👉 Background: We’ve all heard the story of the original Coca-Cola recipe containing small quantities of cocaine. This was taken out of the Coca-Cola recipe in the early 1900’s.

👉 What happened: A new report has been released which explains that a small chemical plant in New Jersey has a legal exemption to import coca leaves into the US for Coca-Cola. This plant processes the leaves, and creates a “decocainised” syrup for the soda.

👉 What else: But, the leftover by-product of these coca leaves is actual cocaine... the illegal drug. And this cocaine is on-sold to a large opioid manufacturer in the US.

What's the key learning?

💡In a profit-generating business, there are many ways to skin a cat. While Coca Cola’s main business is selling the OG, fizzy, delicious Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke No Sugar, by-products from the production can often support existing revenue.

💡A number of brands use their by-products to support their main revenue streams: for example, beer brand, Anheuser-Busch, sells by-products such as barley, rice, and hops to farmers for animal feed - and so does Nestle...

💡Not only do these by-products allow the companies to increase revenue, but it also helps reduce waste. And believe it or not, for Coca-Cola, this cocaine byproduct is used as a numbing agent for dentists around the country.

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