Historic Charlotte

Cola Bottling Company plants opened in
Salisbury, Gastonia, Concord, Shelby,
Lexington, Albemarle, Statesville, Monroe and
Lincolnton, North Carolina. Horse-andwagon
delivery vehicles gave way to trucks.
Despite a sugar shortage during World War I
and a severe economic depression in the early
1930s, the company managed to remain strong.
Consolidation of outlying plants during this
time period led to today’s CCBCC. Still able to
meet the demand for Coca-Cola following a
second sugar shortage during World War II,
Coca-Cola plunged into the 1950s boom that
found fierce competition in the soft drink
industry. This led to package-size testing and
evaluation, as well as the introduction of
canned soft drinks. To distribute products, new
sales techniques were blended with traditional
route sales and advance calls to customers. The
success of soft drink vending machines in
selling Coca-Cola spawned partnerships with
food vending services.
In 1972, the company’s name was changed
to Coca-Cola Bottling Company of the Mid-
Carolinas, and the company offered its stock to
the public for the first time. In 1973 Frank
Harrison Jr., grandson of founder J. B. Harrison,
directed the acquisitions of Greensboro,
Winston-Salem, Burlington, and Raleigh, North
Carolina, and Danville, Virginia. The company
name was changed again, to Coca-Cola Bottling
Co. Consolidated, to reflect its growth beyond
the Carolinas.
In J. B. Harrison’s day, the company had
only one product. Coca-Cola is still the
flagship, though today it’s known as Coca-Cola
classic (and also comes in a caffeine-free
variety). But, the corporate family of products
has grown to include diet Coke (and a caffeinefree
version), Sprite, diet Sprite, POWERaDE,
Mello Yello, Fruitopia, Fresca, Minute Maid
flavored soft drinks, a wide variety of Minute
Maid juices, and Dasani.
Well-planned development has added still
more bottling plants in recent years. CCBCC
now distributes Coca-Cola products in
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
and West Virginia. The Harrison family grew
the company from modest beginnings to a
company that today employs about 5,500
people, produces over 4.1 billion eight-ounce
servings per year and operates some of the
world’s most advanced bottling equipment.
CCBCC’s great success can be attributed to
the dedication, integrity and energy of its
employees. Throughout the company’s
history, the superior quality of its products,
the high caliber of its employees and the
leadership of the Harrison family have
remained constant.
✧
Above: Inside North Carolina’s first Coca-
Cola bottling plant on South Church Street
in Charlotte, 1902.
Below: Music and bottled Coca-Cola
provided fun for soldiers and their wives at
a “Spotlight of Bands” event in the early
1940s at the Morris Field Army Air Force
Base in Charlotte.
THE MARKETPLACE
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