Tweet

Starting the Business: Asa Candler Pops His Way to the Top

Article Overview: In 1877, Candler and one of his former co-workers, Marcellus Hallman, began a partnership and established their own retail drug establishment. At the time, druggists were known for their dubious cure-all potions, which usually had little impact. Over the years, these concoctions became more popular for their sweet taste than their medicinal effects and pharmacies became the place to go to enjoy a casual drink.

Starting the Business: Asa Candler Pops His Way to the Top

In 1877, Candler and one of his former co-workers, Marcellus Hallman, began a partnership and established their own retail drug establishment. At the time, druggists were known for their dubious cure-all potions, which usually had little impact. Over the years, these concoctions became more popular for their sweet taste than their medicinal effects and pharmacies became the place to go to enjoy a casual drink.

Candler’s first products were a range of perfumes as well as a ‘blood balm,’ which he sold at his drugstore. The success of this venture was such that he bought out his partner’s share. In just over ten years, Candler’s company had become one of the largest drug businesses in all of Atlanta and was earning over $100,000 a year; his own personal net worth had reached $50,000. Candler continued to manufacture and sell various medicines and cosmetics until one day, he was paralyzed by one of his nagging migraines. In fact, it would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Candler’s migraine was so bad that he was willing to try whatever it took to get rid of it. He turned to a little known product that had been produced by a fellow Atlanta-based druggist, John Smyth Pemberton. Pemberton had created something called “Coca-Cola,” his own personal fizzy ‘brain tonic’ and headache remedy that combined coca leaves and kola nuts. He had been selling the drink for five cents a glass at his own drugstore. It was created in his back yard in a three-legged fifteen-gallon pot that stood over a fire, and when Candler sampled it, he was immediately hooked.

In what appeared to be a rash decision to onlookers, Candler decided at once to sell his entire stock of drugs, paints, oils, glass, and fancy clothes. He sold off everything he could and raised roughly $50,000. He initially invested $500 into Pemberton’s company, but by the end of 1891, he had managed to gain control over the entire Coca-Cola product for just $2,300. He used the rest of the money to continue manufacturing and marketing the drink.

In 1892, Candler incorporated Coca-Cola in Georgia, with capital stock of $100,000. While the formula for the drink remains one of the business world’s best kept secrets – it is said that only two company executives have access to the SunTrust vault in which it is kept – it is known that Candler tinkered with it after buying it from Pemberton to make it better tasting. He also replaced the tin cans the syrup was stored in with refurbished whiskey barrels.

In Candler’s early days, he focused solely on marketing Coca-Cola as a fountain drink. In 1899, two Tennessee attorneys approached him with the idea of bottling the drink. In a costly mistake, Candler had little interest in the venture and sold them exclusive rights to bottle and sell the drink. Sales soared from 9,000 gallons in 1890 to 370,877 gallons in 1900. The company would later spend much time and effort buying back those rights. By 1916, the company was earning $27 million. Over the years, sales continued to rise and Coca-Cola came to dominate the industry. Candler’s initial $500 investment had paid off.

Outside of the soft drink market, Candler was also a success in banking and real estate, and he also served as mayor of Atlanta from 1916 to 1919. Before passing away from a stroke on March 12, 1929, Candler had become famous for his generous philanthropic donations to such institutions as Emory University and Emory Hospital, as well as 50 acres of his land holdings to establish Candler Park.

Related Articles
  Lesson #5: You Are Worth More than Your Net Worth
  Lesson #4: Look Hard to See the Mighty Oak in the Acorn
  The Man Behind Coca-Cola: The Early Years of Asa Candler
  Liquid Gold: How Candler Turned a Drink into an Empire
  Lesson #1: Make Your Marketing Message Memorable

Article Tags: asa candler, blessing in disguise, brain tonic, coca leaves, concoctions, fancy clothes, five cents, gallon pot, hallman, headache remedy, john smyth, kola nuts, marcellus, onlookers, pemberton, potions, rash decision, retail drug, sweet taste, topin



Related Forum Posts
Asa Griggs Candler - Coca-Cola Founder - Just wanted to offer another brand name that has lasted and had controversy associated with it. Would be good to learn about it's founder - Asa Griggs Candler
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Moderators on vacation - Hi Everyone, I will be away for the next 4 days. Starting now.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Too Many Sales Reps Are Wimps

Why Small Businesses Don't Survive

Why Marketing Outsourcing is Growing So Quickly

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.