You've heard of craft beers and microbrews for alcoholic beverages, but now the concept is happening in the non-alcoholic realm. Craft sodas are growing in popularity, with ever-increasing varieties and flavors. There is even a clearinghouse website to categorize, review and rank all of the niche beverages: Five Star Soda.
When I was in Illinois for the holidays, I got a glimpse of the explosion at Rocket Fizz -- a boutique shop that sells old-time candy and dozens of flavors of specialty pop. You could buy bacon pop, grass soda, key lie pie in liquid form or even a bottle of drinkable peanut butter and jelly. I do not vouch for any of the flavors, but they did make a tempting array of new taste sensations.
Some craft sodas are for the aficionados who want the perfect root beer or cream soda. Others are for the novelty. A few years ago you would have never thought there would be a market for coconut cream soda or pumpkin pie pop or numerous companies crafting their own concoctions. But whatever the cause, the craft soda industry and its accompanying stores, web sites, producers and clients are on an upward trajectory.
How can you take a lesson from craft sodas and create a small batch of a specialized product or service? Can you target the few instead of the many in a way that makes sense for your organization? Is there a way you can craft something new instead of reaching into the well over and over for the masses? Like with sodas and beer, small could be very big for you.
Source: Your next soda should be a craft soda, American Way magazine, January, 2017, p. 18 and FiveStarSoda.com
- Rocket Fizz, St. Charles, IL
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