One hundred years ago, L.E. “Mike” Messinger walked into a bottling plant in Spirit Lake, Iowa, at the age of 16 and asked for a job sorting glass bottles. He was hired on the spot, excited for the chance to start his first job.


Over the next several decades, Mike held multiple positions within the Coca‑Cola system before purchasing his own small bottling business in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1956. Operating out of a former gas station with one truck and a handful of employees, he began building what would eventually become Coca‑Cola Bottling Company High Country. 

Since 2000, that local operation has steadily expanded into six other states across the midwestern United States, growing their family-owned business serving communities across Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Today, the company operates 26 sales centers, including two manufacturing facilities, and makes and distributes products across the company’s portfolio – from Coca‑Cola and Sprite to Dasani and Powerade. Numerous members of the third and fourth generation of Mike’s family are now involved in the business, continuing a Coca‑Cola legacy that has spanned 100 years.

“It started with one man asking for a job,” said Tura Synhorst, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Coca‑Cola Bottling Company High Country and Mike’s granddaughter. “Each generation has worked to build on that foundation while staying grounded in the values that got us here.”

Tura described the company as built through perseverance, entrepreneurship, stewardship and a deep commitment to its communities and team members.
 

“We live, work and raise our families in these communities,” she said. “That connection shapes how we think about our responsibility at a local level.”

That responsibility extends far beyond beverages. Across its territories, Coca‑Cola Bottling Company High Country supports youth programs, sports, schools, nonprofit organizations and disaster response efforts. Employees are often among the first to know when local families or organizations need support and, according to Tura, “the first to step in when we get a call.”

The company’s support has taken many forms over the years, from donating bikes to kindergartners and helping provide meals to families in need, to supporting the establishment of the first Ronald McDonald House in one local community.

“Creating moments of joy and refreshment is fundamental to what we do,” she said.

Tura also emphasized the company’s commitment to building long-term careers and investing in team members “in life and in work.”

Many team members have spent decades with the business, and in some cases multiple generations of the same family have worked for the company. Several members of Tura’s own family also started working in the business at a young age, learning different parts of the operation over time, from warehouse work and equipment services to sales and operations.

“We believe serving others means investing our time, talents and resources to help build stronger team members and communities for generations to come,” Tura said.

Tura reflected on the unique role local bottlers play within the broader Coca‑Cola system, pairing the scale of world-class brands with deep local connections. She described the system as one where local bottlers understand the communities they serve, while bringing Coca‑Cola products into everyday moments.

That local impact is part of something much bigger. Contributing $85 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product and supporting nearly 1 million U.S. jobs in one year alone, The Coca‑Cola Company and its 61 independent local bottling partners — including Coca‑Cola Bottling Company High Country — form a powerful engine of American job creation and economic growth.

Today, several members of the fourth generation are already involved in the business, learning different parts of the operation and putting down their own roots. For Tura and her two brothers in the third generation, seeing their passion for the brand and the business is a reminder that the story her grandfather started one hundred years ago is still being written.