Macy's Culinary Council, Celeb Chef Tom Douglas, and ZEVIA!

Yesterday Stacey and I had a great time at Macy's Culinary Council, a "tour de force of celebrity chefs from across America". Macy's invited ZEVIA to be a part of the event in downtown Seattle, where celebrity chef Tom Douglas (owner/chef of five amazing Seattle restaurants: Dahlia Lounge, Etta's, Palace Kitchen, Lola and the newest edition Serious Pie. He recently released his third book, I Love Crabcakes) prepared a sampling of his favorite recipes. ZEVIA was featured as the only beverage at the event, served along side Tom's Spring Chicken with Green Marinade and Crab Rolls (dungeness crab salad on bakery rolls) which he prepared for the crowd of about 100 people in Macy's beautiful demo kitchen in their housewares department. Tom enjoyed his Ginger Root Beer and everyone enjoyed the different ZEVIA flavors on the sunny day with the spring time menu!

- Jessica

Zevia at Bellevue Walk-A-Thon

Yesterday, ZEVIA participated in the RotaryWalks! walk-a-thon. Funds raised support the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, with the goal of combating child obesity and raising awareness of healthy lifestyle choices for children.

Stacey did an awesome job coordinating with just two people to her support: Annie, and Stacey’s 10 year old son, William. Almost all participants sampled ZEVIA, with the clear favorite being ZEVIA Natural Orange. Stacey’s theory is that kids love the natural orange, so they request it and then they and their parents taste it.

This event was successful because lots of new people were exposed to the ZEVIA brand and stevia, and money was raised for a good cause. Many of the walk-a-thon participants said they were going to QFC in Bellevue to pick up ZEVIA.

We had stevia plants on hand. Everybody seems so surprised that stevia - many times sweeter than sugar - comes literally from a plant and not a lab. People were ripping stevia leaves off to taste, and then they realize how pure and natural ZEVIA is.

Check out below the photo of William with the Seagals! William loves working the ZEVIA events and passing out samples to kids his own age, but he’s also good at making time for the ladies.

-Derek

ZEVIA in San Bruno, CA - before Michael, after Michael

I know I often gush about our team and how the brains are also the muscle. Today was another good example, as Micheal, our Director of Business and Legal Affairs, was a ZEVIA crusader in the bay area. Michael is demo-ing in the Mollie Stone's stores (see earlier post) this week and weekend and today he hit San Bruno.

I'm attaching 3 shots: The handsome Mr. Spain in fine ZEVIA gear, the ZEVIA on the shelf before the demo, and the ZEVIA on the shelf after the demo. That's right - another sell out! As often happens, when given the opportunity to try ZEVIA (this week a brand new item to Mollie Stones), it often sells out (another case in point is Stacey's sell outs at Jimbo's in San Diego). Great job Michael, and welcome San Bruno ZEVIA fans!

- Jessica

UPDATE: Michael sold out at each sampling he did. Below are some more before and after shots. Next time we demo at Mollie Stones, hopefully they will have ordered more ZEVIA for sale!

-Derek

Zevia is Best Investment Opportunity

Yesterday, we presented ZEVIA to the ZINO Green Forum. ZEVIA is not only the best tasting Diet Soda alternative on the market, we are environmentally conscious, are packaged in recycled aluminum cans (which are notably more recyclable than plastic or glass) and finally we are void of mass produced artificial ingredients. All those things considered, we were a perfect candidate for the ZINO Green Forum, which seeks to invest in companies who are committed to being "green" in its product or company focus.

We were very excited that of the 10 presenters, we were THE winner of the People's Choice award as the best investment opportunity among the attendees! Derek gave an excellent 5 minute pitch (all the companies were alloted 5 minutes), and everyone got a chance to try ZEVIA!!

-Jessica

Speaking of Mollie Stones (and other good news)

Well, speaking of Mollie Stones, Derek and I were in San Fran on Monday, and took a nice run over to Mollie Stones. OK, well we took a little detour to visit the Golden Gate Bridge, then we went to Mollie Stones and found our ZEVIA! We still get excited every time we see ZEVIA on a shelf, and in sunny San Fran, the ZEVIA Cola was especially refreshing.

