Max Keith facts for kids
Max Keith was a German businessman from Germany. He is famous for inventing the popular drink Fanta during World War II.
Max Keith started working for a German branch of Coca-Cola in 1933. He was 30 years old at the time. Coca-Cola sales in Germany grew a lot. They went from 100,000 cases in 1933 to over 4 million cases by 1939.
How Fanta Was Invented
During World War II, it became very hard to get things into Germany. The Allied countries stopped supplies from reaching Germany. This meant that the Coca-Cola company in Germany could not get the special syrup needed to make Coca-Cola. By 1942, they had run out of the syrup completely.
To keep the company running, Max Keith had an idea. He decided to create a new drink using ingredients that were available in Germany. He used things like apple fiber, which was left over from making apple cider. He also used whey, which is a liquid left over from making cheese. From these ingredients, he created a new fruit-flavored drink. He called this new drink Fanta.
Fanta quickly became very popular. In 1943, people bought three million cases of Fanta. This helped the Coca-Cola company in Germany stay in business during the war.
Towards the end of the war in 1945, a German general told Max Keith to change the company's name. But Max Keith refused to do it. Luckily, the general was killed in an air raid before he could do anything to Keith.
