The military asked that this technological advance also be applied to food, especially orange juice.
In 1945 National Research Corporation organized Florida Foods Corporation to provide powdered orange juice to army and the company builds a production plant in Plymouth Florida. The plant was to fulfill contract with army.
Since the war was over, army cancelled the order and the company diverted its focus to consumer market. They explored the possibility of marketing an “intermediate step” in the production process – frozen orange juice concentrate. It was a revolutionary period product that offered shoppers the chance to drink orange juice all year round.
And it was success. Then the name of Minute Maid was established. In hopes of conveying convenience and ease of preparation, the firm adopted the brand name Minute Maid, and the first shipment of this revolutionary product took place on April 15, 1946. The name of Minute Maid was an idea of Boston advertising agency.
A few years later Florida Foods Corporations changed its name to The Minute Maid Company.
In 1949 the brand name was brought to life by Little Miss Minute Maid, a cartoon baby sporting a Scotch plaid bonnet to extol the economy of frozen concentrate and the virtues of serving Minuet Maid to babies.
In September 1960 Coke bought Minute Maid for $70 million.
The invention of Minute Maid