Chief of one of largest Coca-Cola bottlers urges honesty, integrity, servant leadership

J. Frank Harrison III, a native Chattanoogan, talks of legacy at prayer breakfast


              FILE - In this July 9, 2015, file photo, bottles of Coca-Cola are on display at a Haverhill, Mass., supermarket. On Wednesday, April 20, 2016, Coca-Cola Co., reports financial results. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
FILE - In this July 9, 2015, file photo, bottles of Coca-Cola are on display at a Haverhill, Mass., supermarket. On Wednesday, April 20, 2016, Coca-Cola Co., reports financial results. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

The head of one of America's biggest Coca-Cola bottlers said Tuesday that the company's purpose and way of doing business are heavily influenced by his convictions: to honor God, serve others, pursue excellence and grow profitably.

J. Frank Harrison III, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, urged Chattanooga business leaders to be honest, act with integrity, practice servant leadership and to be intentional about making and leaving a legacy.

photo J. Frank Harrison III

"Boy, life is quick, right?" he told a large crowd at the Chattanooga Area Leadership Prayer Breakfast.

The former Chattanoogan now lives and works in Charlotte, N.C., running publicly traded Coke Consolidated, of which he and his family own 86 percent of controlling stock.

Harrison talked about how his great grandfather, Buck Harrison, established a Coke bottling franchise in 1902. And about how Coke Consolidated today sells about 500 million cases of products across 15 states.

Coke Consolidated has grown rapidly in recent years, as The Coca-Cola Co. increasingly seeks to sell off bottling and distribution territories to independent bottlers. In the past two years alone, Coke Consolidated has increased its consumer base from 21 million people to 33 million people, and gone from 6,700 employees to more than 9,000.

"In a few years, we'll have 14,000 employees," Harrison said about the nation's largest independently owned Coke bottler.

But he spoke mostly about the idea of leaving a legacy, both professionally and personally. He talked about the legacy of his late son, James, who died doing mission work in Africa in 2010.

He talked about the six-figure amounts Coke Consolidated spends to staff chaplains at its facilities, and about the goal of upping corporate charity to 10 percent going forward, a benchmark set by Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A.

Harrison talked about a Coke Consolidated employee who died at work, and how the worker's family asked, and received permission, to have the funeral on a Coke Consolidated loading dock.

Harrison said Coke Consolidated hosts workshops every year to guide other companies, even publicly-traded businesses, in the ins and outs of what can and can't be done when it comes to religion in the workplace. He once laughed at the idea of staffing chaplains himself.

Recently, Harrison helped a Budweiser distribution firm in North Carolina establish its own company chaplain system.

And today, "you could have a Bud Light and go sit down with a chaplain," he joked.

Harrison wrapped up by talking about David and Goliath and attacking giants and by leading the packed hall in a prayer before meeting and greeting with a long line of guests.

"I almost don't want to end this morning," Harrison said, "but I guess I have to."

J. Lewis Card, Jr., chairman of Hixson-based tufting machine maker Card-Monroe Corp., introduced Harrison.

Card recalled the days when he and Harrison grew up in North Chattanooga, and about attending Bible studies at the Harrisons' home, and admiring the gun collection owned by Harrison's father.

Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.

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