What’s next for dirty soda—how big brands and restaurants are responding to the viral trend

The dirty soda phenomenon is bubbling out of Utah and into the straws of the nation’s biggest brands, including soda giants and restaurateurs who see the trend as a lucrative path to young consumers. Typically referred to as a mixture of soda with creams, juices, or syrups, dirty sodas have grown to encompass a wide range of “crafted beverages,” including energy drinks, waters and teas with flavor or texture additions. Originating in soda shops in Utah, where Mormon clientele are discouraged from consuming alcohol, coffee, or tea, the trend exploded through social media, capturing the imagination of Gen Z consumers putting their own colorful stamp on mainstream products. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper—brands already providing dirty soda bases—appear to have taken some lessons. Each has introduced creamy and more flavorful canned variants recently such as Coca-Cola Orange Cream, Pepsi Wild Cherry and Cream and Dr Pepper’s Creamy Coconut and Strawberries & Cream flavors. Moreover, dirty sodas are helping to expand beverage occasions while elevating the indulgent pleasure of a soda, serving as a counterbalance to the rise of healthier beverage options. “There’s a large movement toward non-alcoholic beverages that are not coffee-related. We get this data from our partners—soda consumption is on the rise, so we’re excited about that,” said Scott Ball, president of the Utah-based soda shop chain Fiiz Drinks. “If that opportunity wasn’t there, this would be a different conversation.” Also: What PepsiCo’s Poppi acquisition means for soda marketing Restaurant brands are also leaning into the trend. McDonald’s is experimenting with a range of beverages via its space-themed CosMc’s format, which first opened in suburban Chicago in 2023. Its beverage menu includes a “Stellar Sips” lineup that includes drinks such as the Sprite Moonsplash, which features sweet vanilla flavors and dried blueberries. Although the company has already closed three Texas CosMc’s sites that it said were too big to be efficient, four locations remain and McDonald’s still intends to open additional units. The chain is also looking at how an expanded beverage offering could work in existing McDonald’s restaurants, CEO Chris Kempczinski has said. “We are very bullish on the opportunity in beverages,” Kempczinski said in a recent earnings call. “That category is growing about two times the rest of the business with very strong margins.” And Sonic, already known for its large beverage offering, has begun offering customers the option to “make it dirty” by adding coconut cream and lime to any drink. The Dutch Bros. coffee chain has also become known for its wide variety of colorful and customizable drinks. Then there are the soda shops where the trend originated, which have big plans to become brands themselves as they expand nationwide, including Fiiz, which has aggressive growth plans. It’s a trend that industry operators and insiders are watching closely. “Dirty soda” was the fastest-growing search term on Technomic’s Ignite Menu platform, which is used by industry people to track restaurant trends. “The dirty soda trend is here to stay and we’ll continue to see unique riffs on the trend from operators across the industry,” the restaurant industry consultant stated in a report. Customization Dirty sodas exist at the confluence of any number of trends—customization, the experience economy, sobriety and bold flavors to name a few. It’s also particularly suited for social media, suitable for colorful photos and sharable, relatable content, observers say. “It’s an emergent consumer behavior, seeking crafted, elevated, unique beverage combinations,” said Scott Finlow, chief marketing officer of PepsiCo Away from Home, the company’s foodservice division, which has used food trucks to experiment with varying soda concoctions. “I think it’s fueled by a broader shift toward prioritizing experiences and moments of joy that are happening in culture, led by Gen Z.” According to Technomic, 80% of Gen Z customers, 77% of millennials, and 79% of Gen Xers say beverage quality is important or very important when choosing a limited-service restaurant. Read more: Reaching generations, from Beta to boomers Some of the more creative expressions of the dirty soda have captured the attention of the food world, emphasizing the spicy and sour tastes that have been trending for several years now, said Bret Thorn, senior food and beverage editor at Nation’s Restaurant News. These flavors are likely to stay with this generation as it ages, even as they tone down their #sodatok behavior, Thorn said. Until then, it’s just fun. “It’s being driven by consumers’ growing interest in customizing their food, with beverage customization being of particular interest to younger consumers,” Thorn said. “This trend is largely driven by social media, as adding differently colored liquids, especially white viscous ones, to soda creates an arresting ombre effect that looks good on Instagram and TikTok. The appearance is arguably more important than how it tastes.” Embedded in culture The practice of adding something creamy to soda dates as far back as 1874, when a Philadelphia soda shop operator named Robert McCay Green added ice cream to soda when he ran out of ice, inadvertently inventing the ice cream float. The modern era can trace its history to 2010 and the establishment of Swig, a St. George, Utah-based soda shop. One of Swig’s original offerings was a Dr Pepper with a squirt of coconut syrup it called the “the Dirty Dr Pepper.” The expression took off and Swig trademarked the term “dirty soda” in 2013. Swig opened a second location in 2013 and soon, other Utah-based brands such as Sodalicious and Fiiz Drinks were opening shops. The story of young Mormons downing gallons of mashed-up sodas gained plenty of media attention, but it wasn’t until Olivia Rodrigo posted an Instagram from a Swig store in 2021 that the trend went viral on social media. More recently, the Hulu reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” further embedded the dirty soda in popular culture. