ZEVIA – Natural Diet Soda

Yesterday Stacey and I had a great time at Macy’s Culinary Council, a “tour de force of celebrity chefs from across America”. Macy’s invited ZEVIA to be a part of the event in downtown Seattle, where celebrity chef Tom Douglas (owner/chef of five amazing Seattle restaurants: Dahlia Lounge, Etta’s, Palace Kitchen, Lola and the newest edition Serious Pie. He recently released his third book, I Love Crabcakes) prepared a sampling of his favorite recipes. ZEVIA was featured as the only beverage at the event, served along side Tom’s Spring Chicken with Green Marinade and Crab Rolls (dungeness crab salad on bakery rolls) which he prepared for the crowd of about 100 people in Macy’s beautiful demo kitchen in their housewares department. Tom enjoyed his Ginger Root Beer and everyone enjoyed the different ZEVIA flavors on the sunny day with the spring time menu!

- Jessica

Yesterday, ZEVIA participated in the RotaryWalks! walk-a-thon. Funds raised support the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, with the goal of combating child obesity and raising awareness of healthy lifestyle choices for children.

Stacey did an awesome job coordinating with just two people to her support: Annie, and Stacey’s 10 year old son, William. Almost all participants sampled ZEVIA, with the clear favorite being ZEVIA Natural Orange. Stacey’s theory is that kids love the natural orange, so they request it and then they and their parents taste it.

This event was successful because lots of new people were exposed to the ZEVIA brand and stevia, and money was raised for a good cause. Many of the walk-a-thon participants said they were going to QFC in Bellevue to pick up ZEVIA.

We had stevia plants on hand. Everybody seems so surprised that stevia – many times sweeter than sugar – comes literally from a plant and not a lab. People were ripping stevia leaves off to taste, and then they realize how pure and natural ZEVIA is.

Check out below the photo of William with the Seagals! William loves working the ZEVIA events and passing out samples to kids his own age, but he’s also good at making time for the ladies.

-Derek

I know I often gush about our team and how the brains are also the muscle. Today was another good example, as Micheal, our Director of Business and Legal Affairs, was a ZEVIA crusader in the bay area. Michael is demo-ing in the Mollie Stone’s stores (see earlier post) this week and weekend and today he hit San Bruno.

I’m attaching 3 shots: The handsome Mr. Spain in fine ZEVIA gear, the ZEVIA on the shelf before the demo, and the ZEVIA on the shelf after the demo. That’s right – another sell out! As often happens, when given the opportunity to try ZEVIA (this week a brand new item to Mollie Stones), it often sells out (another case in point is Stacey’s sell outs at Jimbo’s in San Diego). Great job Michael, and welcome San Bruno ZEVIA fans!

- Jessica

UPDATE: Michael sold out at each sampling he did. Below are some more before and after shots. Next time we demo at Mollie Stones, hopefully they will have ordered more ZEVIA for sale!

-Derek

Yesterday, we presented ZEVIA to the ZINO Green Forum. ZEVIA is not only the best tasting Diet Soda alternative on the market, we are environmentally conscious, are packaged in recycled aluminum cans (which are notably more recyclable than plastic or glass) and finally we are void of mass produced artificial ingredients. All those things considered, we were a perfect candidate for the ZINO Green Forum, which seeks to invest in companies who are committed to being “green” in its product or company focus.

We were very excited that of the 10 presenters, we were THE winner of the People’s Choice award as the best investment opportunity among the attendees! Derek gave an excellent 5 minute pitch (all the companies were alloted 5 minutes), and everyone got a chance to try ZEVIA!!

-Jessica

Well, speaking of Mollie Stones, Derek and I were in San Fran on Monday, and took a nice run over to Mollie Stones. OK, well we took a little detour to visit the Golden Gate Bridge, then we went to Mollie Stones and found our ZEVIA! We still get excited every time we see ZEVIA on a shelf, and in sunny San Fran, the ZEVIA Cola was especially refreshing.

