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
FROZEN CREAM POPS ARE ONE OF SWIG’S LINE EXTENSIONS. PHOTO COURTESY OF SWIG
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. 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
SWIG’S ORIGINAL RECIPE IS A BLEND OF SODA, FRUIT SYRUP OR PUREE AND CREAM. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SWIG
OCTOBER 2025 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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