Coca-Cola was first bottled informally by The Biedenharn Candy Company of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1894. The Biedenharn Candy Company operated a soda fountain, and simply bottled the product during the hot summer months for transport to picnics and similar events. During this same time before the turn of the century, there were at least a dozen other bottlers informally bottling Coca-Cola in Florida, Colorado, Gerogia, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and New England. (as recalled by 1919-1922 Coca-Cola Company president and cousin of Asa Candler — Samuel Dobbs).

In 1899 a bottling contract between the Coca-Cola Company and Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead was signed that allowed Thomas and Whitehead exclusive bottling rights (with a couple of small exceptions) for the entire United States.

These first bottling companies (with a couple of exceptions) used the Hutchinson stoppered bottle to distribute the drink. The Hutchinson bottle dated from 1879 and used a primitive looping wire apparatus and rubber gasket to seal the bottle. This bottle was stored upside down to keep pressure on the fastener, thus maintaining a tight seal between the glass and the rubber gasket. The Hutchinson bottle was costly, hard to fill, and unsanitary. Bottlers needed a better option and found one with the crown, cork and seal bottle.

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