As a busy mom of five, Nicole Robison (formerly Nicole Tanner) regularly stopped to pick up a cold, refreshing drink at a drive-thru so she could keep her kids buckled in their seats. Sonic was her go-to destination.
“It was very convenient to go through the drive-thru line, and I loved the pebble ice and foam cup that kept the drink colder longer so I could sip it throughout the day,” she said. “I was stopping by on a very regular basis and getting the same drink every time [Diet Coke with lime] but I didn’t feel recognized or valued; I felt like a number in the drive-thru line.”
What was missing was a personal connection, and Robison felt there must be other people out there who would appreciate a refreshing, customized beverage in a fast-moving line with superior, connected customer service.
That missing link sparked her entrepreneurial spirit, and in 2010, she opened the tiny Swig soda shop in St. George, Utah, “to fill my need,” she said. That first Swig offered branded soft drinks like Dr Pepper, Coke and Sprite mixed with basic flavor shots. Robison was in that store day in and day out, building a foundation by interacting with customers and creating that connection. “I just prayed that this one location would work and pay the bills,” she said.
Swig's original recipe is a blend of soda, fruit syrup or puree and cream. | Photo courtesy of Swig.
Fifteen years later, there are 117 Swig locations in 16 states, with more openings planned through the end of 2025. Technomic’s most recent figures put total U.S. sales over $56 million with year-over-year growth of 39%. In 2022, The Larry H. Miller Company acquired a majority stake in the chain, with private-equity firm Savory Fund and Robison retaining minority stakes along with a couple of other partners.
Smaller chains are taking several pages from Swig’s playbook and expanding, too—Sodalicious and Fiiz, also based in Utah, are two of the best known. Larger concepts are jumping in with their own spins on the popular drinks, which in their basic form combine soda, fruit syrup or puree and a creamer. The trend has spread to concepts specializing in coffee, tea and smoothies, too, as nonalcohol beverages overtake all other menu categories in growth at Top 500 chains. Robison’s old favorite, Sonic, now has several versions itself, including its Sparkling Sugar Cookie Dr. Pepper with sweet cream and cookie flavors.
Coffee chain Ziggi's recently expanded into dirty sodas as another beverage offering. | Photo courtesy of Ziggi's.
How did the sodas turn “dirty?”
The drinks have become a cultural phenomenon, fueled by TikTok, Instagram and the reality TV series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Mormons don’t drink alcohol for religious reasons and the mom influencers on the show are frequently shot sipping Swig drinks. In the year since the show’s debut, Yelp searches for Swig are up 78% and “dirty soda” searches have increased by a whopping 1,289%.
Technomic reports that dirty soda is the fastest growing search term over the past year on its Ignite menu platform, having increased over 636%.
But the original Swig drinks were not actually called dirty sodas. The name was coined by some of Robison’s most loyal customers and blew up on social media after pop star Olivia Rodrigo posted a photo holding a Swig cup on Instagram at the end of 2021.
@youbrokemefirst91 Olivia being as obsessed with @Swig as I am..it’s a Utah thing🥤#oliviarodrigo#swigdrinks#utahcheck#utahliving#guts#gutsoliviarodrigo#gutsoliviarodrigoalbum♬ get him back! - Olivia Rodrigo
Robison is a coconut lover, so that was one of the six basic flavor shots she started with. As she tells it, “Office workers from a nearby business would come in regularly and get drinks for their staff, and one of them always ordered a coconut Dr Pepper. They told me the staff calls these ‘dirty Dr Peppers.’ So we started calling them that, too.”
Soon, #dirtysoda went viral on TikTok and Swig trademarked the term.
“The company had the trademark for dirty soda for a long time,” said Alex Dunn, who was named CEO of Swig last March. “Due to a clerical error, the trademark did not get renewed, and when it started becoming so popular, there’s no way to trademark it now even though we originated the term.”
But Dunn and Robison believe that the unintended consequence is that Swig created a whole new beverage category and as the first brand, the chain is definitely benefiting from that now. In the first six months of 2025, Swig had 102 million social media impressions from their content alone, and 189 million from people not affiliated with the company.
