Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, describes the rapid growth in e-commerce revenue after their brand update aired on Shark Tank in April 2020.
Assertion Supported
Lakers' official soda Poppi cannot be sold in the team's arena
“We are the official soda of the Lakers, and we're not allowed to be sold in that stadium because of contracts.”
Insight
Beverage brands cannot access UNFI distribution without retail accounts secured
“It's like the chicken or the egg, like, get into Unify if you don't have a retailer. If you don't have a retailer, you can't get in.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
No better-for-you beverage brand used brightly colored cans before Poppi's rebrand
“Hands down, I will say I was wrong. Colored cans were the way to go. It just popped off the shelf, and no one was doing better for you with color at the time.”
Insight
Ellsworth: Modern soda brands must package in 12-ounce cans, not glass
“If we're gonna call ourselves soda, we can no longer be in glass bottles. We 100% have to be in 12 ounce soda cans.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Viral TikTok video generated $100,000 in overnight Amazon sales for Poppi
“Honestly, one night, I sat down on the couch, and I just told my story. I did it in one minute or less of, started this in my kitchen, got a deal on Shark Tank, it's five grams of sugar, it's apple cider vinegar, it's this, dah, dah, dah, and I posted it and w…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Poppi founders launched the beverage brand with $90,000 in personal capital
“Yeah, so I went to my sister, who's always been a really big believer in me, and she ended up giving us 30,000 dollars. My dad gave us 30,000 dollars, and then we put 30,000 dollars in of our own money. So basically a total of 90,000 dollars, which was everyth…”