Introduction
Allison Ellsworth was experimenting with apple cider vinegar in her kitchen when she discovered an opportunity that would eventually turn into a billion-dollar business.
The former oil and gas professional wanted to make apple cider vinegar more enjoyable to drink. By combining it with fruit juice and sparkling water, she developed the idea behind Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand built around a simple concept: give consumers an alternative to traditional soda without sacrificing taste.
In 2016, Ellsworth began selling her drink at farmers' markets under the name Mother Beverage. Within weeks, a Whole Foods buyer showed interest. Two years later, she and her husband, Stephen Ellsworth, appeared on Shark Tank and secured a $400,000 investment from Rohan Oza.
The company eventually rebranded as Poppi, embraced colorful cans, and used social media to reach a new generation of soda drinkers. In May 2025, PepsiCo completed its acquisition of Poppi for a headline value of $1.95 billion.
Here is how Allison Ellsworth built Poppi from a homemade drink into a nationally recognized beverage brand, how the company grew, and what its journey reveals about building a modern consumer business.
Who Is Allison Ellsworth?
Allison Ellsworth is the co-founder of Poppi, an American beverage brand known for its prebiotic soda. Alongside her husband, Stephen Ellsworth, she helped turn a homemade apple cider vinegar drink into a consumer brand that attracted major retailers, investors, and eventually PepsiCo.
Before launching the business, Ellsworth worked in the oil and gas industry. Frequent travel made it difficult to maintain the lifestyle she wanted, and she began experiencing health concerns that encouraged her to explore changes to her diet.
Her search led her to apple cider vinegar, an ingredient she became interested in after researching ways to improve her routine. However, its strong taste made it difficult to drink regularly.
Rather than give up on the ingredient, Ellsworth began experimenting with different combinations in her kitchen.
Her idea was not to sell vinegar itself. It was to create a drink that people would genuinely enjoy while offering an alternative to conventional soft drinks.
That distinction became the foundation of Poppi.
How Poppi Started
Poppi's story began with homemade recipes combining apple cider vinegar, fruit juice, and sparkling water.
Ellsworth spent months testing different combinations to find a balance between the ingredient she wanted to use and a flavor people would enjoy. The resulting drink became the foundation for Mother Beverage, the business she launched with Stephen.
In 2016, Ellsworth began selling the product at local farmers' markets while preparing for the arrival of her first child.
At that point, the business was small. There was no established beverage brand, extensive distribution network, or national marketing campaign. There was simply a product developed to solve a problem she understood personally.
But the idea had potential beyond its original purpose.
Many consumers were familiar with soda, while others were increasingly interested in alternatives that offered different ingredients and nutritional profiles. Ellsworth saw an opportunity to bring those interests together in a drink that still felt familiar.
The early product gave her a starting point. The challenge was turning it into something that could reach customers far beyond her local market.
Allison Ellsworth's Whole Foods Breakthrough
One of the earliest turning points came when a Whole Foods Market buyer discovered Mother Beverage at a farmers market.
The retailer's interest gave Ellsworth an opportunity to bring her drink to a much larger audience. What began as a local product suddenly had the potential to reach customers through an established grocery chain.
For a small beverage business, that kind of opportunity can change everything. Retail distribution offers access to more customers, but it also requires a business to become more organized, manage production, and consistently meet demand.
Ellsworth and her husband recognized that the idea had potential beyond the farmers market. They committed more fully to the business, leaving their previous jobs to concentrate on building the company.
The timing was significant. They were preparing for the arrival of their child while taking a financial risk on an unproven business.
But the Whole Foods opportunity provided something valuable: evidence that a retailer saw potential in their product.
Instead of remaining a homemade drink sold locally, Mother Beverage had an opportunity to become a recognizable consumer brand.
Allison Ellsworth and the Shark Tank Investment
In 2018, Allison and Stephen Ellsworth appeared on Shark Tank to pitch Mother Beverage to a panel of investors.
Allison was nine months pregnant during the pitch, making the experience particularly memorable. The couple were looking for an investor who could help them take the business beyond its early stages.
They secured an offer from Rohan Oza, who agreed to invest $400,000 in exchange for a 25% stake in the company. Oza's experience in consumer branding and beverages offered the founders more than financial support. He also brought knowledge of how to position a product for a wider market.
The investment became an important milestone in the company's development.
However, getting funding was only part of the challenge. Mother Beverage still needed a brand identity that would appeal to consumers who were not specifically looking for apple cider vinegar drinks.
The founders needed to make the product feel familiar, attractive, and accessible to everyday soda drinkers.
That challenge led to one of the most important decisions in the company's history: changing the brand itself.
From Mother Beverage to Poppi
After the Shark Tank investment, the company rebranded from Mother Beverage to Poppi, officially launching the new brand in 2020.