Riffing on the recipe
Swig has expanded beyond the basic formula of a branded soft drink, syrup and cream to many more options. “Now a dirty soda is pick your favorite base drink, whether that be soda, sparkling water, energy drink, sweet tea or plain water, and we will mix your favorite combination of flavors with purees, frozen fruit, fresh fruit and creamers to make it a customized drink,” said Robison. To differentiate from its competitors, Swig also developed its own energy drink called “Reviver.”
The menu currently offers about 70 curated selections, but guests can also create their own combinations. “Cheat sheets” are posted at each location so the drinks are consistent. Swig’s basic dirty sodas start at about $1.60, with custom creations going up to $3.50. Also available are seasonal limited-time drinks featuring on-trend flavors like dragon fruit, as well as frozen cream pops and snacks such as pretzel bites and cookies.
Frozen Cream Pops are one of Swig's line extensions. | Photo courtesy of Swig.
Although the beverage menu sounds very extensive, the majority of ingredients can be cross-utilized and most people come in and pick a “name” drink that the well-trained staff can make quickly, Robison said. “I never want to have our menu be 100 flavors. I want it to be where you can go in and find your flavor and then get out again. I want variety, but it's got to be fast—made in 60 seconds or less,” she added.
The fast-food beverage boom
Cold nonalcoholic beverages are increasing at a greater rate than any other menu part, rising 7.9% year over year, according to Technomic. And menu mentions are up 10%, with many of those mentions coming in quick-service. Indeed, this summer alone, Whataburger launched the first in a line of Refreshers and Taco Bell, a selection of Refrescas. McDonald’s might have shuttered its beverage-focused CosMc’s, but the burger giant is testing a line of drinks inspired by that menu at its restaurants. And Taco Bell is expanding its drink-heavy Live Mas Café concept.
No doubt dirty sodas are in the pipeline at these mega-chains. San Diego-based Jack in the Box is already there, rolling out a Strawberry Twist Twisted Soda made with Sprite, strawberry, sweetened cream and vanilla. There’s also a version made with Fanta orange soda.
Meanwhile, the much tinier Pacific Northwest chain, 40-unit Burgerville, has already jumped on the trend with its take on dirty sodas under a more neutral name. The Vancouver, Washington-based concept prides itself on natural, locally sourced ingredients, so calling the sodas “dirty” does not fit with the brand, said Executive Chef Becky McGrath.
“Our company strives to keep our food as clean label as we possibly can,” she said. “All our syrups are made locally with cane sugar and are naturally fruit sweetened. And the vanilla is a natural vanilla product.”
Burgerville's "dirty" sodas are made with locally sourced, clean-label ingredients. | Photo courtesy of Burgerville.
Burgerville added three permanent drinks to the menu this spring: Cherry Seltzer, Iced Peach Green Tea and Pomegranate Cherry Limeade, all served with Cloud Cream or Cloud Cream Cold Foam to give them that “dirty” spin. “We have a cherry compote made with Oregon fruit, that we put in the Cherry Seltzer, and a peach compote from the same local company that goes in the Peach Green Tea,” said McGrath. “So our ‘dirty sodas’ have a really clean label that falls right in line with our values.” Prices range between $3.99 and $4.99.
The Cloud Cream is also made in house. It’s basically lightly whipped heavy cream with a bit of sugar and can be combined with seasonal fruits. “The first one we tried was with strawberries, and we got this really beautiful light red color on top of the drink,” said McGrath. The next one will be the purplish Marionberry, a favorite Pacific Northwest berry that grows in that region. The Cloud Creams can also be layered in the drinks for a dramatic presentation.
And that is one of the selling points of these drinks. “Everybody loves to take pictures of their drinks and post them on Instagram and I’ve seen some of the ones that we’ve done,” said McGrath. And even though Burgerville is not calling them dirty sodas, some fans on social media tag the new drinks with that label.