Meanwhile, back in Seattle, our team was sharing the love at the American Diabetes Association Expo. Everyone was so excited to try ZEVIA, and especially were loving the Root Beer. At the EXPO, our team went through 2,000 cups (recycled) and 100 cases of ZEVIA. ZEVIA is partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the "JDRF", and as many people know, stevia has no effect on blood sugar levels and for that reason is used by many diabetics. Here are Jeff, Annie, and Stacey's son William at the Expo.


Finally, check out Livin' La Vida Low Carb. This great site gives some amazing advice and information for people wanting to live the low carb lifestyle. Congrats to Jimmy Moore who's celebrating his 3rd "Blogiversary" - he's inspired so many people! To help him celebrate, we're providing some ZEVIA mixed cases for his prize packages for his loyal readers.

-Jessica

Zevia Hits San Francisco

ZEVIA is phenomenal. It tastes great, is pure and natural, and successfully helps people kick the diet soda habit. ZEVIA is popular wherever we sell it, but some places seem more natural (pun intended) for ZEVIA.

San Francisco is one such place. The city by the bay is home to a more educated health conscious population. Bay area residents order ZEVIA from our web site very frequently, and have been asking for ZEVIA to be in stores there.

We are excited that ZEVIA is now available in the bay area! The first stores to offer ZEVIA include Mollie Stone’s Markets, with eight locations offering the finest natural products. You can also find ZEVIA at RJ's Market in the Embarcadero, Rainbow Grocery and The Real Food Company. We’ll be in more and more bay area stores over the next few months. If ZEVIA is not yet in your market, please ask the manager to order it. Stores can get ZEVIA from the following distributors: United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), Nature’s Best, and DPI.

Michael Spain, our Director of Business and Legal Affairs, lived in San Francisco for over a decade. He graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law. He’s so excited about ZEVIA coming to San Fran that he’s going to be handing out samples at Mollie Stone’s this week and next.

Please visit Michael at

San Bruno Mollie Stones: Thursday, April 24, 2PM to 6PM
Greenbrae Mollie Stones: Friday, April 25, 3PM to 7PM
Sausalito Mollie Stones: Saturday, April 26, 3PM to 7PM
Burlingame Mollie Stones: Sunday, April 27, 11AM to 3PM
San Mateo Mollie Stones: Sunday, April 27, 4PM to 7PM
Palo Alto Mollie Stones: Monday, April 28, 11AM to 3PM

-Derek

ZEVIA Going Fast At Peggy’s Whole Foods in Florida

The current version of ZEVIA just launched six months ago. You can find ZEVIA all over the northwest, and we recently began distribution in California, Hawaii, and a few other states. ZEVIA is very popular where it is available.

We are working hard to expand our distribution, and we are excited that we will be along the eastern seaboard by mid-summer. But, some stores just can’t wait, and have paid huge amounts to ship ZEVIA across the country even before we have wholesale distributors there.

Peggy’s Whole Foods is a South Daytona, Florida store with the finest quality fresh, natural, organic and whole foods. If you're in the Daytona area, check out the Peggy's Discount Health Food Show on WELE 1380 AM on Fridays from 11 a.m. until noon.

Three weeks ago, Peggy’s ordered a pallet (that’s 100 cases, or 2,400 cans) of ZEVIA for its customers. We were ecstatic, but not totally surprised, when Peggy’s called today to order another pallet. In just a few weeks, the Florida store is almost out of our product because South Daytona loves ZEVIA!

For the 42 states that don’t yet have ZEVIA available at local stores, ZEVIA is on it’s way and hopefully will be in your town by the end of the year. In the meantime, you can get ZEVIA online. And, if your local market is as dedicated to great products as Peggy’s is, then you might get it sooner.

-Derek

A week in the life of ZEVIA .. across the nation!

I remember there was some documentary that took pictures of a bunch of different people in a bunch of different situations across the world at the same hour. I always thought that was a really cool idea. Though I can't capture everywhere that ZEVIA is at a certain hour, I can tell you it's been another exciting busy week in the life of ZEVIA across the nation!

Seattle, WA: Wednesday, April 9 at 1:03 pm.
The Zevia is here! The Zevia is here! We were excited to welcome 20 pallets of Zevia to our Seattle warehouse -- including our new baby ZEVIA Ginger Root Beer. There's Derek pulling the pallet jack, and that is Michael Spain, our amazing Director of Business and Legal Affairs moving the pallets off the truck. We are lean and mean around here, so the "brains" are the "muscle" too!



















