A quick sketch done in a hurry!
“What to drink and what to sip!
Have it with chips and a little dip!
Have it after you say hello or ola!
Tis the same! Be it pepsi or coca cola!”
One of the biggest secrets in the world is apparently the recipe of coca cola!
or is it?!
Coca-Cola has been around since 1886, and try as desperately as they might, no one has been able to replicate its distinct taste. But as far as I am concerned, every cola drink which includes even the local Cola drink tastes the same with some difference in the sugar levels!
So the legend is that Inventor John S. Pemberton kept his recipe a secret and even refused to write it down for fear of people copying his success; it was finally jotted down when Ernest Woodruff purchased the company in 1919. The physical recipe then made the rounds between New York’s Guaranty Bank, Atlanta’s Trust Company Bank, and finally the World of Coca-Cola, which is where it resides today. It is currently housed in the so-called Vault of the Secret Formula, and it remains a very closely guarded trade secret!
Well that sounds like a good story! But imagine that the formula of a drink which is available and made in almost all parts of the world is known at a time to only two people! It is not like your marriage anniversary!
So apparently the idea that the secret formula for Coca-Cola is only known by two people who are never to be allowed near one another in case of some disaster resulting in the recipe being lost forever is one of those pop culture staples people can’t help but perpetuate!
Even the company likes to propagate these stories which gives it recipe an exclusive flavor and some mystery!
One of the most important this is that the number of people who know the recipe is definitely more than two as the sheer volume of the syrup being produced every day, with slightly differing ingredients in different parts of the world, necessitate that quite a few people need to know, at the least, large portions of the ingredients (and appropriate proportions of each) in order to keep supplies flowing!
If only two people know this then it is really crazy! In fact in a Coca Cola ad it was actually claimed that these ‘two’ people who know the recipe do not fly in a single plane together!
Even the accountants and other people who take care of the inventory and components responsible will of course have an idea!
The other thing important to all this is that whether every person who knows the recipe all up and died at the same time is irrelevant. As you might expect, contrary to versions of the rumour, the recipe is written down and stored in a cartoonishly large vault in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s also possible (and very likely) that Coca-Cola maintains copies of the recipe elsewhere, whether in part, with different people having access to each portion, or as a whole!
So the actual mystery is how the story of only two people know the secret is the point in time when only two people knew the recipe! The first person John Pemberton showed the final recipe to would have made two. After that, it’s pretty clear at least several people have known it at any given time!
As for who the two were, Pemberton modified his “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca” to make Coca-Cola (partially as a response to the banning of alcohol in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886- the drink contained alcohol) with the help of Willis Venable and Frank Mason Robinson. One of those two seemingly would have been the second; this would have likely quickly become three, and more ever since!
In fact even in 1891 Pemberton had sold the original formula to three different companies, meaning even more people knew it at this point!
Coco-Cola has good reason to claim it was never written down in that there are a few copies of the recipe for some version of Coca-Cola in existence, or at least claimed to be that. For instance, in 1996 the great-grandson of John Pemberton’s employee, Frank Robinson, (who, incidentally, named Coca-Cola and created the cursive logo) had what he claimed to be the recipe written in his grandfather’s own hand. That hand-written document was the subject of a divorce settlement as Robinson’s wife claimed he had given it to her as a wedding present!
Further, in order to fully replicate Coca-Cola, in the United States at least, you’d need something only one company has access to, coca leaves!
Back to the origin of the rumor- when Earnest Woodruff and a group of soon to be ridiculously rich investors bought the company outright in 1919, they did so using money secured by a loan!
As part of the collateral for the loan, Woodruff had Candler’s son write down the formula for Coca-Cola. It was then placed in a secure vault at Guaranty Bank in New York. According to Coca-Cola, the formula remained under lock and key until Woodruff once again took ownership of it when the loan was repaid in 1925. Rather than destroy the formula as Asa Candler had done, reducing the risk of it falling into someone else’s hands, Woodruff opted to keep it and had it put into secure storage; this time in an Atlanta bank vault at Trust Company Bank where it sat for 86 years!
Of course today, all of the people privy to such information are likely under strict instructions to never reveal they know it, lest they want to stare down a life-destroying lawsuit from one of the most powerful commercial entities on Earth, not to mention perhaps losing their jobs if they still work there!
So my only advice is that there may be very few people who know the recipe but if you do know that please keep it to yourself! I am more than happy just remembering my anniversary on time! That funny note reminds me of the fun movies starring birthday celebrity Mamukkoya!
Now don’t drink anything cold and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
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