Poppi

Um-

Yeah, Poppi's a...

Did, were you on the Poppi deal?

Perfect example.

You know, honestly, I d- I, I always struggle with those ones because in the very beginning, they were talking about the probiotics, prebiotics, and all that stuff, and there's not real, you know, there's not, like, a s- ton of science to support that there's any health benefit to that, so I struggled with some of that.

A lot of where you get put on a shelf is determinative of what you put on your package and what the buyers decide for you.

And something that I think we're going to encounter a lot of is that buyers today, they don't really accept the concept of a soda being a functional, which I know sounds strange because, like, Poppi and Olipop exist.

But they really had to define themselves more, I think, less, in less functional terms to be where they are, and more focused on flavor and just soda alternatives, like a healthier, better-for-you soda, than they had to focus on the gut health stuff, at least in the later years when they started to scale.

And something that I think we're encountering is that we probably-- we can't be put on the soda shelves if we are functional, and we can't-- [chuckles] We may not even be able to ourselves, call ourselves a soda if we wanna be on the, uh, on the functional shelf set in the first place, which is the craziest thing to me.

Its lack of a direct impact on your consciousness is not indicative of its safety.

And so all of those things need to be assessed when you look at what you're consuming and why, why it is important to actually r-read the label on everything you have.

But this is why we think it can go-- I wouldn't put it necessarily next to, you know, Olipop and Poppi.

I would put it near Hyo and Recess and Trip, because if you're wandering that aisle, you should be spending more time reading labels and, and recognizing what you're in.

As before observed, Niccolo Fortabraccio was dead.

He had married a daughter of the Count di Poppi, who, at the decease of his son-in-law, held the Borgo San Sepolcro and other fortresses of that district, and while Niccolo lived, governed them in his name.

Claiming them as his daughter's portion, he refused to give them up to the Pope, who demanded them as property held of the Church, and who, upon his refusal, sent the Patriarch with forces to take possession of them.

The Count, finding himself unable to sustain the attack, offered them to the Florentines, who declined them.

Rep number 10004.

But the Pope having returned to Florence, they interceded with him in the Count's behalf.

Difficulties arising, the Patriarch attacked the Casentino, took Prato Vecchio and Romena, and offered them also to the Florentines, who refused them likewise, unless the Pope would consent they should restore them to the Count, to which, after much hesitation, he acceded, on condition that the Florentines should prevail with the Count de Poppi to restore the Borgo to him.

The Pope was thus satisfied, and the Florentines, having so far completed the building of their cathedral church of Santa Reparata, which had been commenced long ago, as to enable them to perform divine service in it, requested his holiness to consecrate it.

What started out as a kitchen experiment with a Sodastream and apple cider vinegar turned into the number one best-selling soda on Amazon in the US, and a $1.95 billion exit with PepsiCo.

We are speaking to Allison Ellsworth, founder of Poppi.

Welcome, Allison.

Hey, thanks for having me.

I believe that your family was kind of in the oil and gas industry as well.

Is it anything like that at all?

Fun fact, I actually, before I started Poppi, was a landman or woman-

Ooh

We love most of them.

But as two Gen Zs, we'd walk the perimeter, we'd walk by beverage, and we'd see Poppi and Olipop and Sanzo and Halfday and all these bright and colorful and exciting brands.

And every subcategory of grocery felt that way.

And tomato sauce was the opposite.

It was old Italian, East Coast, and we were West Coast kids.

And we'd defer to flavor, and it was totally commoditized.

And so somehow we decided there was this two-pronged approach we could take in building a cheeky and fun and dynamic and exciting brand like what we'd seen Poppi and Olipop do, and pair it with innovative and on-trend flavors like maybe what we'd seen in the protein bar set, or really in, in most other condiment sets as well.

And we went all in, and we kinda looked at each other one day and said, "Let's...

Okay, Lisa.

Poppi.

Nice.

I will accept that, Poppi, Olipop.

I, I'm surprised I didn't get Tab from one of the boomers.

Would've thrown a Tab in the mix.

Well, I think when you are doing it from the founder perspective, and we've seen this on just like social media, like having like founder-led creator personalities.

Um, I know you just read about Poppi and how like the founder of Poppi is like their, their social strategy is like entirely, uh, based around her-

Founder content, yep

... founder journey essentially.