How Poppi Became a $2 Billion Soda Company

Allison Ellsworth didn’t start out aiming to reinvent soda. But out of a home-brewed apple cider vinegar concoction came Poppi, one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in America , with an aesthetic built for TikTok and a health-focused message that you can have big flavor with just five grams of sugar. That plus $500 million in sales last year—the brand’s fourth year in business under the name Poppi—was enough for PepsiCo to swoop in and buy the company in May for nearly $2 billion. We spoke with Ellsworth on a bright summer morning at Poppi’s pink-painted headquarters, in East Austin.

TEXAS MONTHLY: Let’s start with your roots. What did your parents do?

Allison Ellsworth: My dad was in oil and gas. He was a seismic driller in the eighties, and he made a lot of money and then los