The Coca-Cola System

We are a global business that operates on a local scale, in every community where we do business. We are able to create global reach with local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system, which comprises our Company and our nearly 250 bottling partners worldwide.

The Coca-Cola system is not a single entity from a legal or managerial perspective, and the Company does not own or control all of our bottling partners.

While many view our Company as simply "Coca-Cola," our system operates through multiple local channels. Our Company manufactures and sells concentrates, beverage bases and syrups to bottling operations, owns the brands and is responsible for consumer brand marketing initiatives. Our bottling partners manufacture, package, merchandise and distribute the final branded beverages to our customers and vending partners, who then sell our products to consumers.

All bottling partners work closely with customers -- grocery stores, restaurants, street vendors, convenience stores, movie theaters and amusement parks, among many others -- to execute localized strategies developed in partnership with our Company. Customers then sell our products to consumers at a rate of more than 1.9 billion servings a day. Learn more about this unique relationship.

In January 2006, our Company-owned bottling operations were brought together to form the Bottling Investments operating group, now the second-largest bottling partner in the Coca-Cola system in terms of unit case volume.

Coca-Cola Systemwide Performance

In April 2007, associates from The Coca-Cola Company and several of our largest bottling partners met for the first time to discuss the development of a core set of performance indicators for the Coca-Cola system. Working groups of Company associates and representatives from our bottling partners have been formed to determine the feasibility -- due to the legal and management complexity of the Coca-Cola system -- of collecting and consolidating economic and social data in addition to the environmental data already collected. Many of our bottling partners produce their own corporate responsibility reports which can be viewed in the Sustainability Reports section.

Bottling Investments Group

Historically, for the bottling of our beverages, Coca-Cola has relied on independent bottling franchises, and this system has served us well. 

For a variety of reasons, circumstances arise where bottling franchises find they need help that is beyond their capability. The Bottling Investments Group (BIG) was created to ensure those bottling operations remain a part of our system and receive the appropriate investments and expertise to ensure their long-term success.

In 2004, BIG started the process of strategically investing in select bottling operations, temporarily taking them under Coca-Cola’s ownership. Utilizing the leadership and resources of The Coca-Cola Company, BIG can drive long-term growth in critical markets and affect major structural or investment challenges.

When an operation is stable and thriving, BIG’s goals are to find a qualified bottler to assume operations and continue to grow the business. By treating each operation as if it will be owned by Coca-Cola forever, BIG has established a standard of excellence that extends to each of the 18 countries in which it currently functions.

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BIG currently employs more than 45,000 people and operates in four continents. Its revenues have increased from $11 billion in 2004 to over $15 billion in 2017. With a focus on long-term sustainable profit growth, BIG achieved an operating income margin of ten percent over the past ten years.

BIG continues to invest strategically in the business. In 2016 and 2017, we  invested more than $200 million in new plants in key growth markets including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Qatar. We invest in these businesses for long-term sustainable growth ensure we have the right infrastructure to meet our consumers demands and expectations.

BIG Leadership Profiles

Regional Director
Southeast Asia
“We have a lot of reasons for optimism for the BIG countries in Southeast Asia.   We have established businesses in each of these countries and we’ve demonstrated our ability to grow year over year through superior execution.  Our teams have committed to new product launches to keep consumers excited and our existing brands resonate well with our customers and consumers.

But, we are not just counting on new products to keep our connections with consumers strong.  Our teams our dedicated and focused on transforming our business into that of a total beverage company and that is helping to keep our energy high in the region.”

Coca-Cola Refreshments (CCR)
In 2010, The Coca-Cola Company and its largest bottler independent bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, took actions in to strategically advance our partnership. The Coca-Cola Company acquired CCE's entire North American business, renaming the sales and operational elements of Coca-Cola Enterprises North American businesses to Coca-Cola Refreshments (CCR) with the intent of eventually refranchising these operations to franchise bottling partners.  We are pleased to report that CCR is well on its way to refranchising these bottling operations and are getting close to finishing our planned refranchising activities. With the latest round of letters of intent to divest both West and the Tri-State Metro Operating Units, we now have 100% of the U.S. territories of Coca-Cola Refreshments under agreement or letter of intent.

Understand our manufacturing process and its primary environmental impacts.

Learn about the history of Coca-Cola bottling.