The concept of “dirty soda” has quickly become popular in many parts of the U.S., with some restaurants exclusively focused on serving the creative blends of soda, flavored mix-ins and creamers.
EG America, which owns several c-store banners, including Cumberland Farms, Tom Thumb and Fastrac, is tapping into that interest to create an interactive customer experience and innovate its dispensed beverage program without changing machines or overhauling its assortment.
EG America’s beverage team got on board with dirty soda when reps from Dr Pepper shared a recipe for a Dirty Dr Pepper drink, said Shauna Seidenberg, category manager for coffee and dispensed beverages with EG America. The recipe combines Dr Pepper, a lime flavor shot from the soda dispenser and a coconut flavor shot from the coffee mix-in area. The concoction is topped off with creamer.
The c-store chain shared the recipe with customers in June.
“We posted a video on Instagram around making that recipe, and it got quite a bit of views relative to some of our other stuff,” said Seidenberg.
One of the company’s slogans,“It’s perfect because you made it,” indicates the level of customization it offers across its coffee, soda and frozen drinks departments.
“This is another level of that,” said Seidenberg. “Now we can add some flavor shots from the fountain machine and also from the coffee area.”
While not all of the company’s U.S. stores have soda dispensers with the flavor shot option, the machines are in hundreds of its sites, Seidenberg said. Customers in these stores can select lemon, lime, vanilla or cherry flavor shots that get dispensed straight from the machine.
While EG America’s Dirty Dr Pepper video launched in June, other aspects of the program rolled out earlier this month, including in-store signage and a website that shares the recipes for drinks like the oatmeal cookie and Shirley Temple. Customers can also experiment with their own flavors.
By tapping into this trend, EG America has earned a sizable amount of organic marketing on social media.
“People are sort of making their own videos, saying ‘making a dirty soda at Cumberland Farm,’” said Seidenberg. “And the comments are really fun to read, because people are so surprised by the idea and really open to it and into it.”
One user even included the tagline “who needs Swig anyway” with their TikTok showing off a cherry vanilla recipe. Swig is the restaurant that bills itself as the “home of the original dirty soda.”
A variety of improvements
The dirty soda program is part of a larger push EG America is making to evolve its dispensed beverage program. Toward the end of 2023, the company began tailoring its fountain beverage areas to regional tastes and added a fountain version of its NRG Kick 2.0 energy drink across all its banners.
Seidenberg noted that having the energy drink in a dispenser can be a differentiator for value-focused shoppers as well.
“Pouring it off of a fountain and getting … a larger cup for a little bit of a different price than some of the other energy drinks is a real draw for some of our customers,” she said.
This year, the company also decided to add Dr Pepper Zero to every store where it had space. That rollout should be complete by November. Dr Pepper was already a popular and growing brand among EG America’s customers.
“When Dr Pepper Zero was introduced as a fountain product, we knew we had to have it, that our customers would be looking for it,” said Seidenberg.
In its hot beverage program, EG America is bringing back its peppermint hot chocolate and adding gingerbread syrup for the holiday season.
“We strive to be an innovative company, and [push] the envelope on beverage, food and retail trends in general,” said Seidenberg.
