DEAL ROOM: PepsiCo’s DRIPS and the Industrialization of “Dirty Soda”
As I launch into The Deal Room, it’s clear that the National Restaurant Association Show and our podcasting work at the event is still very much on my mind.
We had the privilege of having our friends from PepsiCo and specifically Scott Finlow, Global CMO, PepsiCo, and Alison Dempsey, Innovation Lead at PepsiCo Away from Home, join us in the podcast lounge powered by Campbell’s Foodservice (I see you Cambell’s Foodservice and I look forward to our connecting 😊).
The discussion we had was about PepsiCo’s DRIPS by Pepsi and the company’s take on handcrafted beverages designed to help operators stand out.
Let’s be clear, nobody at PepsiCo invented “dirty soda.” The trend has been bubbling up for years out West through chains like Swig (respect Mr. Andrew Smith and the Savory Team) and Sodalicious, fueled by Gen Z, TikTok, customization culture, and consumers looking for indulgence without alcohol.
But PepsiCo may become the first major beverage company to industrialize it and that’s the real signal behind DRIPS by Pepsi.
What Pepsi showcased at the National Restaurant Association Show wasn’t just a few colorful drinks with basil seeds, boba, whipped cream, and flavor bombs. It was something far more important: a structured, scalable operating platform designed to help QSRs, theaters, campuses, and restaurant operators enter the crafted beverage game without having to build the playbook themselves.
That’s a very different story than “dirty soda is trending.” This is Pepsi saying:
Here’s the menu architecture.
Here’s the supply chain.
Here’s the training.
Here’s the branded consumer familiarity.
Here’s the social-media-ready beverage innovation pipeline.
Now go drive traffic, premiumize your beverage mix, and increase check average.
That’s not a fad. That’s infrastructure.
And make no mistake, beverages have quietly become one of the most strategic battlegrounds in restaurant economics. Margins are attractive. Customization drives engagement. Limited-time beverage drops create urgency. And younger consumers increasingly see beverages the way prior generations saw desserts or cocktails: as affordable indulgences and identity statements.
The biggest takeaway here? PepsiCo understands that operators don’t just need products anymore. They need systems.
The restaurant industry has historically struggled to operationalize trends quickly. Operators see something hot on TikTok, but execution at scale is where concepts often break down. DRIPS appears designed to bridge that gap, turning viral beverage culture into something repeatable, trainable, profitable, and scalable across enterprise foodservice.
And Pepsi isn’t stopping at independent experimentation. The company is already testing DRIPS with partners including Regal Cinemas and Saucy! by KFC, effectively using controlled environments as innovation labs before broader deployment.
Translation for investors? This isn’t really about soda. It’s about beverage platforms becoming operating systems for incremental revenue.
In a world where restaurant traffic remains pressured, alcohol consumption is declining, and consumers are still willing to spend on “little luxuries,” the beverage category is becoming one of the few places where operators can simultaneously drive margin, differentiation, personalization, and social engagement.
Dirty soda may have started as a quirky regional trend.
DRIPS suggests Big Beverage now sees it as enterprise software for the fountain machine. Respect!
To learn more about DRIPS by Pepsi, please click here (or contact me directly).
