ZEVIA – Natural Diet Soda

Abigail

Abigail, our fantastic California territory rep, is visiting New York City. Abigail dramatically spurred sales on the west coast, not only selling ZEVIA® into lots of new stores – but also introducing NATURE’S ANSWER TO DIET SODA® to Californians for the first time. In fact, our same store sales year-to-year have increased by over 300%, partly due to Abigail’s efforts.

Discovering Zevia Ginger Ale at Westerly

On the east coast, ZEVIA® is growing by word of mouth, but we don’t have a territory rep there. So we sent Abigail to New York to visit some great stores, provide ZEVIA® samples to customers, and train new ZEVIA® brand ambassadors.

New Zevia Fan at Fairway Near Columbus Circle

Abigail reports that New Yorkers are loving ZEVIA®, and lots of new fans discovered ZEVIA® this week.

Jenny, New Zevia Brand Ambassador

We’re excited that ZEVIA® is available in new stores everyday in New York. Please pick up ZEVIA® locally, and tell everybody you know about it.

-Derek

H-E-B is a fantastic grocery store chain that has been serving Texas families for over 100 years. In 1905, Charles C. and Florence Butt moved their three sons from Memphis, Tennessee, to Kerrville in the Texas Hill Country. With an initial investment of only $60, Florence opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store on November 26. The “B” in H-E-B is for the family’s last name of “Butt”. But — pun intended — the HEB acronym is more commonly known as “Here Everything’s Better”.

We’re very excited that ZEVIA® is now available in most H-E-B stores across Texas. Florence Butt said that good principles and a can-do attitude, whether times are good or bad, are at the heart of H-E-B’s success. We’re proud ZEVIA is consistent with those ideals: 100% recyclable aluminum, pure ingredients, great taste, and nothing artificial for Texas H-E-B shoppers.

-Derek

Community events are so much fun. This weekend, ZEVIA® participated in the Fremont Fair in Seattle with our new tent (pictured above). We met lots of fans who drink nothing but ZEVIA®, and we introduced ZEVIA® to thousands of people who for the first time ever tasted a zero calorie natural soda. We went through about 86 cases on Saturday, and close to that many on Sunday. That translates into 2,064 cans of ZEVIA® each day. ZEVIA® was a huge hit, and it’s exciting to see fair-goers loving that a soda can taste so good, while being pure without any junk. In all, we handed out over 10,000 samples on this beautiful weekend at a fun eclectic festival in Seattle’s artsy Fremont district.

-Derek

BevNet.com is the beverage industry’s most respected source for product reviews and news. BevNet to the beverage industry is like Billboard Magazine to the music industry, or O the Oprah Magazine to Oprah Winfrey fans. BevNet is the most visited beverage review site on the Internet.

We are very excited that today, BevNet released its review of ZEVIA®. Some highlights:

• Cola – “The cola flavor is better than what you’d find in a Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, with a more natural and balanced taste.”

• Ginger Ale – “Overall, the best diet ginger ale we’ve ever sampled”

• Root Beer – “Root Beer is another Zevia flavor that really exceeded our expectations, especially since quality diet root beers are hard to come by . . . Combine that with just the right level of sweetness and carbonation and this is a very well formulated product . . . and it’s definitely our choice as far as diet root beers go.”

• Black Cherry – “Zevia’s Black Cherry should be a hit with drinkers who try this lineup . . . Overall, a very enjoyable product that’s in a league of its own as far as diet carbonated soft drinks go.”

• Twist – “Of the lineup, this was one of our favorite Zevia flavors . . . Twist has very accurate and refreshing lemon and lime flavors . . . Packaging fits with the other Zevia flavors, featuring the cleverly designed Zevia logo (complete with a leaf in place of the dot on the “I”) and there are multiple callouts to the product’s natural formulation.”

• Orange – “For Zevia, the execution of this drink is quite good, with just the right amount of orange flavor, sweetness, and carbonation . . . Overall, a cleanly executed product both in package and flavor.”

Please read the reviews, link to them on Twitter and Facebook, and tell your friends about the highly rated NATURE’S ANSWER TO DIET SODA®!

-Derek

We launched ZEVIA® in Seattle in 2007. Now, the Pacific Northwest is our strongest market. Even though the cool-climate Northwest is not a soda town, ZEVIA® Natural Cola is the #1 selling beverage in natural food stores here. ZEVIA® Root Beer is #2, and Twist and Orange are also in the top six. I think our success here is due largely to us being in the community. We provide ZEVIA® to local charitable causes, and we participate in community events.

This weekend in Seattle is the Fremont Fair and Solstice Parade. This is one of my favorite annual community events. The parade has no rules — and is one of the few public events in the country where people walk nude and with body paint.

We will be providing ZEVIA® to thirsty fair-goers from our new ZEVIA® tent. The real tent doesn’t arrive until tomorrow, but we’re very excited about it. Zevia co-founder Jessica cut out a paper mock up of the tent and built a replica of what the tent should look like. Pictured above in the mock tent are Michael and Jeff, who will both be live at the Fremont Fair this weekend. Also seen is my four year old, Davis. He, too, will be at the Fremont Fair this Sunday.