Dallas, TX: Friday, April 11
Boy oh boy do we love these photos. Here is a cute case stack of Zevia at Central Market in Dallas. Central Market is the first of hopefully many great retail stores in the great state of Texas that carry ZEVIA. We love when we can catch consumers on these little displays so we can introduce ourselves to those diet soda drinkers perusing the isles for something different ...













San Diego, CA, Friday, April 11 at 2:56 pm


Hello San Diego! Stacey took her sunny self and some delicious Zevia to all the Jimbo's stores in beautiful San Diego. At her demos, Stacey sold OUT of Zevia to thirsty Californians at some stores and at the end of the day, gave ZEVIA Natural Ginger Root Beer a little break by the pool.



















Seattle, WA, Friday, April 11 at 6:30 pm




























Back in Seattle, we were so excited to be a part of the Seeds of Compassion event. The Dalai Lama is here for a 5-day gathering "to engage the hearts and minds of our community by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning." We provided Zevia for the Friday events and were happy that so many enlightened minds were also able to refresh their taste buds. At the event Friday, a discussion was had between the Dalai Lama and Dave Matthews, who later performed for a packed house at Key Arena. It was a very special evening.

Baton Rouge, LA, Sunday, April 13 at 7:54 am

Last, but certainly not least, way down south in Baton Rouge, one of our earliest Zevia fans, Cy Vetter demonstrates that it's never too early for a cold one. Don't worry Cy, your root beer is on the way.

Speaking of which, I'm about due for a cold one!

- Jessica

The Power of Hungry Girl and Yahoo!

Hungry Girl is a hugely popular web site with “tips & tricks for hungry chicks”. It’s written by Lisa “Hungry Girl” Lillien who is the first to admit she’s “not a nutritionist . . . just hungry.” But, her upbeat writing style, fantastic food reviews, and great instinct for the best products has made her the goto girl for the hottest food, beverage, and dietary supplement trends for people who care about healthy eating.

Yahoo! is the most trafficked web site in the world. Among the hundreds of millions of sites, Yahoo! is #1 in large part because it offers great content. Yahoo! has a food blog written by Lisa “Hungry Girl” Lillien.

We offer ZEVIA for sale on the Internet. It’s not the best way to get ZEVIA because shipping liquid is so expensive. Nonetheless, we receive between 5 and 20 orders per day from people who can’t wait for ZEVIA to get to a store near them. When an online order is placed, we receive an email alert.

Yesterday, around 11:40 a.m., we started getting about 10 orders per minute! At first, we thought the system was broken because the emails came in and continued like a flood of rushing water. Within a couple of hours, we had about 400 online orders of ZEVIA to fill (that’s not a typo - seriously, four hundred).

Yahoo! featured for about an hour a link front and center on its home page to the Hungry Girl blog. The Hungry Girl blog top story was called 4 Ways to Ditch Your Diet-Soda Dependency. It recommended ZEVIA, and had a nice photo of a ZEVIA mixed six pack. The power of the influential Hungry Girl, together with the link from Yahoo!’s home page, exposed many thousand people to ZEVIA.

We are so proud to have created a revolutionary product. Everybody who tries ZEVIA loves it, and our sales have beat even our own expectations. The only thing keeping us from helping everybody kick the diet soda habit is getting the word out. We are extremely grateful for you telling people you know about ZEVIA, and we appreciate high profile critics like Hungry Girl recognizing how great tasting and healthy ZEVIA is.

Please help us continue spreading the word. Thanks!

-Derek

KRISTIN Cavallari drinks ZEVIA!

Anyone who knows me KNOWS that one of my guilty pleasures is watching an edited selection of today's best reality television offerings. Two of my all time favorites are MTV's The Hills and it's predecessor show Laguna Beach. I have very little in common with the young girls featured on the show (besides a love for clothes and California), but for some reason find the show very entertaining when I'm done with the day's duties.

So imagine my excitement when I saw this photo of the lovely KRISTIN CAVALLARI (Laguna Beach alum) drinking my favorite flavor ZEVIA Natural Cola. Seems like everyone is trying to kick the diet soda habit for something natural!!

- Jessica

Zevia in San Diego

I went to school at San Diego State and continued living in San Diego after college. I worked as a radio disc jockey, and before that as a radio traffic reporter there. I miss San Diego County, the beautiful beaches, activities, culture, and people.

