Coke expanding Atlanta plant for new machine

By Joe Guy Collier

For the AJC

Coca-Cola Co. will invest $100 million to expand an Atlanta plant tied to a new beverage dispenser called the "fountain of the future," the company and the governor's office said Tuesday.

Enlarge photo

AJC file photo The expansion will allow Coke to make concentrated ingredients used in Coca-Cola Freestyle,  a new fountain machine being tested by Coca-Cola that can dispense more than 100 different types of beverages.

More business news

• Comcast settles suit over fees
• Hartsfield-Jackson expects busy Thanksgiving week
• Walmart casket sales in Ga.?
• Metro Atlanta home prices hold steady in Case-Shiller Index
• Owner: Dream can make money
• Coca-Cola Co. news
• Delta Air Lines news, links
• Health Care Reform coverage
• Read Henry Unger's Biz Beat blog
• Read Thomas Oliver's Sunday Business column

The plant, on Atlanta's southside near I-75, employs 114 people and makes syrup used in fountain machines. The expansion will allow it to make concentrated ingredients used in Coca-Cola Freestyle,  a new fountain machine being tested by Coca-Cola that can dispense more than 100 different types of beverages.

It's difficult to predict how many jobs could be added because Freestyle is still in testing, but the expansion will help preserve jobs at the Atlanta syrup plant and could lead to new jobs, said Coca-Cola spokesman Ray Crockett. Coca-Cola officials have said early results on Freestyle are encouraging.

Freestyle uses micro-dosing technology and cartridges filled with concentrated ingredients to fit more beverage combinations in the same amount of space as a conventional fountain dispenser. Final assembly of the machine is being done in Wisconsin.

After an initial test last year at a Willy’s Mexicana Grill in Atlanta, Coca-Cola launched this year a broader test of Freestyle that includes about 50 food-service outlets in metro Atlanta and Southern California. If testing goes well, Coke officials have said Freestyle could be expanded to 40 or 50 markets in 2010.

“The future looks bright for Coca-Cola Freestyle,” said Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, in a press release Tuesday. “And that creates the potential for even more growth in our facilities and capabilities in Atlanta.”

Coca-Cola said it did not receive direct government incentives for the project but will get a tax benefit. The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Development Authority of Fulton County assisted Coca-Cola in the plant expansion plan.

“Coca-Cola is a very important part of Georgia's economy,” Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a statement. “I am thrilled that after more than a century of doing business in Georgia, Coca-Cola continues to see this state as a great place for new investment in facilities and jobs.”