ZEVIA – Natural Diet Soda

Cobb Harry's Whole Foods

Harry’s Market was a six store natural foods group in the Atlanta area with an extensive gourmet mail order business. Whole Foods purchased Harry’s 6 years ago, keeping the name because it was so popular.

The Cobb Harry’s store in Marietta, Georgia is a gigantic 100,000+ sq feet store, and by far the largest of its type in the area. The “look and feel” of the store is an interesting mix of a Whole Foods and a farmer’s market.

Above is a photo of a stack of ZEVIA® in the main aisle. Jeff, our national sales manager, was visiting the store yesterday when they ran completely out of stock on cola. They placed an order right away, so if you shop at Cobb Harry’s then grab some ZEVIA® Natural Twist, Orange, or Root Beer today, and Cola on Monday after they re-stock.

-Derek

Actual Stevia Leaf

Some ask why ZEVIA® is labeled as a “carbonated stevia supplement” rather than a “soda”.

ZEVIA contains Stevia, the natural herb native to the rainforest that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. Stevia helps with dental hygiene, recent studies found it has antioxidant properties, and it contains no calories.

The FDA has approved Stevia as an ingredient to a dietary supplement, but not a food product. The difference between a supplement and food product is mostly labeling and marketing. Accordingly, most products that contain stevia must be labeled as a supplement, and the FDA prohibits Stevia providers from marketing Stevia products as “sweetened” with Stevia.

Yesterday, the “Glucoholic – Sugar Free Snacks” blog wrote a glowing review about ZEVIA® Natural Orange. I like how they described Stevia: “We think they’ve hit the mark. Zevia is sweetened – I mean supplemented – with Stevia, the all natural ‘supplement’ that accidentally makes things sweeter without raising your blood sugar, rotting your teeth, or making you rotund. We’ve previously reviewed Stevia right here at glucoholic.com, and think there is no better alternative for those of you who are not fans of Splenda.”

-Derek

Abigail at Whole Foods in Cary, NC

Jeff Taylor, our national sales manager, took Abigail Steinberg, our Southern California sales manager, to check on ZEVIA in the Southeast. Although we are based in Seattle and launched on the west coast, some of our strongest stores are in North Carolina.

Above is a picture of Abigail posing next to a ZEVIA® case stack at the Whole Foods in Cary.

Below is a photo of ZEVIA in an end cap at Earthfare in Greensboro. Earthfare is the healthy supermarket with 16 stores in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Earthfare was one of the first ZEVIA supporters in the southeast, and it sells a lot of ZEVIA to soda lovers who want something natural without calories.

-Derek

SPINS® is the leading provider of information on the Natural Products Industry. It tracks sales of all products at retail and reports the results, similar to how Nielson reports TV ratings and Arbitron reports radio ratings.

We see our sales increasing each month, and we’re very proud of our growth in such a short time. But, we were amazed to learn that in natural food stores, ZEVIA® is the second best selling product in its category in the nation! ZEVIA beats such notable brands as Hansens, Fuze, Sobe, Blue Sky, and Monster. You can see the top sellers by clicking the graphic below.

Thank you for trying ZEVIA®, making it a part of your life, and telling everybody you know about it. We are grateful for your support and encouragement, and we’re working hard to get ZEVIA® into more stores closer to you.

-Derek

Zevia was officially approved by The People’s Chemist.!

The People’s Chemist is a chemist devoted to helping people “to sift through scientific literature and weed out fact from fiction, he has empowered thousands to assert their health freedom by saying “no” to prescription drugs (aka disease care) and yes to natural medicine and a health-promoting lifestyle. “

Read what he says about Zevia by clicking this link.

I particularly liked this exert from the post:

“Now you can have soda without sabotaging your health!

I’m always on the hunt for innovative products and companies who are willing to break the “norm” barrier.  Walking the isle of my local health food store, I discovered ZEVIA!  It sounded like stevia so I investigated the label looking for shortcomings (think Hansen’s). 

To my total surprise it was perfect.  No grocery store fat traps, no calories and no preservatives!  I quickly moved to the taste test.

I popped a can open – even before paying for it – and gave it to my seven year old.  Her eyes widened and she protested, “No way, that’s soda Papa!”  I assured her it was a healthy one and that she could have it.  She loved it.  Case closed.”

-Ian

We are thrilled that so many of you have written about ZEVIA® in your blog posts. Yesterday, Michele from Washington D.C. wrote about her ZEVIA® discovery. ZEVIA® is not yet available in D.C., so Michele drove a long distance to Wegmans. Wegmans is one of the highest end grocery stores in the country, with 72 Wegmans stores in the northeast. Michele says she loves Wegmans but it’s too far to drive. Well, since Wegmans is the nearest place she can get ZEVIA®, she did her full weekly shopping there.

Michele writes about Zevia: “The verdict: Fabulous. I just wish they had were sold everywhere . . . The taste was great and I loved the idea that it was all natural. If you get the chance, try one. You won’t be disappointed.” Thank you, Michele, and all the others who help us spread the word about NATURE’S ANSWER TO DIET SODA®.

For Michele and everybody else looking to find ZEVIA® closer, we are working hard to expand our national footprint and get ZEVIA® into every store that matters to you.

-Derek

Expo East is happening in Boston right now.

Ian and Jeff at Expo East

This is one of the largest natural food shows of the year, and a great opportunity to expose the ZEVIA brand to lots of stores that may not have heard of us yet. We’re very excited to be in over 1,000 stores across the country, but we receive calls and emails every day from people who want ZEVIA at a more convenient location. We’re working on it, and Expo East will lead to lots of new shelves.

ZEVIA Booth at Expo East

Above at Expo is Ian Eisenberg, co-founder and principal, together with Jeff Taylor, our national sales manager (who could very well be the best beverage sales exec in the country). Also, our booth; and below is ZEVIA featured in the New Products Showcase.

-Derek

ZEVIA in New Products Showcase