History of Inca Kola
The first time I drank Inca Kola, I was taken aback by the syrupy, exotic taste. “What is this weird drink?” I wondered. Many months later, I have tracked down the following information on Peru’s national soft drink…
Way back in 1910, an English family that had immigrated to Peru started a small bottling company in Rímac, one of Lima’s oldest neighborhoods. José Robinson Lindley and his wife Martha soon opened a small store where they sold their homemade carbonated beverages. At first, they produced their drinks at the amazing rate of one minute per bottle. In 1918, the family purchased their first semi-automatic machine and improved their productivity to 15 bottles per minute.
Their business had early success, and in 1928 the company was officially chartered in Peru, with José R. Lindley as its first General Manager.
Photo: Inca Kola
Lindley learned of an old recipe for a drink based on Lemon verbena (Hierba Luisa) from some local beverage-maker friends. He liked the taste and messed around with the ingredients and carbonation. Finally, just as Lima was celebrating its 400th birthday in 1935, Lindley launched “Inca Kola”, with the slogan “There is only one Inca Kola and it’s like no other” (Inca Kola sólo hay una y no se parece a ninguna).
Photo: Fresh Electrons
By the 1945, Inca Kola was at the top of the market in Lima. Thanks to some bottling and production innovations at about that time, Inca Kola was the top-selling soft drink in all of Peru. Its appeal was based on more than its taste; the “Inca” also conjured up patriotic thoughts of the mighty Inca empire which had once ruled Peru (and much of the Andes).
Although Coca-Cola and Pepsi both spent a lot of time and money trying to dominate the Peruvian soda market, they never quite could pass Inca Kola. Peruvians thought of Inca Kola as “their” drink. Inca Kola kept this “down-home” image by marketing to small mom-and-pop shops. National pride, a sweeter taste, and a cheaper price kept Inca Kola’s popularity high in Peru.
Photo: Monztro Man
Fast food restaurants in Peru (such as Bembo’s and even McDonald’s) switched to carrying Inca Kola in 1995, a move that signaled the beginning of the end for the multinational giant Coca Cola. One of the longest battles of the famed Cola Wars came to an end in 1999, when M. Douglas Ivester, Coca-Cola’s CEO, arrived in Lima to finalize an agreement in which Coca-Cola and the Corporación José R. Lindley entered in a strategic alliance whereby the Coke bought 50% of the company for a rumored $300 million. As part of the ceremonies, Ivester had to drink a glass of Inca Kola at a press conference which became a Peruvian media frenzy. It was the symbolic defeat of Coca-Cola in Peru. Quite simply, Coke was not able to convince the Peruvian public that it was a better soft drink. The next day’s newspapers all had photos of Iverson splashed on their front pages with the caption: Coca-Cola’s President Toasts with Inca Kola. In the Cola Wars, the 3rd-world David had beaten the 1st-world Goliath.
Inca Kola is still the leading soft drink in Peru to this day, and is slowly making its way in the U.S. market (mainly in the Los Angeles area).
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