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, our team was sharing the love at the American Diabetes Association Expo. Everyone was so excited to try ZEVIA, and especially were loving the Root Beer. At the EXPO, our team went through 2,000 cups (recycled) and 100 cases of ZEVIA. ZEVIA is partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the “JDRF“, and as many people know, stevia has no effect on blood sugar levels and for that reason is used by many diabetics. Here are Jeff, Annie, and Stacey’s son William at the Expo.

Finally, check out Livin’ La Vida Low Carb. This great site gives some amazing advice and information for people wanting to live the low carb lifestyle. Congrats to Jimmy Moore who’s celebrating his 3rd “Blogiversary” – he’s inspired so many people! To help him celebrate, we’re providing some ZEVIA mixed cases for his prize packages for his loyal readers.

-Jessica

ZEVIA is phenomenal. It tastes great, is pure and natural, and successfully helps people kick the diet soda habit. ZEVIA is popular wherever we sell it, but some places seem more natural (pun intended) for ZEVIA.

San Francisco is one such place. The city by the bay is home to a more educated health conscious population. Bay area residents order ZEVIA from our web site very frequently, and have been asking for ZEVIA to be in stores there.

We are excited that ZEVIA is now available in the bay area! The first stores to offer ZEVIA include Mollie Stone’s Markets, with eight locations offering the finest natural products. You can also find ZEVIA at RJ’s Market in the Embarcadero, Rainbow Grocery and The Real Food Company. We’ll be in more and more bay area stores over the next few months. If ZEVIA is not yet in your market, please ask the manager to order it. Stores can get ZEVIA from the following distributors: United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), Nature’s Best, and DPI.

Michael Spain, our Director of Business and Legal Affairs, lived in San Francisco for over a decade. He graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law. He’s so excited about ZEVIA coming to San Fran that he’s going to be handing out samples at Mollie Stone’s this week and next.

Please visit Michael at

San Bruno Mollie Stones: Thursday, April 24, 2PM to 6PM
Greenbrae Mollie Stones: Friday, April 25, 3PM to 7PM
Sausalito Mollie Stones: Saturday, April 26, 3PM to 7PM
Burlingame Mollie Stones: Sunday, April 27, 11AM to 3PM
San Mateo Mollie Stones: Sunday, April 27, 4PM to 7PM
Palo Alto Mollie Stones: Monday, April 28, 11AM to 3PM

-Derek

The current version of ZEVIA just launched six months ago. You can find ZEVIA all over the northwest, and we recently began distribution in California, Hawaii, and a few other states. ZEVIA is very popular where it is available.

We are working hard to expand our distribution, and we are excited that we will be along the eastern seaboard by mid-summer. But, some stores just can’t wait, and have paid huge amounts to ship ZEVIA across the country even before we have wholesale distributors there.

Peggy’s Whole Foods is a South Daytona, Florida store with the finest quality fresh, natural, organic and whole foods. If you’re in the Daytona area, check out the Peggy’s Discount Health Food Show on WELE 1380 AM on Fridays from 11 a.m. until noon.

Three weeks ago, Peggy’s ordered a pallet (that’s 100 cases, or 2,400 cans) of ZEVIA for its customers. We were ecstatic, but not totally surprised, when Peggy’s called today to order another pallet. In just a few weeks, the Florida store is almost out of our product because South Daytona loves ZEVIA!

For the 42 states that don’t yet have ZEVIA available at local stores, ZEVIA is on it’s way and hopefully will be in your town by the end of the year. In the meantime, you can get ZEVIA online. And, if your local market is as dedicated to great products as Peggy’s is, then you might get it sooner.

-Derek

Seattle, WA: Wednesday, April 9 at 1:03 pm.
The Zevia is here! The Zevia is here! We were excited to welcome 20 pallets of Zevia to our Seattle warehouse — including our new baby ZEVIA Ginger Root Beer. There’s Derek pulling the pallet jack, and that is Michael Spain, our amazing Director of Business and Legal Affairs moving the pallets off the truck. We are lean and mean around here, so the “brains” are the “muscle” too!

