Contributed/Photo by Robert Johnson | Michaela Johnson crafts a Fueld Dirty Soda custom beverage during a recent local event. The Fresno-based mobile drink venture is tapping into the growing regional demand for “dirty sodas” and customizable specialty beverages.
As restaurant traffic softens and consumers become more selective about spending, Fresno-area food businesses are finding growth in one category customers continue to splurge on: specialty beverages.
Craft beverages have remained resilient despite lingering economic uncertainty, according to The Food Institute, creating new opportunities for restaurants, cafés and markets. Whether it’s a coffee to-go, a tea latte or a fruit smoothie, consumers are increasingly choosing beverages as an affordable indulgence, prompting Valley businesses to expand drink menus with customizable, social media-friendly offerings.
For businesses, specialty drinks are a natural fit. They can be prepared quickly, built from existing menu ingredients and customized with premium add-ons, while offering customers an experience that’s often easier to purchase than recreate at home.
Today’s fastest-growing beverage trends emphasize customization, colorful presentation and globally inspired flavors, giving local businesses new ways to attract customers and encourage repeat visits.
Affordable Indulgence
Erewhon, an LA-based natural foods market, made national headlines in 2022 after releasing its $17 Coconut Cloud Smoothie in March and again in June when it collaborated with model Hailey Bieber to create a $20 smoothie bearing her name.
TikTok and Instagram were flooded with videos of people trying the smoothies to see if they were worth their luxury price tags. Four years later, the novelty has worn off, but Erewhon’s premium smoothies continue to draw customers.
Seeing a gap in Fresno’s designer drink market, Expressery Deli & Market introduced its own line of luxury smoothie dupes for less than half the price.
The market, near the corner of Divisadero and North Tuolumne streets in downtown Fresno, offers made-to-order smoothies, deli sandwiches and grab-and-go convenience foods.
Starting at $7.99, its smoothies blend frozen fruit with dairy or non-dairy milk, sweetened with dates and agave and topped with a coconut whip swirl. Customers can add premium plant milks, extra fruit and spirulina algae powder for an additional charge.
Global flavors and customization
While Expressery focuses on premium smoothies, other Fresno businesses are leaning into internationally inspired coffee and tea beverages.
Early Birds Cafe owner Kanit Soukaseum opened the brunch restaurant in May with a full American breakfast and lunch menu alongside Asian-inspired coffee and tea drinks.
“We’re going to add the Vietnamese coffee that’s very popular in this area — a homemade Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk — we’re going to give you five different choices of cold foam, including ube and banana cold foam,” Soukaseum said shortly before Early Birds’ grand opening.
Ube, a purple yam indigenous to the Philippines, has become a popular ingredient for its vibrant color and naturally sweet flavor. Starbucks also embraced the trend earlier this year with its iced ube coconut macchiato.
Saizon’s sister company, Otherside Coffee Roasters, also offers its own version of an ube matcha latte.
Another strategy local operators are embracing is nearly unlimited customization.
Drip Tea Cafe, a premium matcha and loose-leaf tea shop in Clovis, offers specialty tea drinks with dairy and non-dairy options, multiple sweetness levels and a wide variety of toppings.
Reflecting trends that first gained traction in larger metro markets, the café recently introduced dot drinks inspired by colorful confetti-topped dot cakes that have become popular on social media.
Starting at $9, customers can build a matcha latte with their choice of milk and add bobas, puddings, jellies and other toppings for about 75 cents each.
Locally owned Spirit Made Cakes now offers dot cake cups, the inspiration behind Drip Tea Cafe’s dot lattes, for customers curious about the trend.
Dirty sodas fuel a growing niche
Another fast-growing specialty beverage trend comes from Utah, where dirty sodas were created as an alternative to traditional coffee drinks.
Made by combining soda with cream, flavored syrups, fruit and candy toppings, dirty sodas have expanded well beyond the Latter-day Saint community and are now offered by several local businesses, including Fueld Soda Co.
Fueld Soda Co. is a pop-up dirty soda and energy drink business operated by husband-and-wife team Michaela and Robert Johnson.
For the couple, launching the business provided a way to offset childcare costs while building savings for their son, whose nickname inspired the company’s name.
“His middle name is Jett. We’ve had this joke since he was born. We call his milk, and anything he drinks or eats now, his jet fuel,” Michaela said. “When we were coming up with a name, we were like, ‘Fueled,’ then we can call the energy drinks jet fuel.”
The Johnsons sell from their home, operate pop-up booths at local events and cater private gatherings, including a recent graduation party.
“If we’re selling from home, I would say a good day would be about 15 drinks sold. An event would probably be around 60 to 70.”
Michaela said dirty sodas are especially popular with younger customers, recalling long lines of graduates eager to try the drinks at recent events.
While she sees long-term potential for the business, she and her husband plan to continue operating Fueld Soda Co. as a mobile pop-up and catering business while keeping their full-time jobs and raising their son.
Whether through premium smoothie dupes, Vietnamese coffee, colorful matcha creations or dirty sodas, Fresno-area businesses are proving that consumers continue to make room in their budgets for affordable indulgences. For local operators, specialty beverages have become more than a passing trend—they’re another way to attract customers, encourage repeat visits and stand out in an increasingly competitive food and beverage market.