Dirty soda shops want to be the next Starbucks

The rapid popularity of soda shops is spilling over from the Mormon corridor, a pocket of the Western United States. Swig will be in 13 states by the end of the year and already has plans to open in 2 more in the next. Its expansions are focused in the South – Florida, Kentucky and the Carolinas are planning to open – but Kansas, Indiana and Missouri in the Midwest also have or will have locations.

When Jordan Myrick first moved to California in high school and heard about dirty sodas, she wasn’t the biggest fan. “It was a weird thing,” Myrick said. But in 2023, Myrick, who said she is “very passionate about soda,” visited Utah on a “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City”-themed weekend trip. At a local store called Thirst, she tried a classic dirty soda combination: Dr Pepper with coconut cream and a 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 fruit. The beverages are ingrained into Mormon culture in the Mountain West, where the faith prohibits consuming coffee and alcohol. But thanks to social media, Mormon mommy influencers and a new reality television show based in Utah, the sugary drinks are becoming more and more mainstream – and the stores popularizing them have the outsized expansion ambitions to match. But some critics point out the drinks’ high sugar content and empty calories. And others question whether it’s just a temporary fad for the rest of the country. Having more than one sugary soda a day could put you at risk for obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, though both soda shops and their fans say you can customize the drink to be healthier, such as using sparkling water.