Here’s where Utah’s ‘dirty soda’ shops have spread

A sweet trend that bubbled up in Utah is overflowing into other states, and people across the country are thirsting to be included.

“Las Vegas pleassseee,” one commenter begged on a recent Swig Instagram post, which announced the opening of a new location in Texas. “Come to Chicago!” another urged.

They’re all craving Swig’s premier concoction: a fresh, fizzy “dirty soda,” as seen on Hulu’s hit reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” — a guest appearance that shot the Utah favorite even further into the national spotlight.

The idea: Take a base soda brand and choose from a tasty list of mix-ins to make it your own. The only limitation? How much you can fit in your 44-ounce cup.

“Dirty soda” is no secret in Utah. We had it first — more than a decade ago, when the now-exploding Swig franchise’s first store opened in St. George in 2010.

“Utah is, like, land of the Mormon bar, which are all the soda shops that we have. There’s one on every corner,” said “Secret Lives” cast member Jessi Ngatikaura in the show’s fifth episode.

Ngatikaura was filmed alongside castmates Demi Engemann and Layla Taylor as she placed her custom “dirty soda” order.

“We don’t drink alcohol or do drugs,” Engemann says, “so [soda is] kind of our vice.”

But the hype has reached far beyond Utah. Swig alone plans to end 2024 with 100 locations nationwide, the chain’s chief marketing officer, Dylan Roeder, told PRWeek. It aims to have 1,000 locations in the next five to seven years.

After admiring Engemann’s sugar-free-coconut-vanilla-raspberry-pineapple order, one woman in San Diego documented on TikTok her quest to re-create it: Forty-four ounces of sparkling water with all the flavorings and coconut cream.

Her first challenge? Unlike Utah, which has 46 locations and counting — including a new St. George location that opened in November — there are no Swigs in San Diego. Still, she made do with a “close enough” local imposter called CoCo Playa.

“It tastes like a piña colada, kind of,” she says after sipping the pink drink, sharing her verdict. “... Miss Demi, your drink? Ten out of 10.”

An effervescent moment

Swig claims to be the originator of the “dirty soda.” But it’s just one of four “dirty soda” chains now dominant in Utah, which has the most shops of any state in the country.

There’s Sodalicious, which opened in 2013 and now has 16 Utah locations, along with six in Arizona and three in Idaho.

Fiiz Drinks opened the next year and now has 49 permanent locations and another planned in Utah — the newest opens Saturday in Cedar Hills — along with 21 outside of the state, in the West, the Southeast, Texas and Ohio. And Thirst is the most recent, opening in 2016, with all seven of its current locations in the Beehive State.

According to Eater, “dirty soda” went mainstream in 2022, mostly due to its viral popularity on TikTok. Its fame there was largely inspired by Swig posting a photo on Instagram of pop star Olivia Rodrigo holding one of their branded foam cups in December 2021.

National brands have taken note: Dr Pepper came out with a Creamy Coconut variation, while Coffee-Mate released a Dirty Soda creamer — a coconut-and-lime mix that’s meant to be added to Dr Pepper.

But “Secret Lives” had a definitive influence — after it aired in September, Swig’s TikTok grew by 30,000 followers, PRWeek reported. And the platform is rife with videos of fans ordering cast members’ favorite drinks, like the enthusiast in San Diego.

The concept of a “dirty soda” isn’t entirely new. The difference is “the stores that are popping up are specifically soda stores, as opposed to a gas station plus something, or a burger place plus something,” said Christy Spackman, an associate professor of art science at Arizona State University.

Spackman trained as a food scientist and food chemist before she moved into food studies. She is the author of “The Taste of Water,” and her research looks at how science and technology shape sensory experience.

Before soda shops, she said, 7-Eleven’s Big Gulp was having a moment in the 1980s, when people would leave the convenience store with “whatever concoction that they had created from the fountain.”

