After a Ringgold couple made national news last week for stumbling across the recipe for Coca-Cola, a Catoosa County man says that he too has a copy of the formula for the world’s most popular soft drink, and plans to sell the information to the community at a significantly discounted price.
Billy Choate, a retired Catoosa County resident, says that, with all the buzz surrounding the famous CoCa-Cola recipe, he plans to cash in on the find as many have tried to do before him.
“I’m just another Ringgold Georgian coming forward with the discovery of yet another “absolute, genuine, no-kidding, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die Coca-Cola formula,” Choate said.
Choate recently ran across his copy of the recipe while looking through a book that he found in a house he purchased near Atlanta nearly 50 years ago.
“You’ve got to understand, Ringgold is now the Coca-Cola capital of the world,” Choate said, with a smile and a chuckle. “And why not? If Dalton can be the carpet capital of the world, why can’t we be the Coca-Cola formula capital of the world?”
Cliff and Arlene Kluge of Ringgold first made headlines last week, when the couple claimed to have found a legitimate document connected to the long-coveted Coca-Cola formula in an estate sale while antiquing.
The couple then proceeded to attempt to cash in on their find by listing the document on eBay for $5 million.
Their attempts to put the item out for bid went unsuccessful after eBay pulled the listing, and the couple decided not to re-list it.
Choate on the other hand says that he has every intention of listing his copy of the recipe with the hopes of making a fortune.
“I’m going to have my recipe on eBay and Amazon at a super-discounted price from those other formula sellers,” Choate said. “My sale price is only going to be $5, which is a discount of $4,999,995.00. … That’s a bargain if you ask me.”
Choate says he wants to give all the hard-working folks in the country a shot at producing the wonderful Coca-Cola elixir.
“I can see it now, millions of families making their own Coke right in their very own kitchens,” Choate said. “Little children will probably leave the lemonade business and open their own little Coke stands in every neighborhood.”
After the Kluges began making the rounds on various news outlets, Coca-Cola issued a statement saying, “Through the years, many have tried to crack the secret formula, but no one has been able to reproduce the ‘real thing’. The real formula is safely tucked away in a vault at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.”
Choate says he has garnered no response from the Coca-Cola Company regarding his version of the formula, but that he hopes to hear from them soon in order to receive confirmation of his recipe.
Interested parties in Choate’s version of the formula can contact him at (706)-861-8491 or billcho@wmconnect.com.