A few words about us

The production of softdrinks begun in 1928, when Sophocles (grandpa) Anagnostakis came back from the United States of America where he had emigrated and worked (among other jobs) as a pastry chef.

He was initially producing soft drinks for his coffe shop customers located in his village “Gerani” near Chania, Crete. Those years, soft drinks were not something common and were mostly known as medication for indigestion or some sort of luxury.

In the early stages “production” involved pouring the juice, sugar and water in bottles, one by one, with the help of a coffee pot. Then with the use of a pump the bottle was filled with carbonated water. That pump was operated by hand and later on with the help of the worker’s leg.

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Photo of ``production`` of soft drinks. In the left part of the photo, Manolis Anagnostakis can be seen operating the carbonation pump.

Everything stopped with World War II in 1940.

After the end of World War II, Manolis Anagnostakis, son of the founder Sophocles Anagnostakis, decided to continue his father’s work producing soft drinks in the backyard of the café he owned. In the beginning nothing had drastically changed, everything was basically manually operated. Along with the softdrinks that were produced for the customers of the café, he started producing more for cafés in other areas as well. Many hours were needed to manufacture a small number of cases. The delivery of the drinks was mostly done during the night, with the help of a donkey. Many times there weren’t enough bottles to make more softdrinks, so they had to wait until the ones they had already sold were consumed to get them back and make more. The donkey was later on replaced by a “Sousta” (a type of carriage) and then by a truck. Manolis Anagnostakis himself was delivering the soft drinks in even more villlages and eventually he started delivering to Chania.

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The soft drinks were named after the familly’s village, Gerani, where it all began.

In 1966, Manolis Anagnostakis, moved in his own private small factory in Chania where the conditions were much better but far from ideal.

Raised demand after the recognition the Gerani brand got, led to production increases and equipment upgrades.

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Ιn 1987 another relocation took place to a private plant with technologically advanced equipment and modern facilities.

In 2000 the torch of the family business was passed to Sophocles Anagnostakis, son of Manolis.

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Visitors of Chania that try the Gerani softdrinks want to enjoy their delicious flavor back home. A new era of extroversion begun and now our drinks can be found in an increasing amount of locations around Greece and even abroad.