By Karl Smallwood
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 cant help but perpetuate. Given this, its perhaps not surprising that the spread of this idea has also been helped by various advertising campaigns done by Coca-Cola claiming just this. In fact, this idea actually started as a result of a Coca-Cola advertisement, but well get to that in a bit.
Busting the myth
First things first, the exact number of people privy to the knowledge of how to make Coca-Cola isnt public knowledge; however, its 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. This sort of volume just wouldnt scale well to only two people knowing how to make the product, especially if the extension of this myth were true- that each person only knows one half of the ingredients. Besides not scaling well, this would be a recipe for disaster (pun intended) if anything ever happened to one of them and it wasnt written down elsewhere. This is partially why in one ad campaign Coca-Cola claimed the ‘two’ executives are not allowed to fly on a plane together.
At the least, its probable the exact ingredients, though perhaps not the exact proportions, are known by numerous people working at Coca-Cola. For instance, certain of the companys accountants, particularly the higher ups, are probably well aware of what goes into the companys staple product. Invoices would create a very detailed paper trail with which it would be very easy to get the exact list of ingredients, even if the company had different factories making different parts of the syrup. It would also be only slightly harder to figure out the exact proportions given the relative volume of each of the ingredients being ordered going into the factories, and the exact output of syrup coming out.
Beyond those employees who have deduced the ingredients and potentially the recipe, how many are intentionally made privy to the exact recipe? As noted in this interview with the marketing manager of Coca-Cola, “not a lot of people know”. The subject of that interview, Jacquie Wansley, however admits that she doesnt know the exact number of people who are in on the full secret.
Historical origin of the rumor
So where did this ‘only two people’ legend start? Was there ever a point when only two people knew the recipe? Unequivocally, yes. The first person John Pemberton showed the final recipe to would have made two. After that, its pretty clear at least several people have known it at any given time. As for who the two were, Pemberton modified his Pembertons 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.
The secrecy surrounding the formula really began in earnest when Asa Candler bought exclusive rights to the recipe in 1891. (Previous to this, Pemberton had sold the original formula to three different companies, meaning even more people knew it at this point.) Once Candler had the exclusive rights, Asa supposedly had all copies of the recipe destroyed (or tried to) and relied on certain employees keeping the recipe memorised. Not a good long-term strategy for a major company, but this wasnt the billion dollar behemoth it is today.
It wasnt until the company changed hands in 1919 that the formula was once again given a physical form, as youll soon read about. That said, Coca-Cola has claimed before that the recipe was never written down until 1919, but this strains credibility. It is unlikely Coca-Cola creator John Pemberton didnt write down the many recipes he came up with in his quest to find a cure for morphine addiction, one of which resulted in Coca-Cola. When he taught it to others, such as members of the few companies he sold the formula to or those he tasked with making it, such as Frank Mason Robinson, it also would have been easier to simply write it down than to continually repeat it to them until they had it memorised.
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 Pembertons employee, Frank Robinson, (who, incidentally, named Coca-Cola and created the cursive logo) had what he claimed to be the recipe written in his grandfathers own hand. That hand-written document was the subject of a divorce settlement as Robinsons wife claimed he had given it to her as a wedding present.
Does it even matter?
Coca-Cola denies such claims, but of course the only way to verify they are telling the truth would be for them to reveal the Coca-Cola recipe. And, as long as they continue to deny it, it really doesnt matter if others have the recipe. Take the exact Coca-Cola product and put it under a different brand who cant claim its the exact same product, and even if it were much cheaper and taste tests showed no one could tell the difference, most people would still buy Coca-Cola instead. This brand loyalty is largely why New Coke was killed off so quickly despite it overwhelmingly being preferred in taste tests, even by people who were fighting to get Old Coke back.
Further, in order to fully replicate Coca-Cola, in the United States at least, youd need something only one company has access to, coca leaves. Currently, only Stepan Co. can import these leaves into the United States. They then process the leaves and sell the cocaine-free extract to Coca-Cola and the cocaine to the pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt. Thus, to make your own Coca-Cola, youd need to convince Stepan Co. to branch out and sell to your company too. This is likely a tall order considering the pressure Coca-Cola would put on them not to.
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 Candlers 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 elses 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. (From that description alone, its clearly impossible that only two people knew the recipe even at that point. At the least, you have certain members of Pembertons friends, family, and business partners who were still alive; Candler; Candlers son; Woodruff and his investors and those providing the loan, who would surely have asked to see the recipe, and possibly taste the product they witnessed be made from it, to verify what was being put in the vault was genuine.)
A marketing gimmick
So why did Woodruff keep the formula written down? If the few versions of the recipe that exist in the public eye are valid, its not like its that complicated a formula. It would not be difficult to memorise. Well, the answer has less to do with people being able to read the formula and more to do with what it represented, something special, which is the same reason even to this day Coca-Cola plays up the existence of the highly secured recipe in written form and at various times has been happy to stoke the flames of the only two people know myth.
By playing up to the secrecy surrounding the formula, Woodruff was able to convince the public that Coke was something awesome and special. This was not an uncommon marketing trick then or now. In fact, as a part of a marketing stunt back then, it was publicly announced that only two Coca-Cola officials would ever have the full knowledge of how to produce the syrup at any one time when Woodruff got his hands back on the formula. However, while the media was being spoon fed this story and churning it out to the public, at least four people in the company are known to have been able to produce the syrup in full and it is thought that they probably werent the only ones. 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.
This still leaves the potential for someone to go Oceans 11 on the written version of the formula. (We can only hope we didnt just inspire what would no doubt be an extremely lucrative Oceans 14 movie given the product placement potential.) However, we werent kidding when we said the formula is contained in a cartoon like secure vault (even if you get into the giant vault, there are still several layers of security youd have to go through to get to the recipe). You see, in a much more recent marketing stunt, for Coca-Colas 125 year anniversary in 2011, they moved the written formula from one Atlanta vault to an even more secure custom built vault amidst a media circus. The fact that this custom vault is part of The World of Coca-Cola and they turned it into an interactive exhibit for the public would, once again, suggest that theyre more concerned with the publicity and enigma surrounding the formula than the actual information it contains. And, even if it was stolen, assuming said paper with the recipe really is in the vault, Coca-Cola could just deny it and claim the recipe was still safely tucked away and it wouldnt really matter that the true recipe was (seemingly once again) out there for public consumption.