Dallas, TX: Friday, April 11
Boy oh boy do we love these photos. Here is a cute case stack of Zevia at Central Market in Dallas. Central Market is the first of hopefully many great retail stores in the great state of Texas that carry ZEVIA. We love when we can catch consumers on these little displays so we can introduce ourselves to those diet soda drinkers perusing the isles for something different …

San Diego, CA, Friday, April 11 at 2:56 pm

Hello San Diego! Stacey took her sunny self and some delicious Zevia to all the Jimbo’s stores in beautiful San Diego. At her demos, Stacey sold OUT of Zevia to thirsty Californians at some stores and at the end of the day, gave ZEVIA Natural Ginger Root Beer a little break by the pool.

Seattle, WA, Friday, April 11 at 6:30 pm

Back in Seattle, we were so excited to be a part of the Seeds of Compassion event. The Dalai Lama is here for a 5-day gathering “to engage the hearts and minds of our community by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning.” We provided Zevia for the Friday events and were happy that so many enlightened minds were also able to refresh their taste buds. At the event Friday, a discussion was had between the Dalai Lama and Dave Matthews, who later performed for a packed house at Key Arena. It was a very special evening.

Baton Rouge, LA, Sunday, April 13 at 7:54 am

Last, but certainly not least, way down south in Baton Rouge, one of our earliest Zevia fans, Cy Vetter demonstrates that it’s never too early for a cold one. Don’t worry Cy, your root beer is on the way.

Speaking of which, I’m about due for a cold one!

- Jessica

Hungry Girl is a hugely popular web site with “tips & tricks for hungry chicks”. It’s written by Lisa “Hungry Girl” Lillien who is the first to admit she’s “not a nutritionist . . . just hungry.” But, her upbeat writing style, fantastic food reviews, and great instinct for the best products has made her the goto girl for the hottest food, beverage, and dietary supplement trends for people who care about healthy eating.

Yahoo! is the most trafficked web site in the world. Among the hundreds of millions of sites, Yahoo! is #1 in large part because it offers great content. Yahoo! has a food blog written by Lisa “Hungry Girl” Lillien.

We offer ZEVIA for sale on the Internet. It’s not the best way to get ZEVIA because shipping liquid is so expensive. Nonetheless, we receive between 5 and 20 orders per day from people who can’t wait for ZEVIA to get to a store near them. When an online order is placed, we receive an email alert.

Yesterday, around 11:40 a.m., we started getting about 10 orders per minute! At first, we thought the system was broken because the emails came in and continued like a flood of rushing water. Within a couple of hours, we had about 400 online orders of ZEVIA to fill (that’s not a typo – seriously, four hundred).

Yahoo! featured for about an hour a link front and center on its home page to the Hungry Girl blog. The Hungry Girl blog top story was called 4 Ways to Ditch Your Diet-Soda Dependency. It recommended ZEVIA, and had a nice photo of a ZEVIA mixed six pack. The power of the influential Hungry Girl, together with the link from Yahoo!’s home page, exposed many thousand people to ZEVIA.

We are so proud to have created a revolutionary product. Everybody who tries ZEVIA loves it, and our sales have beat even our own expectations. The only thing keeping us from helping everybody kick the diet soda habit is getting the word out. We are extremely grateful for you telling people you know about ZEVIA, and we appreciate high profile critics like Hungry Girl recognizing how great tasting and healthy ZEVIA is.

Please help us continue spreading the word. Thanks!

-Derek

Anyone who knows me KNOWS that one of my guilty pleasures is watching an edited selection of today’s best reality television offerings. Two of my all time favorites are MTV’s The Hills and it’s predecessor show Laguna Beach. I have very little in common with the young girls featured on the show (besides a love for clothes and California), but for some reason find the show very entertaining when I’m done with the day’s duties.

So imagine my excitement when I saw this photo of the lovely KRISTIN CAVALLARI (Laguna Beach alum) drinking my favorite flavor ZEVIA Natural Cola. Seems like everyone is trying to kick the diet soda habit for something natural!!

- Jessica