Spreckels Sugar launched in the Salinas Valley in 1896, growing and processing sugar beets before the region was developed as a farming mecca. Just eight years later, in 1904, another business with a sweet tooth opened up shop, and though it’s relocated since, Coca-Cola has been doing business in Salinas continuously for 113 years.
On the morning of Sept. 20, Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter arrives alongside other local elected officials at the Coca-Cola Refreshments’ Distribution and Bottling Center for the facility’s first-ever public open house. Gunter speaks to the crowd, standing in the front of a room in the sales office, flanked on either side by cardboard cut-outs of the classic Coke bottle. He calls this massive 48,500-square-foot distribution hub “the lost plant of Salinas,” referring to its surprisingly anonymous status, despite its size and history.
“If you went around town and asked people, “Where’s the Coca-Cola plant?” I bet nine out of 10 couldn’t tell you,” Gunter says.
The plant, located on a dead-end street near the Salinas Airport, isn’t much to look at from the outside. It’s one of several rectangular warehouses and office buildings and sits on 10 acres of land. The only sign of what’s inside are two red Coca-Cola logos on the walls.
The hub serves Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, delivering hundreds of Coke products to roughly 4 million customers. Their average daily distribution is 32,000 cases.
Inside, Coke in every form, plus some 800 other products the company owns, are stacked floor-to-ceiling on pallets. There are cases of grape Fanta in blocks of purple, strawberry Fanta in red, aluminum red Coke bottles (a packaging style popular in Las Vegas), and clear bottles of Sprite cranberry, a seasonal flavor distributed only around Thanksgiving.
“We’re not just soda,” spokeperson Dora Wong says. “We have 800 other products available. A lot of folks don’t know about that.”
There are cases of other Coke-owned drinks – Monster Energy drinks, Dasani water, Powerade, Honest Tea, Zico coconut water – shrink-wrapped and piled high. And there are some new variations, like cases of 7.5-ounce cans of Coke – smaller than the standard 12-ounce can. Wong says that although an excise tax proposed for sugar-added beverages never passed in the California Legislature (despite two tries by State Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, who faced strong – and well-funded – industry opposition), the added public health scrutiny and attention has increased the popularity of smaller servings.
There’s no manufacturing here, just storage of already-packaged drinks; production happens in San Leandro, and from there the beverages arrive at the Salinas facility bottled and canned.
A staff of more than 100 people buzzes around the plant 24/7, driving forklifts and filling orders for large grocery stores, restaurants and small mom-and-pop corner stores.
One 73-year-old forklift driver, John Brasch, has been working for the company in Salinas for more than 50 years, starting out at Coke’s old warehouse location on East Market Street in 1960 and relocating to these new digs in 1998. (Brasch’s favorite Coke drink is Mr. Pibb.)
Outside the entrance to the plant, a classic red Coke vending machine greets visitors. It’s a little different in a couple of ways: First, everything costs just $0.25. And second, you can’t choose your drink – it’s a mystery vending machine. A piece of paper covers the vending buttons and in red type reads, “mystery flavor, $0.25.”
“That vending machine is a longtime local tradition,” Wong says. “It’s very popular in Salinas, and it’s the one that has a following. People know to come and get beverages there.”
In her 22 years with the company, Wong says she’s never heard of a customer being disappointed with what they get when they put a quarter into the mystery machine; it’s cheap enough that if it’s a drink they don’t like, they can just try again.
For Gunter’s part, he says he’s not a major Coke consumer, but occasionally indulges in a Diet Coke. His enthusiasm for the plant comes less from an affection for the products than the feeling that it’s a good corporate neighbor: They regularly sponsor events like the California Rodeo Salinas and the Salinas Airshow.
“I’m not a big Coca-Cola drinker,” Gunter says. “The doctor says you’re not supposed to have that much fun.”