At this time of year, we are usually communicating the results of The Coca‑Cola Company’s Market Street Challenge (MSC), the prestigious and annual competition that measures bottler performance against its fellow bottlers in North America. Given the unprecedented disruption to our business due to COVID-19, the Coca‑Cola System made the decision to discontinue the Market Street Challenge competition for 2020 to allow bottlers to focus on customer service and stabilizing operations.

However, in order to ensure that the North American Business Unit has representation in the Global Coca‑Cola competition, the Candler Cup, executives from the bottler community saw it fitting for Coca‑Cola UNITED to represent our bottling community on the global stage.

This decision was based on Coca‑Cola UNITED’s historic record of being the highest executing bottler each year since the Market Street Challenge competition began. In fact, we were the inaugural overall MSC winner in 2016, a poignant honor since the competition is named for Market Street in Chattanooga, the very first Coca‑Cola bottling location and, of course, in UNITED’s territory.

John Sherman sums it up best: “This recognition is a reflection of the dedication, passion, and hard work that our teams display day in and day out to shine the Coca‑Cola trademark. Our UNITED team’s ability to deliver against our core values, customer service commitments, and community needs is an inspiration for our entire System, and we should all be proud to have played a role in this achievement.”

As ONE TEAM, we are taking Coca‑Cola UNITED to the global stage! Here’s to more success in the future and bringing “home” another trophy!