File:1891COMBOcocacolaRWLipackowner.pdf

English: Composite photograph showing title cover page and pages from the 1891 Grier's Almanac "Prepared by Asa G. Candler & Co." of 47 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning in January of 1891, Grier's almanac advertised that Coca-Cola was available in large bottles for 25 cents. Asa Candler eventually saw no advantage to selling his product in and eventually sold off the bottling rights to Coca-Cola for a $1.00 to two enterprising lawyers from Tennessee a few years later. This was done out of necessity, in that Candler realized it was too costly to transport Coca-Cola in the bottles across the United States at a time when only the railroad existed and when it was decades away from a network of paved roads and efficient trucks to transport the bottle of Coca-Cola cheaply. Thus, regional bottlers and bottling franchises were set-up and organized by the lawyers from Tennessee. Candler realized that shipping out only the Coca-Cola syrup to his licensed bottlers was the most efficient method of getting his product to market. This served true for many years, but eventually The Coca-Cola Company realized it was too costly to operate this way and by their 125th year anniversary would eventually secure the bottling rights back for between ten to fifteen billion dollars. (1891 Grier's Almanac copy supplied by Harold and Jean Ballew, Ballew's Booksellers, Stone Mountain, Georgia).