Fanta: A beverage born out of leftovers amid crisis 

All of us enjoy sipping soft drinks on warm summer days. However, our preference of brands may vary between Coca-Cola, Limca, Mountain Dew, Fanta and others. Well, Fanta is one of the world’s most popular soft drink brands. Do you know that it was created from food scraps in the Nazi Germany (1933 to 1945)? How did Fanta get here from there, then? While you will get to know the detailed history of Fanta from Mark Pendergrast’s book For God, Country, and Coca-Cola published in 1993, we give you a bird’s eye view of the inception story of this popular beverage.  

War and loss: The story of Coca-Cola in Germany 
In 1923, Robert Woodruff became the president of the Coca-Cola Company. Woodruff had big dreams of making Coca-Cola a global brand. In line with this vision, Coca-Cola soon expanded across the European continent. Eventually, in 1929, the company entered Germany. An American expatriate named Ray Rivington Powers who managed the German subsidiary managed to increase sales to over 100,000 over time. Although Coca-Cola managed to improve sales in Germany over time, the revenue generated was insufficient to pay bills. As a result, the finances of Coca-Cola’s German subsidiary were a disaster.  The German-born Max Keith, head of the German subsidiary was committed to preserving the subsidiary’s financial records. At the same time, the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin provided the ideal marketing opportunity for Coca-Cola. But soon the second world war escalated, and all of Coca-Cola’s efforts to save its German subsidiary went in vain. 

Coca-Cola gives birth to Fanta 
In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and declared war on Europe. This is how World War II escalated and more countries got involved. Unanimously, countries imposed ‘The Trading with the Enemy Act’  to completely ban trade with German states. And again, Coca-Cola suffered a major setback. Max Keith, then thought of something innovative. He came up with an idea of creating a soda that was made only in Germany! 

Keith made his chemists create a caffeinated soda with a flavour that was quite different from Coke. This product was manufactured using leftovers from other food businesses. These included rejects from food markets consisting of fruit pulp, the watery residue of cheese making and apple fibre from cider crushing. The result was a beige liquid that was transparent. This drink was named ‘Fanta.’ It was the sweetest drink available in the market back then and became increasingly popular as an additive in soup and stew recipes. Eventually, Keith established Fanta across Europe and thus prevented the closing of other subsidiaries. Before the war ended, the German company sold around 3 million drinks! 

Birth of Fanta Orange  
After Germany lost the war in 1945, the production of Fanta ceased. Keith turned over the earnings from his invention to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta. In 1995, the beverage was relaunched as ‘Fanta Orange’ in Italy. This is the version of Fanta we know today. This new drink was bright orange and was made with fresh citrus ingredients rather than leftovers.