diff --git a/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/HttpBridge.java b/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/HttpBridge.java
index 91e83a36..1b5c865b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/HttpBridge.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/HttpBridge.java
@@ -644,18 +644,6 @@ private void closeConnectionEndpoint(HttpConnection connection) {
         }
     }
 
-    private EmbeddedFormat contentTypeToFormat(String contentType) {
-        switch (contentType) {
-            case BridgeContentType.KAFKA_JSON_BINARY:
-                return EmbeddedFormat.BINARY;
-            case BridgeContentType.KAFKA_JSON_JSON:
-                return EmbeddedFormat.JSON;
-            case BridgeContentType.KAFKA_JSON_TEXT:
-                return EmbeddedFormat.TEXT;
-        }
-        throw new IllegalArgumentException(contentType);
-    }
-
     private boolean isAlive() {
         return this.isReady;
     }
@@ -840,15 +828,7 @@ public void process(RoutingContext routingContext) {
         }
     };
 
-    final HttpOpenApiOperation OPENAPIV2 = new HttpOpenApiOperation(HttpOpenApiOperations.OPENAPIV2) {
-
-        @Override
-        public void process(RoutingContext routingContext) {
-            HttpBridgeError error = new HttpBridgeError(HttpResponseStatus.GONE.code(), "OpenAPI v2 Swagger not supported");
-            HttpUtils.sendResponse(routingContext, HttpResponseStatus.GONE.code(),
-                    BridgeContentType.KAFKA_JSON, JsonUtils.jsonToBytes(error.toJson()));
-        }
-    };
+    final HttpOpenApiOperation OPENAPIV2 = new NotSupportedApi(HttpOpenApiOperations.OPENAPIV2);
 
     final HttpOpenApiOperation OPENAPIV3 = new HttpOpenApiOperation(HttpOpenApiOperations.OPENAPIV3) {
 
@@ -873,4 +853,17 @@ public void process(RoutingContext routingContext) {
             information(routingContext);
         }
     };
+    
+    static class NotSupportedApi extends HttpOpenApiOperation {
+        public NotSupportedApi(HttpOpenApiOperations operationId) {
+            super(operationId);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void process(RoutingContext routingContext) {
+            HttpBridgeError error = new HttpBridgeError(HttpResponseStatus.GONE.code(), "OpenAPI v2 Swagger not supported");
+            HttpUtils.sendResponse(routingContext, HttpResponseStatus.GONE.code(),
+                BridgeContentType.KAFKA_JSON, JsonUtils.jsonToBytes(error.toJson()));
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/converter/HttpTextMessageConverter.java b/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/converter/HttpTextMessageConverter.java
index 0efc790f..3fdbde36 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/converter/HttpTextMessageConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/strimzi/kafka/bridge/http/converter/HttpTextMessageConverter.java
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.common.header.internals.RecordHeaders;
 
 import javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -28,7 +30,6 @@
 public class HttpTextMessageConverter implements MessageConverter<byte[], byte[], byte[], byte[]> {
     @Override
     public ProducerRecord<byte[], byte[]> toKafkaRecord(String kafkaTopic, Integer partition, byte[] message) {
-
         Integer partitionFromBody = null;
         Long timestamp = null;
         byte[] key = null;
@@ -43,14 +44,14 @@ public ProducerRecord<byte[], byte[]> toKafkaRecord(String kafkaTopic, Integer p
                 if (!keyNode.isTextual()) {
                     throw new IllegalStateException("Because the embedded format is 'text', the key must be a string");
                 }
-                key = keyNode.asText().getBytes();
+                key = keyNode.asText().getBytes(Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
             }
             if (json.has("value")) {
                 JsonNode valueNode = json.get("value");
                 if (!valueNode.isTextual()) {
                     throw new IllegalStateException("Because the embedded format is 'text', the value must be a string");
                 }
-                value = valueNode.asText().getBytes();
+                value = valueNode.asText().getBytes(Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
             }
             if (json.has("timestamp")) {
                 timestamp = json.get("timestamp").asLong();
@@ -101,8 +102,8 @@ public byte[] toMessages(ConsumerRecords<byte[], byte[]> records) {
             ObjectNode jsonObject = JsonUtils.createObjectNode();
 
             jsonObject.set("topic", new TextNode(record.topic()));
-            jsonObject.set("key", record.key() != null ? new TextNode(new String(record.key())) : null);
-            jsonObject.set("value", record.value() != null ? new TextNode(new String(record.value())) : null);
+            jsonObject.set("key", record.key() != null ? new TextNode(new String(record.key(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) : null);
+            jsonObject.set("value", record.value() != null ? new TextNode(new String(record.value(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) : null);
             jsonObject.put("partition", record.partition());
             jsonObject.put("offset", record.offset());
             jsonObject.put("timestamp", record.timestamp());