The transformation went beyond changing the name. The founders moved from glass bottles to colorful cans and developed a more playful identity built around prebiotic soda. The new presentation made the product look less like a specialty wellness drink and more like a modern alternative to conventional soda. That change mattered because consumers do not necessarily buy a beverage for its ingredients alone.
They also respond to flavor, packaging, convenience, price, and the way a product fits into their daily routines. Poppi's bright packaging made it easy to recognize on a shelf or in a social media video. Its product positioning gave consumers a straightforward reason to consider trying something different from traditional soda.
The company retained the original inspiration behind the drink while broadening its appeal. The key decision was to stop presenting the product primarily as an apple cider vinegar drink and build a brand around a new kind of soda. That shift helped establish the identity that would eventually distinguish Poppi in a crowded beverage market.
How TikTok Helped Poppi Grow
Marketing is a major challenge for a new beverage brand competing against companies with established distribution and substantial advertising budgets.
Poppi approached the problem by building a strong digital presence and making social media an important part of its marketing strategy.
TikTok was particularly well suited to the brand. The colorful cans stood out visually, the product was easy to feature in short videos, and the founder's entrepreneurial journey gave the company a story people could follow.
Allison Ellsworth became an important part of that story. By sharing content about the brand and its development, she helped audiences connect with the people behind the product rather than seeing Poppi only as another item on a grocery shelf.
The company also benefited from creator partnerships and influencer exposure, helping introduce its drinks to consumers who might not have discovered them through conventional advertising.
Poppi accumulated more than one billion TikTok page views within 24 months of its early growth period. That figure illustrates the scale of the brand's online attention, although page views are not the same as unique viewers or paying customers.
The strategy helped Poppi build recognition in a category where consumers often encounter new products through social media before seeing them in stores.
Instead of relying entirely on traditional advertising, the company made its product, packaging, and founder story part of the content people encountered online.
From Viral Attention to Retail Expansion
Going viral can introduce a product to millions of people, but attention alone does not create a sustainable business. For Poppi, the next challenge was turning consumer interest into sales.
The company combined its digital marketing strategy with e-commerce and physical retail distribution. Amazon provided another way for consumers to discover and purchase the product, while grocery stores made it accessible to shoppers looking for alternatives to traditional soft drinks.
The brand's colorful packaging and recognizable identity supported both channels. Consumers who saw Poppi in a video could recognize it when they encountered it online or in a store.
The company's growth also benefited from its broader positioning around prebiotic soda. Instead of depending solely on consumers already interested in apple cider vinegar, Poppi could appeal to people who simply wanted to try a different kind of soft drink.
Its expansion reflected an important principle in consumer marketing: awareness becomes more valuable when a product is available where customers want to buy it.
By combining social media, e-commerce, and retail distribution, Poppi created several paths from product discovery to purchase. The result was a brand that could build an audience online while continuing to expand its presence in the physical marketplace.
How Poppi Built a Recognizable Brand
Poppi's growth was not based on its recipe alone.
The company developed a visual identity that helped it stand out from established soda brands. Its colorful cans, fruit-forward flavors, and playful messaging made the product recognizable and well-suited to social media.
That identity also helped connect the product with a broader cultural conversation about food, beverages, and changing consumer preferences.
Poppi expanded its visibility through influencer partnerships, celebrity attention, and major advertising opportunities. In 2024, it made its Super Bowl advertising debut, bringing the brand to a much larger audience. The company returned to the Super Bowl in 2025.
These marketing efforts helped reinforce the brand's position as a modern soda alternative rather than a niche product aimed only at wellness enthusiasts.
The company also demonstrated how packaging could become a marketing asset. Its cans were distinctive enough to feature naturally in videos, product displays, and lifestyle content.
For a consumer brand, that kind of recognition can be valuable. When customers recognize a product quickly, the company has a better chance of standing out among competing choices.
Poppi's branding helped turn a relatively unfamiliar beverage concept into something consumers could understand, remember, and identify with.
The PepsiCo Acquisition: A $1.95 Billion Deal
In March 2025, PepsiCo announced an agreement to acquire Poppi, placing the young beverage brand on a path toward becoming part of one of the world's largest food and beverage companies.
The acquisition was completed on May 19, 2025, at a headline value of $1.95 billion. PepsiCo's announcement explained that the figure included $300 million in anticipated cash tax benefits, producing a net purchase price of $1.65 billion. The deal also included potential performance-based earnout consideration.
The acquisition was significant for both companies.
For PepsiCo, Poppi offered a growing brand in the prebiotic soda category, appealing to consumers interested in alternatives to conventional soft drinks. Its established identity, social media presence, and retail distribution made it a strategic addition to PepsiCo's beverage portfolio.
For Poppi, the acquisition provided access to PepsiCo's distribution capabilities and resources, creating opportunities to bring the product to more consumers.
The deal also demonstrated how a relatively young brand can become attractive to a major corporation when it develops a clear market position and establishes demand among consumers.