Bubbling up to casual dining
Beverage concepts and quick-service chains have led dirty soda innovation, but now the trend is bubbling up into casual dining. And in some cases, this segment is making them even “dirtier” by adding alcohol.
TGI Fridays' dirty sodas can be boozed up with a shot of vodka, rum or Jack Daniels. | Photo courtesy of TGI Fridays.
TGI Fridays introduced four of the drinks in July after noticing “a tipping point” on social media, said Sara Bitorff, interim CMO of the Dallas-based casual-dining chain. “The sodas are a little bit extra, just like Fridays is, and who can resist a drink that has whipped cream and sprinkles. Plus they fit into the whole nonalcoholic trend.”
“There’s been a steep decline in drinking among Gen Z customers,” added Gagan Yadav, a TGI Fridays franchisee with 28 locations. She is among the “sober curious” and particularly appreciates these drinks because they aren’t as indulgent as a milkshake, “but you’re getting the fun, the sugar kick from them,” she said.
The sodas start with a base of Coke, Dr Pepper or Rebel, an energy drink; all are made “dirty” with coconut cream, half-and-half or whipped cream and sell for $3.99. But Fridays’ menu suggests a complementary shot pairing for each for an extra $3. There’s Cherry Cream Cola, Strawberry SZN with sprinkles, Dr. Vibe with a gummy candy garnish and Dirty Sunshine—a blend of passionfruit cream and Red Bull. Jack Daniels, rum and vodka are the suggested boozy add-ons. The flavor profiles are classic, summery and tropical respectively.
Fridays bartenders make the dirty sodas, optimizing what is in house—including the candies. They come from the kids menu, said Yadav, and the whipped cream from the chain’s indulgent desserts.
Nashville-based casual-dining chain Logan’s Roadhouse also launched its spin on dirty sodas this summer after seeing all the interest building on social media.
“I have a 20-year-old son and pay a lot of attention to Instagram,” said Shannon Hall, VP of beverage innovation for SPB Hospitality, parent company to Logan’s and other brands. “I also remember the root beer floats from my childhood and how great they tasted.”
Hall went into the test kitchen and made her first dirty soda, taking cues from the DIY versions on social media. “Everyone on the team who tasted it went ‘wow,’ so I was optimistic. When you take all the flavors in Coke, Dr Pepper and Sprite and all the syrups and purees you can add to them, the possibilities are endless and they speak to everybody,” she said.
Saddled Up Sips feature vanilla and coconut, the two most popular flavors. | Photo courtesy of Logan's Roadhouse.
Logan’s is calling its four dirty sodas “Saddled Up Sips” on the premise that the original name was trademarked by Swig, she said. This label is more on-brand anyway, and the drinks reflect that. The collection includes Vanilla Coke with vanilla syrup and cream; Coco Crush with Coke, coconut syrup and cream; Strawberry Cloud with Sprite, strawberry puree, coconut syrup and cream; and Hawaiian Bliss with Sprite, coconut syrup, pineapple juice and cream. They are priced at $4.99 and refills are $2.49.
Rolling out at the same time are Bull Riders with a base of Red Bull to which coconut syrup, pineapple juice and cream are added for the Hawaiian Whip, and strawberry puree, coconut syrup and sweet cream for the Strawberry Rush. Both come with a full can of Red Bull and cost $7.49.
On the beverage menu, all the drinks are accompanied by striking color photos, so even though they are not called dirty sodas, customers know exactly what they are, said Hall. “It's a dirty soda, but Logan style.”
She also did a lot of research on popular flavors and coconut and vanilla came out on top, but Hall is not stopping there. Layered foams and more flavors are in the works, always with an eye toward presentation. And she’s thinking of introducing the sodas at some of SPB’s other concepts. “I know there will be more to come because this trend is not going away,” she added.
The drive-thru model has done well for Swig. | Photo courtesy of Swig.
Robison is certain of that, too. “I think we’re in the middle of the story,” she said. Swig’s plan is to expand nationwide. “I do believe that Swig deserves to go everywhere, because everyone deserves that happiness in the cup,” she added.
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