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Swig (@swigdrinks) 88 Mountain Dews The Fiiz menu lists 88 different recipes featuring Mountain Dew, although the potential with customizations is actually much larger than that, Ball noted. Fiiz is also seeing growth behind crafted water and energy drinks, he added. Soda restaurants like Fiiz and Swig bolster their menus with snacks and cookies but beverages pay the rent. “If you run it right, you can make some good money,” Ball said. “We’re pretty excited about the economic opportunity moving forward.” Swig, which was developed during the Great Recession, focused on beverages as an affordable treat, according to a Utah Business article by Swig founder Nicole Tanner. While fountain soda was a part of every fast food restaurant’s offerings, few had truly specialized in the product before. (A Swig representative was not available for comment for this article.) Ball is a former Dunkin’ franchise executive overseeing Fiiz’s store growth via franchising. The chain currently has 70 stores. Ball projects Fiiz will have 100 locations by next year, 500 stores by 2027 and 700 by 2029. Swig has more than 100 stores today, and Sodalicious has 25. Swig has expanded as far east as the Orlando, Florida, area; its store openings are reliably accompanied by reports of long drive-thru lines. @daronleblanc Worth the wait! #swigdrinks #fyp #swig #fypage #swigsoda #swigdaddy #swigindiana #swigindiana #carmelswig #swigindy #grandopening #sodashop ♬ Knight Rider (Trap Remix) - Trap Remix Guys These chains compete with one another—and with a larger fast food universe—on the creativity of their recipes and on value. At stake is a habitual shopping trip, with some customers visiting five times a week or more, Ball said. Fiiz is marketing itself behind value plays such as a BOGO Tuesday, as well as a new calendar of limited-time offers. This is a thing Coca-Cola has long known through its Freestyle fountain machines that fans like to experiment with their flavors. Singer Dua Lipa took the practice to another level last year demonstrating a fondness for a Diet Coke with pickle juice and jalapenos. The viral video was said to be a signal of a comeback for Diet Coke. @much Dua Lipa shares new drink recipe combining Diet Coke, pickle juice and jalapeño sauce 👀 [via dualipaofficial/TT] ♬ original sound - MuchMusic Data-Driven Marketing Playbook Join us May 22 in NYC to explore how data powers marketing Learn more here Other soda brands have also benefited. Dr Pepper is a menu star of the dirty soda world, with the trend’s focus on customization playing into its longstanding equity in uniqueness, its executives have said. Dr Pepper’s popularity as a mate for creamer reached across supermarket aisles last year when Nestle’s Coffee mate brand released a co-branded coconut-lime creamer. Dr Pepper also launched a limited-time Creamy Coconut variety last year that was such a hit it is reportedly will be reintroduced this year. Pepsi’s pop-culture equity in the dirty soda game dates back the 1970s television comedy “Laverne & Shirley.” In that show, the character Laverne (and reportedly actress Penny Marshall) had a recurring fondness for the combination of Pepsi and milk called “pilk.” Pepsi revived “pilk” in a racy holiday spot starring Lindsay Lohan in 2022. Today, PepsiCo is exploring ways to participate directly in the trend and better serve its partners. Calling on the expertise of its product and design teams, PepsiCo created a soda-serving food truck concept known as Drips by Pepsi that hit the road last fall, touring the Penn State campus, the Kennywood theme park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and two locations in New York City. It was also a part of PepsiCo’s activation at the Super Bowl in New Orleans in February. Drips serves creative drinks made of PepsiCo products such as the Pepsi Forever S’mores (Pepsi, lime and coconut finished with smores and whipped cream); Dew Chill Dill (Mountain Dew, cucumber and basil garnished with a dill pickle spear); and Rockstar Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Rockstar Focus, with orange, pineapple, and grenadine finished with whipped cream and an orange wheel). “We wanted to be sure we were investing to build our own capability in this space,” said Finlow, the PepsiCo Away from Home CMO. “We are learning from consumers, learning about the drinks themselves, understanding what works and what doesn’t, so we can be the best-crafted beverage partner in the industry.” Results so far indicate an attractive opportunity. Consumers were overwhelmingly positive about the recipes, with very high levels of intended repeat purchase, Finlow said. The experience also generated plenty of social sharing and engagement, from an audience that was 80% Gen Z. The company also experimented with various price points to test demand. “All in all, it validated the proposition, and built our confidence that this is a thing,” Finlow said. Everyone likes it Entrepreneurs are also moving into the space. Cool Sips, a New York-based soda shop with locations in Rockefeller Center and the South Street Seaport, sells a variety of dirty soda-inspired drinks, such as the Dirty Dirty (Dr Pepper, coconut, lime and half & half). Its appeal is not too complicated, said Andrew Moger, founder of Cool Sips’ parent BCD Strategic Investments. “Everyone likes a fountain drink with good ice,” he said. Moger prefers the term “craft soda” to “dirty soda” and has taken pains to ensure Cool Sips is not perceived to be associated with any particular religious groups. “It’s on trend and we’re happy to take the benefits of that,” Moger said. “When ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ came out, we saw a meaningful uptick in business. And we are thrilled about Season 2. But we didn’t launch setting out to be a ‘dirty soda’ chain or a Mormon country concept.” Cool Sips hasn’t yet invested much in paid advertising, focusing on its own social channels, but is obtaining customer data through a loyalty program. “We don’t have as intelligent data as we’d like yet because we’ve been open for less than a year but we certainly will be making decisions about marketing and advertising based on which guests we know for sure are coming into our stores,” Moger said. Fiiz is also active on social, recently hiring iHeartMedia to manage its channels and is doing a lot of influencer work, according to Ball. But local marketing will be critical for the chain’s franchisees. “We can do a lot at the national or regional level but [franchisees] have to be inside their communities. They have to be inside their schools.” Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here

What’s next for dirty soda—how big brands and restaurants are responding to the viral trend

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