Poppi's journey had taken it from a homemade drink to a farmers market product, then to a Shark Tank investment and a nationally recognized beverage brand.
The acquisition represented the next stage of that journey.
What Made Poppi Different?
Poppi's growth came from a combination of product development, branding, and distribution rather than a single breakthrough.
The original idea was rooted in a familiar problem: apple cider vinegar had a strong taste that made it difficult to enjoy as a drink on its own. Ellsworth experimented until she developed a more approachable beverage.
But the founders did not stop at creating a recipe.
They changed the brand name, redesigned the packaging, and positioned the product within the soda category. That made it easier for consumers to understand what Poppi was and why they might want to try it.
The company also recognized the value of social media. Its colorful packaging and founder-led content gave people reasons to engage with the brand, while retail and e-commerce expansion made it easier to purchase.
Finally, Poppi entered a market where consumer interest in different beverage options created room for new brands. Its prebiotic positioning helped distinguish it from conventional soda, although the presence of prebiotics should not be taken as proof that the drink delivers specific health outcomes.
The combination was powerful: a recognizable product concept, memorable branding, digital visibility, and expanding distribution.
Poppi Today
As of October 2026, Poppi is part of PepsiCo's beverage portfolio following the completion of the acquisition in May 2025.
The brand continues to operate in the prebiotic soda category, offering colorful, low-calorie beverages made with prebiotics, fruit juice, and apple cider vinegar. PepsiCo has described Poppi as an addition to its strategy of expanding its offerings to meet changing consumer preferences.
The company is now far removed from its beginnings as a homemade drink sold at a local farmers market. Its journey has included early retail interest from Whole Foods, an investment secured on Shark Tank, a complete rebrand, digital marketing growth, and a multibillion-dollar acquisition.
PepsiCo's ownership gives Poppi access to a much larger commercial infrastructure, although its long-term performance will depend on consumer demand, competition, and how effectively the brand maintains its identity as it scales.
The acquisition value should also be distinguished from annual revenue and profit. While the deal establishes the financial scale of the transaction, it does not by itself reveal Poppi's current standalone profitability.
What is clear is that Ellsworth's original idea has grown into a brand with national recognition and the backing of a major beverage company.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who founded Poppi?
Poppi was co-founded by Allison Ellsworth and her husband, Stephen Ellsworth. Allison developed the original drink concept in her kitchen, experimenting with apple cider vinegar, fruit juice, and sparkling water.
2. What was Poppi originally called?
Poppi originally operated under the name Mother Beverage. The company later rebranded and officially launched Poppi in 2020.
3. How did Allison Ellsworth get her start?
Ellsworth began experimenting with homemade drinks in 2015 and started selling the product at farmers' markets in 2016. Interest from Whole Foods helped the business move toward retail distribution.
4. How much did Rohan Oza invest in Poppi?
Rohan Oza offered $400,000 for a 25% stake in Mother Beverage during the founders' 2018 appearance on Shark Tank.
5. How did Poppi become popular?
Poppi combined colorful packaging, a clear product identity, TikTok marketing, influencer partnerships, e-commerce, and retail expansion. These efforts helped the brand reach consumers beyond its initial farmers market audience.
6. How much did PepsiCo pay for Poppi?
PepsiCo completed the acquisition in May 2025 at a headline value of $1.95 billion, including $300 million in anticipated cash tax benefits. The stated net purchase price was $1.65 billion, with additional potential performance-based earnout consideration.
7. Does Allison Ellsworth still own Poppi?
No. PepsiCo acquired all outstanding equity interests in Poppi in May 2025. The brand is now part of PepsiCo's beverage business.
8. What is Poppi known for?
Poppi is known for its prebiotic soda, colorful cans, fruit-forward flavors, and modern alternative to traditional soft drinks.
Conclusion
Allison Ellsworth's journey began with a simple question: could she make apple cider vinegar into a drink that people would actually enjoy?
She started experimenting in her kitchen, took her product to a farmers market, and discovered that the idea had potential beyond her own needs.
The early interest from Whole Foods helped turn the experiment into a business. The Shark Tank investment provided another opportunity to grow, but the decision to rebrand Mother Beverage as Poppi helped transform how consumers saw the product.
From there, the company combined memorable packaging, social media marketing, e-commerce, and retail distribution to build a recognizable name in the beverage industry.
In May 2025, PepsiCo completed its acquisition of Poppi for a headline value of $1.95 billion, marking a remarkable milestone for a business that started with homemade drinks.
But the most important part of the story is not just the acquisition.
Ellsworth identified a problem, developed a product around it, and continued adapting the business as new opportunities emerged. The company evolved from a local farmers market product into a national brand because it did more than create a recipe: it built a clear identity and found ways to reach consumers.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Poppi offers a useful lesson. A promising idea can be the beginning of a business, but lasting growth requires product development, strong branding, effective distribution, and a willingness to change as the market evolves.
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