So, I am particularly thrilled that ZEVIA has made its way to my old home. JIMBO’S, San Diego County's premiere natural and organic foods grocer, now offers ZEVIA! This weekend, come visit ZEVIA’s awesome account executive, Stacey Fujimura, who will be handing out ZEVIA samples at Jimbo’s. Here’s Stacey’s schedule:

Friday, April 11, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Jimbo’s 4S Ranch location, at 10511 4S Commons Drive in San Diego.

Friday, April 11, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Jimbo’s Escondido location at 1633 S. Centre City Pkwy. in Escondido.

Sunday, April 13, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Jimbo’s Carlsbad location at 1923 Calle Barcelona in Carlsbad.

Sunday, April 13, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Jimbo’s Del Mar/Carmel Valley location at 12853 El Camino Real in San Diego.

If ZEVIA is not yet in your San Diego County store, please ask the manager to carry it. San Diego County stores can get ZEVIA from fine natural and specialty distributors such as Nature’s Best, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), and DPI.

-Derek

A friendly reminder: kick the diet soda habit for the sake of your BONES!

Today I had my yearly visit to my OBGYN. After checking me over, as she does every year, she reminded me of the importance of getting my daily portions of fruits and vegetables, and at my age (37) the importance of maintaining my levels of calcium. Specifically, women my age should have 1000-1200 mg of calcium per day (a cup of yogurt has about 468 mg, a cup of low fat milk has about 300 mg).

This reminder emphasized for me, in a BIG way, the importance of letting people know that NONE of our ZEVIA flavors contain phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is added to many colas out on the market today (including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi). This is especially an important thing to know for women, as explained by Osteoporosis-People.com:

"Why is phosphoric acid added to cola beverages? They call it a 'flavor enhancer'. It has no flavor, but it tingles our tongue... it has an acid 'bite', a tangy-ness that we like."

What does phosphoric do to calcium in our bodies? "Calcium is removed from the body by phosphoric acid, and the calcium we lose ultimately comes from our bones."

Remember: "We can lose bone faster than we can build new bone, and we can reach a point where we cannot catch up."

When creating ZEVIA cola (and all other flavors), we learned the dangers of phosphoric acid. In wanting to keep ZEVIA truly healthy, we sought a blend of natural acids that could provide the taste and sensation profile traditionally found through phosphoric acid. I am so happy we took the time to do this. As my doctor reminded me today, not only do we NEED calcium in our bones, we shouldn't be depleting it by something as apparently innocuous as drinking a diet soda.

Kick the diet soda habit - for the sake of your bones!!

- Jessica

Family Fun and Zevia!

I love the sun! I just got back from a fun filled family vacation to the Grand Canyon and San Diego. It is so good for one's psyche to get out of the grey dreary Seattle weather and soak in the rays in warmer climates!

Along with another family we took an RV North from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.


Trying to eat healthy on the road made me realize the market potential for Zevia. Every truck stop and gas station was completely filled with energy drinks loaded with HFCS and caffeine. It is mind boggling how many gimmicky names the marketing gurus have come up with to repackage the same syrupy sweet caffeine variations aimed at different consumer demographics. It was equally stupefying how so many of the energy drink's sugar free cousins market themselves as "all natural" and "healthy" yet are sweetened with Splenda and Aspartame.

It is always interesting speaking with potential Zevia customers. At the various RV parks and scenic stops along the way people would ask me what I was drinking. There are so many people that drink diet sodas knowing the potential harmful side effects. They all seem to know about the dangers yet they continue to poison themselves. Each new friend (people really are friendly on the road, it is great) had a favorite health food or grocery store that they wanted to carry Zevia. I can't wait to make Zevia available to the masses!

Being healthy on the road is a challenge for sure. Zevia is going to make it much easier as we expand and gain more ubiquitus distribution.


The Grand Canyon was a little cold so we pushed on the Las Vegas. Normally one wouldn't think of Vegas as a fun place for kids. But I was pleasantly surprised. It was so cute to listen to my friend's 3 year old repetitively saying "Vegas Baby!"From there it was on to San Diego.
Nice and warm! We went into a terrific store called JIMBO'S and my kids starting yelling "Daddy daddy they have Zevia!" I don't think they actually get it that we make Zevia for everyone to enjoy and not just ourselves. It was actually good luck that Jimbo's carried Zevia as we were running out in the RV and I don't know what I would have drank if I couldn't have replenished our supply.