Come visit us at the brand new (and real) ZEVIA® tent this weekend at the Fremont Fair in Seattle!

-Derek

The Zevia Leaf is our electronic newsletter. We send it by email, and usually not more than once per month. The Zevia staff lives and breathes ZEVIA®, and we consider those who drink ZEVIA® to be almost family. The Zevia Leaf is our opportunity to connect with you.

As a Zevia Leaf subscriber, you get valuable coupons, and lots of fun news about ZEVIA®, people who drink ZEVIA®, and other information that is ZEVIA® related. This month’s edition has a contest, a funny email from a ZEVIA fan, information about how drinking soda may actually reduce the likelihood of kidney stones, and a great ZEVIA® drink recipe — among other things.

Please subscribe to the Zevia Leaf at Zevia.com by entering your email address in the box at the bottom of your screen. Let us know what you like and want to see in it.

-Derek

Shaw’s Supermarkets lets its customers know “good things are just right around the corner” and that they are “crazy about food”. With about 200 stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont, Shaw’s is one of the largest and most successful grocery stores in the New England Area.

Shaw’s values natural foods. Most stores have a Wild Harvest® department, which means the top brands with no artificial ingredients – a perfect fit for ZEVIA®. We are very excited that ZEVIA® is now available in most Shaw’s locations, including every Shaw’s with a Wild Harvest® department. To find the Shaw’s nearest to you, click here. Please pick up ZEVIA® at Shaw’s, tell everybody you know that NATURE’S ANSWER TO DIET SODA® is available there, and Chill & Enjoy!

-Derek

I went on a New York City store tour. If you’re in the big apple, there are many places to pick up ZEVIA. In addition to Food Emporium and the fantastic Whole Foods Markets, here are some favorite stores from my visit:

• Fairway. It’s called “a store like no other” and it really is! You have to see Fairway to know what I mean. I went to the one on the edge of Harlem. Super large. Partly in doors, and partly out doors like a farmer’s market. An entire portion is refrigerated (yes, you shop in a refrigerator). Very fresh produce. Great prices. ZEVIA is in the natural aisle. Fairway has all 6 ZEVIA flavors.

• Health Nuts on the Upper West Side. The grocery manager reported that several customers buy ZEVIA by the case load each week, and Health Nuts will reserve stock for those customers to ensure that they always have their ZEVIA supply.

• Westside Health, Upper West Side. ZEVIA black cherry, ginger ale, and ginger root beer are available in six packs. Cola is available in singles in the cold case.

• Gary Null’s Uptown Whole Foods, Upper West Side. Gary Null is an international expert in nutrition & health sciences. This store is an institution in the area. I was told that Gary Null called his place “Whole Foods” before the Whole Foods Market we all know ever started business.

• Westside Market, Upper West Side. This is a general grocery store (as opposed to a natural food store). ZEVIA is the only natural beverage available!

• Westerly’s on 8th. Harry, the manager, was very excited to have ZEVIA and introduce it to new customers.

• Health & Harmony, Greenwich Village. This is a family run store. I visited with the owner. I see lots of stores, and this one is one of the best kept ever. For example, they make sure the ZEVIA front panel is always facing forward. For boxed goods, they stack the boxes perfectly – like a brick wall. The staff seems to know many customers on a first name basis.

These are just a few of the great stores where ZEVIA is available in New York City, and we’re adding more stores often. Chill & Enjoy in NYC!

-Derek

Seventh Day Adventist High Students Love Zevia

The next couple weeks will see school kids unleashed for SUMMER – the perfect time to Chill & Enjoy your ZEVIAs! Here are our young friends at the Seventh Day Adventist High School in Kirkland Washington who brought ZEVIA (along with other healthy food providers like Whole Foods) to their annual health fair. Colleen Radke, the director of the health fair, sought us out to participate in the fair after learning about us at VegFest – and discovering we were the perfect drink for those high school kids who were drinking high calorie sugary drinks and sodas with artificial sweeteners. Teachers and students alike were excited to find something healthy and refreshing to drink!

Jes with Seventh Day Adventist High School Teacher

Kids of all ages love ZEVIA, and we love that we can provide a soda to them with zero calories and nothing artificial.

-Jessica

Excited About Black Cherry in Northridge

In Southern California, we are making the rounds at Whole Foods Market. Even though ZEVIA has the #1 selling beverage in independent natural food stores on the west coast, most people haven’t yet heard of ZEVIA. And there’s no better way to introduce ZEVIA than to put it in the hands of people who value natural products, and want a great taste from zero calories.

Discovering Natural Cola on Third Street

From Ventura to San Diego to Canyon Country and beyond, we’re visiting every Whole Foods Market and offering samples of ZEVIA. Your reaction to ZEVIA at Whole Foods has been phenomenal. In the stores we visit, sales tend to spike almost immediately after our visits.

Finally, 0 Cal Natural Soda in Sherman Oaks

We spent years perfecting the taste and finding the most natural and best quality ingredients for ZEVIA. Now we face the challenge of getting the word out. Our Whole Foods tour is certainly helping, and we appreciate you telling everybody you know about NATURE’S ANSWER TO DIET SODA®.

-Derek