Classic Coca Cola logo
Thursday, March 30 — One of the most successful brand names of all time got its start this week in 1886. That’s when Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton brewed up the first batch of Coca-Cola – designed as a hangover cure. The product went on sale at Jacob’s pharmacy a few weeks later, and sold an average of nine servings a day at the start. Success followed quickly, and until 1905, contained extracts of cocaine, as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut.
Today, the firm’s products account for close to two billion servings a day around the world. Americans on average drink 40 about gallons of carbonated soft drinks a year, a rate that has been in decline lately. Still, some 47,000 people are employed in the $44 billion a year business of soft drink manufacturing.
You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online here.
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