Overall a great trip. Spending time with family and friends cramped in a RV is more fun than I ever could have imagined. The kids think we need to sell our house and live in an RV full time.

-Ian

At QFC the ZEVIA “just showed up!”

It’s always very exciting when ZEVIA gets on the shelves at the stores where we personally shop.

We are based in Seattle, and fortunate that ZEVIA is available at the best stores here. The first store that took and believed in ZEVIA was Pasta & Co., an exceptional gourmet take-out and food shop with four locations in the Seattle area. Pasta & Co. only offers natural products that are of the highest quality. We were honored that Pasta & Co. took a risk on ZEVIA before it was in any other stores, and we are proud ZEVIA now sells so well there.

In November, PCC Natural Markets began offering ZEVIA. PCC is the best natural market in the Puget Sound area with very discriminating customers that demand the best quality ingredients. ZEVIA sales were excellent right away, and in fact PCC gave us better shelf placement a couple of months after ZEVIA launched because sales were so good. In March, we beat our November sales at PCC by over 150%. Many people are trying ZEVIA at PCC for the first time, and most of them are coming back for more.

Metropolitan Market is a very high end grocery store in the Seattle area. Again, its customers expect only the best. We are so happy that ZEVIA is popular at Met Market.

With ZEVIA selling so well at every store it is in, it’s only a matter of time before other prominent markets order ZEVIA for their customers.

. . . And that's what happened at QFC. QFC is a very well known market in Washington and Oregon. In fact, Jessica and I do our grocery shopping at the QFC on Mercer Island. Ian does his shopping at the QFC on Rainier. It seems like QFC is the store that everybody goes to.

Two weeks ago, Jessica went into our local QFC, introduced herself as Zevia’s Vice President, and asked the manager to carry ZEVIA. The manager was very interested in ZEVIA and promised to order it.

A few days later, Jessica returned and saw ZEVIA was on the shelf at our QFC. She thanked the manager for ordering it. But, he told her that he never placed the order. Instead, he said “it just showed up!”

Last week, QFC decided at the corporate level that ZEVIA should be in about 50 of the fine QFC stores! QFC received customer requests (thank you!). They ordered ZEVIA from one of our distributors, and we didn’t even know it was going to happen. We’ve wanted to pitch QFC for a long time, but never got an appointment. So, we are extremely excited that QFC realized on its own how great ZEVIA is, and how much the QFC shoppers want it.

Now, you can get ZEVIA at almost every QFC. Would you like to sample ZEVIA? Come by the QFC at Bellevue Square today (Friday, April 4) between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to meet Anne, who will be handing out ZEVIA for QFC shoppers to try. Anne will be at the North Broadway QFC tomorrow (Saturday, the 5th) from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and then at the University Village QFC from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. She’ll have coupons for $2.00 off each six pack.

Check out ZEVIA at QFC!

-Derek

Live from ZEVIA production lines!

As I type, fresh Zevia Natural Orange cans are being filled with our delicious Zevia! This morning the "run" started with 8000 cases of Natural Cola, next we ran our first ever production of Zevia Natural Ginger Root Beer. So for Barbara and Laura in Seattle, and Cy in Baton Rouge, and Jamie in northern California (and many others who have been asking for this flavor), this Ginger Root Beer is for you!! It is hard to describe taste, flavor, smell in words, but the GRB has that traditional root beer taste, a perfect sweetness and tang, and finishes really crisp. I am not traditionally a root beer fan (allegiance to my Natural Cola), but this is a real treat and I think you root beer fans will not be disappointed.

Production days are early days, the first cans of Natural Cola came off the line just after 6 am, and before that time, preparations are done (mixing the ingredients, lining up the cans, etc.). So it was another early morning for us (and this morning, an early morning hotel-gym-edition workout). There is nothing like the thrill of seeing our little babies roll off the line (and today, we're talking almost half a million cans).

You will notice we've tweaked the cans a bit. Our dear Stacey (ever positive Account Executive) has affectionately named the cola "red necks", as the neck or rim of the can now has a distinct color to identify the flavor (Red = Natural Cola, Orange = Natural Orange, Limey Green = Natural Twist, Tangy Bronze = Natural Ginger Root Beer).

OK folks, back to the Zevia run, where Natural Orange is just finishing up and Natural Twist is in queue (cute little Limey Necks) ...

- Jessica