on over five hundred TV channels around the world. In 1931, he introduced the Coke Santa as a Christmas promotion and it caught on. Candler also introduced the twelve ounce Coke can in 1960. The Coca-Cola contour bottle was patented in 1977. The two liter bottle was introduced in 1978, the same year the company also introduced plastic bottles.

Coca-Cola is worth more than 58 billion dollars on the stock market. For more than 65 years, Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the Olympics. The 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Coca-Cola. One great thing that the Coca-Cola company has is helping the people of Atlanta. They accomplish this through scholarships, hotlines, donations and contributions, etc. Another large accomplishment that the Coca-Cola has, is being the first company to make and use recycled plastic bottles. One way to see all of the achievements of the Coca-Cola company is to visit the World of Coke in Atlanta. It houses a collection of memorabilia, samples of the products, exhibits, and other exciting items. All of what has been said is the basis of what Coca-Cola was built on. Not to mention it's merging agreements with restaurants like Wendy's and Burger King battling against Pepsi's front pizza Hut, Taco bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Without societies help, Coca-Cola could not have become over a 50 billion dollar business. Keep on consuming the world's favorite soft drink, Coca-Cola.

Pepsi on the other hand is considered one of the world's favorite also developed in the lab in North Carolina by Caleb Bradham but lead in second place as far as business related. Pepsi is the second largest brand in food and beverages manufacturer’s industry after nestle. Pepsi is a house of brand for almost 45 brands of which 17 are big name brands, which generate sales of more than $1billion. Pepsi has always been ahead of its competition in terms of Return on Investment since 2003 and onwards when it started moving ahead to be on the top in this regard for S&P 500(standard and Poor, a rating company) 500 and S&P industry average. Pepsi owns a good place in snack market with the name of Frito Lay in its portfolio, which gives brands like Lays, Fritos, and Doritos etc. Pepsi has a very good standing since most of the Pepsi brands in this category holds number 1 or number 2 positions in US market which is the largest domain of Pepsi marketplace. Coca Cola does not have any position in this category. Pepsi has a very strong market position in beverages industry such