FOR SALE: ORIGINAL(?) RECIPE FOR COCA-COLA.Byline: Marc Rice Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Over the years, many people have claimed to have the original recipe for Coca-Cola, only to be met with skepticism. Now, the great-grandson of the company's co-founder says he needs cash and wants to sell the real thing. Unfortunately for Frank M. Robinson, the document is in the hands of his estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. wife. ``I'm not in good financial shape. I'd sell it, if the price was right,'' Robinson said Friday. ``If it's got value, what use is it to me to hold onto it?'' Patti Robinson, who contends her husband gave her one of the most closely held A phrase used to describe the ownership, management, and operation of a corporation by a small group of people. In a closely held corporation, the same people often act as shareholders, directors, and officers, and no outside investors exist. corporate secrets as a pre-marriage ``trinket'' in 1981, refuses to part with it. She rejected an offer by Robinson to split the proceeds with her. ``I want my son to have it,'' she said. The Coca-Cola Co., meanwhile, said Friday it doubts the authenticity of the Robinson recipe. Robinson insists his Coke is it. Robinson's great-grandfather was Frank Robinson This article is about the baseball player and manager. For the Nottingham busker, see Frank Robinson (Xylophone Man). Frank Robinson (born August 31, 1935 in Beaumont, Texas), is a Hall of Fame former Major League Baseball player. , who played a crucial role in Coke's early history. A business associate of John S. Pemberton, the 19th-century Atlanta pharmacist who invented the drink, the elder Robinson named the product Coca-Cola and designed the script logo that still is used today. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. some histories of the company, the two had a falling out when Pemberton sold the rights behind Robinson's back. The younger Robinson says the recipe was among a batch of his great-grandfather's old Coca-Cola papers that he received from his father shortly before his death in 1970. Robinson said he didn't realize until several years later the significance of the documents. Robinson, 57, denied he gave his wife the recipe, describing it as ``marital property'' that somehow ended up in her safe deposit box A safe deposit box (sometimes incorrectly called a safety deposit box) is a type of safe usually located in groups inside a bank vault or in the back of a bank or post office. instead of his. ``It just so happens we're in a fight,'' he said. Robinson's family amassed a fortune, much of it in Coca-Cola stock. But he was cut out of an inheritance during a family feud This article is about the American game show. For other versions, see Family Feud around the world. For rivalries between families, see Feud. Family Feud in the 1980s, and now, stricken with cancer, gets by on about $21,000 a year as a real estate broker 40 miles south of Atlanta. To him, the formula means much-needed cash. He is unconcerned about possibly shattering the enduring wall of secrecy at Coke. ``It's their secret,'' he said. ``I'm not a troublemaker, but I have preserved it.'' The recipe is but a side item in a dispute over support payments that brought Robinson and his wife to Fulton County
The value of the recipe, handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. on four or five small pieces of tablet paper, is mainly historical. One might manage to use the formula - which Robinson said includes such ingredients as ``gingerene,'' coca leaves and a mix of oils known as ``7X'' - to duplicate a Coke. But it is doubtful that anyone, even armed with the formula, could hope to challenge the $18 billion company's worldwide marketing and distribution system. Anyway, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has periodically made minor changes in the formula over the years. One radical change, resulting in New Coke New Coke was the unofficial name of the sweeter formulation introduced in 1985 by The Coca-Cola Company to replace its flagship soft drink, Coca-Cola or Coke. in 1985, is less than fondly remembered. Patti Robinson said she had a brewer this year use the recipe to mix up a batch of ersatz er·satz adj. Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial: ersatz coffee made mostly of chicory. See Synonyms at artificial. Coke. The result, she said, tasted good but not like Coca-Cola. Rob Baskin, a spokesman for Coca-Cola, said the Robinson recipe is merely the latest in a long line of claims that have never been authenticated. Coke says the only copy of the original recipe - Pemberton's - is locked in a bank vault. The company has not seen Robinson's recipe. ``We've never seen evidence that Mr. Pemberton shared the formula with anybody - even Mr. Robinson, who was without question a close business associate,'' Baskin said. Phil Mooney, Coca-Cola's archivist ARCHIVIST. One to whose care the archives have been confided. , met with the younger Robinson about 15 years ago and looked at some of his papers, but does not remember anything about the formula, Baskin said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) Frank Robinson is fighting his wife in court for possession of what he claims is the original recipe for Coca-Cola. Associated Press |
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