Do you feel like giving up on your business? Don't try it because Never you give up Whenever you feel bad, just remember that Coca-Cola only sold 25 bottles the first year. Never give up! That is a highly popular motivational sentiment, but the actual history is even wilder! In 1886, Coca-Cola wasn't sold in bottles at all. It started as a fountain drink at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, averaging just 9 servings a day. Inventor John Pemberton made about \(\$50\) in total sales his first year while spending over \(\$70\) on advertising.Bottled Coca-Cola didn't even exist until 1894, when Joseph Biedenharn first installed bottling machinery in Mississippi. From those modest Atlanta beginnings, the brand grew to sell billions of servings a day worldwide. Read the full Coca-Cola History to see exactly how the brand scaled globally.