Today's Coca-Cola Consolidated looks very different from the company founded in 1902 by J. B. Harrison, great-grandfather of the company's present Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, J. Frank Harrison, III. A young entrepreneur from Chattanooga, TN, J. B. Harrison became one of the first Coca-Cola bottlers in the world when he purchased the Coca-Cola franchise in Greensboro, NC. At the turn of the 20th Century, Coca-Cola was purely a fountain drink sold at soda counters in drug stores. J. B. Harrison introduced the idea of drinking this new soft drink in bottles to consumers in North Carolina's Piedmont region. In a horse and wagon, he advertised the new delicacy with the now famous slogans "Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles" and "Now Served in Bottles at a Moment's Notice."

The new drink 'now served in bottles' was wildly popular—and, as they say, the rest is history.

Mission Statement
Through both World Wars and the Great Depression, the Harrison family continued to build a thriving Coca-Cola business in Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston-Salem and Burlington, North Carolina. In the 1970s, the Company merged with other North Carolina and Virginia bottling companies and became Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated in 1973. J. B. Harrison's grandson, J. Frank Harrison, Jr., directed those acquisitions and continued to build the Company.
In the 1980s, the Company began a period of exponential growth with the purchase of a much larger bottler, Wometco, in 1985. This acquisition tripled the size of the Company, adding selling territories in Alabama (Mobile), Virginia (Roanoke), Tennessee (Nashville) Canada (Vancouver) and the Bahamas. After divesting the foreign operations, Coca-Cola Consolidated continued to expand with the purchase of its West Virginia territories in 1988 and the purchase of Sunbelt Coca-Cola in 1991. In 1994, the Company entered into a joint venture with The Coca-Cola Company to purchase significant selling territories in North and South Carolina. Coca-Cola Consolidated continues to manage and operate the joint venture company
After more than a dozen additional acquisitions throughout the Southeastern United States, today's Coca-Cola Consolidated has emerged as a significant force in the dynamic soft drink industry. Today's Coca-Cola Consolidated has selling territories in 11 states with a consumer base of more than 18 million people. It is the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in the country and one of the highest per capita soft drink bottlers in the world. The Company's 6,000 employees operate five production centers and 70 sales and distribution centers.
In J. B. Harrison's day the Company had only one product—Coca-Cola, which was sold in only one package—the famous refillable 6˝ ounce bottle. Today, Coca-Cola Consolidated sells a wide variety of soft drink products, including Coca-Cola classic (and a caffeine-free version), diet Coke (and a caffeine-free version), Sprite, diet Sprite, Mello Yello, Dr Pepper and diet Dr Pepper (in many markets), Mr Pibb (in many markets), Fresca, Fruitopia, Sundrop (in some markets) PowerADE, Minute Maid flavored soft drinks, a wide variety of Minute Maid juices and Dasani. In 2000, Coca-Cola Consolidated became the first bottler in the world to produce and sell Dasani, The Coca-Cola Company's refreshing new purified bottled water.
True to its roots, Coca-Cola Consolidated is still a pioneer in the soft drink industry, developing new technologies and seeking better, more efficient ways to manufacture, sell and distribute the world's best soft drinks.
Coca-Cola Consolidated continues to grow—and with its high-speed filling lines, high-tech vending equipment and fleet of new trucks—it may not look like the horse-and-buggy company J. B. Harrison began 100 years ago, but it still stands for the same values instilled in its heritage: entrepreneurship, quality and integrity.
After 100 years, Coca-Cola Consolidated is going strong.