Dirty soda shops want to be the next Starbucks

new York
CNN
—

When Jordan Myrick first moved to California in high school and heard about dirty sodas, she wasn’t the biggest fan.

“It was a strange thing,” Myrick said.

But in 2023, Myrick, who said she was “hugely passionate about lemonade,” visited Utah on a “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City”-themed weekend trip. At a local shop called Thirst, she tried a classic dirty soda combination: Dr Pepper with coconut cream and raspberry syrup.

Now, “I’m begging them to open a location in Los Angeles,” she said.

Dirty soda is a non-alcoholic drink combined with creams, flavored syrups or fruits. The drinks are rooted in Mormon culture in the Mountain West, where the faith prohibits the consumption of coffee and alcohol. But thanks to social media, Mormon mom influencers and a new Utah-based reality TV show, the sugary drinks are becoming more mainstream — and the stores that popularize them have expansion ambitions to match.

However, some critics point out the drinks’ high sugar content and empty calories. And others wonder whether it’s just a passing fad for the rest of the country. Drinking more than one sugary soda per day puts you at risk for obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. However, both soda shops and their fans say you can make the drink healthier by using things like bottled water.

Beneath all that carbon dioxide is the fascination of Utah culture. In an episode of the Hulu reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a group of moms in matching hair extensions and workout clothes meet at Swig, the owners of the “Dirty Soda” brand. It is the self-proclaimed “vice” of wives.

“Six of the seven days of the week I drink at least one 44-ounce soda,” cast member Layla Taylor said on the show. “I’ll probably only live to be 50, but it makes me happy.”

Some people on social media have made videos recreating the moms’ complicated orders (44 ounces, sparkling water, sugar-free coconut, sugar-free vanilla, sugar-free raspberry, sugar-free pineapple, and coconut cream). Another on TikTok asked if Swig was the Mormon Starbucks.

Well, sort of.

“What we’re doing for soft drinks is a little bit what Starbucks did for coffee,” Swig CEO Alex Dunn told CNN. “People drank coffee before Starbucks came along, and of course people drank soft drinks before Swig, but we created this premium brand and experience based on that.”

Dirty sodas have their chance because, says Chris Goodchild, managing director of Boston Consulting Group, “more and more people are looking at them and using them to fulfill pleasure aspects.”

The skyrocketing popularity of soda shops is also spreading from the Mormon Corridor, a part of the western United States. Founded in 2010, Swig will be in 13 states by the end of the year and already has plans to open in two additional states in 2025. The expansions are focused on the South – Florida, Kentucky and the Carolinas are among their plans – but Kansas, Indiana and Missouri in the Midwest also have or will have locations.

The company, which launched with 61 stores in 2024, has ambitious plans to open 1,000 new stores in the next six to seven years. Swig is not a publicly traded company and has not disclosed details of its financials.

While Swig appears to be the market leader based on the number of stores, competitors are catching up. FiiZ has opened around 60 stores, followed by Sodalicious with 25. The fast food drive-in Sonic is offering its customers the Dr. Pepper option to “get it dirty.” This year Coffee Mate even collaborated with Dr. Pepper launched a limited-edition coconut lime creamer to make dirty lemonade at home.

Dairy products mixed with soda are nothing new to much of the world. In the Punjab region of South Asia, doodh soda (directly translated as milk lemonade) is a popular lemon-lime drink, especially during the fasting month of Ramadan. Persians indulge in doogh, a carbonated yogurt drink. Korean “milkis” are a staple in K-towns and are sold in a variety of flavors from banana to apple. And of course there’s the classic American ice cream truck, reminiscent of the days of soda drinkers who ran soda fountains in the 20th century.

Soft drink manufacturers have themselves tried to sell milk and soda to American customers. Two years ago, Pepsi launched a campaign to try out the combination, calling it a “secret hack among Pepsi fans” and naming Lindsay Lohan the face of “Pilk.”

But it’s the breezy drive-thru soda shops — with drink names like Poppin’ Pineapple and Unlucky Ducky — that have brought these drinks into the national consciousness.

And if there’s one thing the American consumer loves, it’s variety, Goodchild said. Stores like Swig offer a mind-boggling selection of options to express your crazy beverage preferences. On a diet? Replace cola with mineral water. You can add a fresh lime, artificial syrups from raspberry to toasted marshmallow, and mix it with fruit puree, coconut cream, vanilla cream – or a combination of all three.

Like coffee chains like Starbucks and Dutch Bros, consumers value a personalized experience.

“It’s almost a form of self-expression. That’s my drink, that’s what I want,” Goodchild said.

What surprised Myrick most about dirty soda shops was the sheer amount of choices.

“I really thought I was just going to go to a restaurant that only served Diet Coke with half of it,” Myrick said.

Swig’s demographic is female and younger (18 to 45 years old). Swig has certainly benefited from the use of social media and claims that most social media posts are organic. Nara Smith, a Mormon The social media personality and model even filmed herself sampling the sweet drinks in her car.

The liquor stores also cover car-dependent cities and suburbs. Swig’s locations are only about 1,200 to 1,800 square feet, further emphasizing the chain’s drive-thru focus — although the same model may not be as successful in major cities. Most other chains also offer drive-thru locations.

Soda shops need to continue making drinks relevant as social media evolves, especially with such ambitious growth goals.

“As it continues to rise, you would expect to see either traditional providers offering these types of things in their existing stores or some traditional providers expanding into new formats,” Goodchild said.

When a drink is hard to find, more people are drawn to its allure. This type of format and technology already exists and could be a future competitor if dirty soda becomes sufficiently mainstream – a Coca-Cola-style Freestyle machine the company launched in 2009 could easily start with, half and half or add syrup. And social media users who live far from soda shops are already creating “dupes” at Wawas and 7-Elevens, but using gas station milk instead of paying a soda barista.

Yet Cool Sips, a Swig-style soda shop, has opened even in overpriced, latte-loving New York City. However, it may take some time for it to become a permanent part of the culture in the Northeast.

“It’s something you grow up with and it could be an alternative, but it’s not just comparable if you’re already a coffee drinker,” said Klea Mulla of New York City. “It’s difficult here because the liquor stores have a drive-thru feel.”