Who are the people who know Coca-Cola's secret recipe?

The Coca-Cola Company elected to keep their recipe secret so others could not copy it. The formula is not pateneted because 1) the patent would long ago have expired, and 2) a patent must state what is being patented and the formula would have to be given and could have been copied immediately.

Over the last 100 years Coca-Cola has enjoyed being the only company on the market able to reproduce the flavor precisely, and they have also enjoyed the economic benefit of doing so. As long as Coca-Cola has taken reasonable steps to keep their formula a secret, they would be able to prosecute anyone that would try to "steal" the secret from them under "Trade Secret" laws.