Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation

How I Built This with Guy Raz

A decade ago, Allison Ellsworth was drinking apple cider vinegar for health reasons and doctoring it with fruit so she could stand the taste. Her husband Stephen helped her turn it into a business by adding carbonation on a hacked soda line in their Dallas townhouse. They called it “Mother Beverage,” and sold out every week at the farmers market…but then heard the words no founder forgets: “Your branding is…sh*t.”

What happens next is one of the wildest CPG glow-ups of the 2010s: a Shark Tank deal with brand whisperer Rohan Oza, a full rebrand to Poppi, colored cans that jumped off the shelf, a launch derailed by Covid—and finally, an explosion fueled by Amazon, TikTok, and a Super Bowl moment that planted the flag: We’re soda–and we’ve left the farmers market for good.

Five years after its rebrand, Poppi was acquired by Pepsi for nearly $2B. This is the story of the messy bottling line, saying no to “dumb money,” baptism by Shark Tank, and building a generational brand while staying married.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How rebranding can rescue a beverage, and when to avoid early eye-rolls
• The hit-and-miss of carbonating on a small scale (and why co-packers said no).
• How the risky decision to call Poppi “soda” unlocked a new retail set (functional soda).
• What a Shark Tank partner does during a rebrand window.
• How Allison seized on TikTok to spike sales during Covid

Timestamps:

• 0:10:15 Meeting cute at a snowboard shop → engagement in 7 months
• 0:14:00 How apple cider vinegar helped Allison’s health…but tasted terrible (early flavor hacks)
• 0:22:36 DIY carbonation disasters: exploding bottles & the 40°F lesson
• 0:37:48 Appearing on Shark Tank while nine months pregnant and the deal with Rohan: “your branding is sh*t.”
• 0:42:28 Selling out at the Dallas Farmers Market
• 0:47:02 The nail-biting rebrand from “Mother” to Poppi: colored cans vs. white, and winning the shelf
• 0:55:43 Expo West canceled by Covid → a massive turnaround fueled by Amazon, Shark Tank, and TikTok
• 1:07:51 Super Bowl ad– “We’re soda!”--and the road to a ~$2B Pepsi acquisition
• 1:09:58 Growing a business while managing a marriage

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This episode was produced by Rommel Wood with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Alex Cheng. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Jimmy Keeley.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.