“Because you didn’t have to just get a Dr Pepper,” Spackman continued. “You could do a Dr Pepper mixed in with other things, which we all loved doing, when my dad would let us get a Slurpee. ... It was all about customizing your mix.”

Emily Contois, author of “Diners, Dudes & Diets,” said that when she went to college in Oklahoma, “Sonic was always big.” (Sonic’s Flavorista Favorites line of sodas, introduced this summer, includes the Dirty Dr Pepper, made with coconut, cream and lime.)

Contois — whose work as an associate professor at the University of Tulsa brings together the studies of the body, health, food and media — said drive-ins with a carhop have been a part of the culture of Oklahoma for “a very long time,” as seen by drive-ins like Classic 50’s in Norman.

Diet cherry limeade — made with Sprite, lime juice and cherry flavoring — is practically the state drink, she said.

That’s why she thinks chains like Swig are building on something that was already there. “It’s existed in these other places, with other brands, for a lot longer than just this micro trend that we’re talking about today,” she said.

Why drink a ‘dirty soda’?

Soda fans reach for the fizzy drink for several reasons, according to people who make them and drink them.

“You can pretty much mix anything together and create a drink and create a beverage, and I think people like that,” Scott Ball, the president of Fiiz Drinks, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Faithful Latter-day Saints don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea, following the health code called the Word of Wisdom. Some say they drink soda instead.

Reed C. Hepler, who is a Latter-day Saint and lives in Idaho, said that “for me, it’s just the taste and the options. And for my wife, it’s the same as well. Cocktails with carbonation instead of alcohol.”

Lacey Jones, a Latter-day Saint who lives in Mesa, Arizona, said soda is “the vice that’s OK’ed (or at least not specifically outlawed) by the Word of Wisdom, as currently interpreted by church leadership.”

“Can’t have Starbucks,” she continued, “so dirty sodas are the ‘kosher’ option.”

But others simply love soda. El Call, who was born in Utah and attended college here but now lives in Columbus, Ohio, said, “I like carbonated beverages, which I wouldn’t get from coffee (even if I drank it), and adding flavors to my sodas allows me to mix it up when a soda gets boring.”

After Call moved, she said, she missed Utah’s soda shops. The closest specialty soda shop was a Fiiz an hour away. So she has a collection of about a dozen Torani syrups that she uses to create her own drinks at home.

Spackman, who’s also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said taking that trip to the soda shop drive-thru every day may have a larger meaning. “Perhaps this is a way — in which folks who have chosen for religious reasons to not drink coffee — to engage in ritual that helps pattern and shape an everyday sort of practice.”

“Like, ‘Here’s the thing I’m going to do in the morning,’” Spackman continued. “‘I’m treating myself. I’m creating a space that’s about me and expressing myself through food, but also getting a little bit of energy.’”

‘It’s not exclusive to anyone’

Swig isn’t the only soda shop that’s seen the “Secret Lives” effect.

Ethan Cisneros, who founded Thirst with Sierra McCleve, said Thirst “definitely” gets people coming from out of state who have seen “dirty soda” on the show or on TikTok and want to try it, especially at the location at 38 E. 1300 South in Salt Lake City.

The soda shop also focuses on making beignets and soft pretzels.

Just because “dirty soda” is taking off around the United States, he said, doesn’t mean the trend is waning here at home. Visiting a soda shop is “an iconic part of living in Utah” and a “super-popular part of most people’s lives.”

“I think it’s something fun to go do with your family, with your friends,” he said, “or just a little outlet for yourself to go get a treat and just relax.”

And that fun attracts “more than just Utahns,” Cisneros said.

Just watch a TikTok from Swig showing the opening of its location in Fairview, Texas, in 2022. Two lanes of traffic are packed with cars as Swig employees bring customers’ red-and-white cups out to them.

“Everyone wants a refreshing beverage, it’s not exclusive to anyone,” Roeder told PRWeek. “The concept of dirty soda is still foreign and intriguing, and ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ poured gasoline on that. People watch the show and think, ‘I need to try this.’”

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