Scaling a beverage brand on the mainland can be difficult enough; try doing it from an island.
Sparkling fruit juice brand Hawaiian Soda Co. did not intend to become a national brand when it was first developed on the island state in 2020, but it has started to establish a retail foothold in the Western U.S. as demand grows for next-gen soft drinks.
“We got a lot of traction with visitors to the islands asking: ‘How do we get this back at home?’,” said co-founder Gina Ho. “My husband (and co-founder Caesar Ho) and I started dipping our feet into what it means to take a local brand and launch it to the mainland.”
Hawaiian Soda Co. currently offers four varieties of soda in 12 oz. slim cans, available for $2.99 SRP. The flavors – Lilikoi (passion fruit) Lychee, Passion Orange Guava, Pineapple Citrus and Mango Sunset – lean heavily on fruit juices native to the islands. The brand will be releasing four new flavors, including a Lilikoi Orange, Luau Punch, Orange Mango Guava and Strawberry Guava.
Originally, the brand launched with gut-friendly prebiotic fiber but pulled back on that value proposition as the category became oversaturated. The team wanted to focus on Hawaiian Soda’s credentials as a no-sugar-added “real fruit juice soda that didn’t compromise on flavor,” Ho said.
“What we found was that [Hawaiian Soda] was not about functionality,” she added. “It was really about an experience, an escape. It was about consumers knowing that they were drinking something better for them, and yet, it felt like a true soda.”
As it moved away from fiber, the brand found itself evolving into an authentic expression of the island’s culture. It’s production, however, also reflected the region’s logistical challenges, as it took over two years to develop a supply chain for regionally sourced ingredients and secure manufacturing.
Hawaiian Soda caught its first big wave in 2023 when it secured a place in retail and CPG investment group Mana Up’s incubator program. Mana Up, along with the state of Hawaii, subsidized the cost for Hawaiian Soda to exhibit at Expo West. Quickly, Hawaiian Soda Co. took off on the islands, going chainwide at Hawaiian regional grocery chain Foodland.
“Mana Up is great at providing resources and connections,” Ho said. “Without Mana Up, we might not have known about all these programs the state of Hawaii provides. Hawaii is not a manufacturing state anymore after the sugarcane plantations closed. These incubator programs help support these initiatives so that brands like ours can grow and thrive here.”
Since then, the brand has built a retail network on the mainland starting on the West Coast and in Texas. The brand is in 1,200 stores, spanning conventional and natural channel chains including Fresh Thyme, Central Market, Raley’s, Lassens and Gelson’s, among others. It has also begun to develop a presence in foodservice and hospitality, Ho said.
The brand is now moving into the club channel with a seven-store Costco rotation in Hawaii, bringing in its first 12-can variety pack format featuring its two best-selling flavors, Passion Orange Guava and Lilikoi Lychee. Leveraging its growing support on the mainland, it will be in over 30 Costcos throughout California.
While the brand would love to support Hawaii manufacturing by producing all its inventory on the islands, it only uses a Hawaiian co-manufacturer for inventory sold on the islands. It uses a separate co-packer to produce beverages for the mainland. Hawaiian Soda Co. is in the process of opening up new distributors in the Pacific Northwest and Las Vegas to continue its expansion.
While there is no easy path to moving a Hawaii-based brand to the mainland, securing distribution and manufacturing partners is a first step. Fellow Hawaiian brand Shaka Tea initially gained a foothold on the mainland after launching in 2016, but struggled to maintain its operations out of its headquarters in Hilo. Even with the support for King’s Hawaiian (which acquired the brand in 2022), Shaka Tea shut down in December.
As it grows its footprint in the Western U.S., Hawaiian Soda will likely build out a sales and operations team on the mainland to support its expansion.
“Our goal is to just be anywhere that people want to experience Hawaii,” Ho said.