ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610070038
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: Associated Press
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 soft-drink company's co-founder says he needs cash and wants to sell the real thing.
Unfortunately for Frank Robinson, the document is in the hands of his estranged 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 corporate secrets as a pre-marriage ``trinket'' in 1981, refuses to part with it.
``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, also named Frank Robinson, has a crucial place in Coke's early history. A business associate of John 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 some histories of the company, the two had a falling out when Pemberton sold the rights behind Robinson's back.
To Robinson, 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 value of the recipe, handwritten 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. Patti Robinson said she had a brewer this year use the recipe to mix up a batch of ersatz Coke. The result, she said, tasted good but not like Coca-Cola.
Rob Baskin, a spokesman for Coca-Cola, said 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, 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.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB