As beverage brands race to add more benefits to every can, Fruga is making a simpler pitch: Make it delicious first. The startup’s tropical fruit sodas contain fiber and vitamin C, but unlike many competitors, it doesn’t want functionality to be the headline.
Although each can contains chicory-root fiber and vitamin C from acerola cherry, the startup intentionally positions itself as a tropical fruit soda that Founder Allen García argues is underrepresented in mainstream soda.
While functional beverages encompass slightly over a third of the overall beverage market, the category is continues to be one of the fastest growing segments. Consumer interest in gut health, immunity, energy, hydration and overall wellness is driving the category as consumers look for more benefits without compromising taste.
‘We are not a prebiotic soda’
In contrast, sparkling beverage startup Fruga is taking a flavor-first approach, leading with single-fruit tropical flavors rather than juice blends and functionality.
Fruga’s four flavors – Pink Guava, Passion Fruit, Mango and Pineapple – are designed to highlight each fruit alongside ingredients like raw organic cane sugar, fruit puree, natural flavor, lemon juice and stevia leaf extract. Each 12-ounce can of sparkling fruit soda contains between 30 to 40 calories, 4 grams of chicory root and 3 grams of added sugar, although García says the brand is deliberately positioned differently than a fiber-focused beverage.
“We are not a prebiotic soda. We are not an immune-boosting soda. We are a real fruit soda with fiber, with added benefits,” García said during the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City last month.
García’s inspiration for Fruga stems from his upbringing in Mexico where he was surrounded by tropical fruits, but believed they were underrepresented in mainstream beverages. He pointed out that often tropical fruit beverages were made of fruit blends and contain higher sugar content than Fruga.
“We wanted the fruit, the taste to be the main focus,” with bold and colorful illustrations of the tropical fruits printed on each can to clearly communicate the flavor, he said.
Building scale and momentum
The Miami-based startup launched three years ago and arrived in market a year and a half ago, said Andrew Gardner, who works on sales and distribution for Fruga.
Fruga is sold through Amazon, Shopify and Walmart.com, and has landed retail distribution across Florida, California, Texas, Oregon, the Rocky Mountain region, Wisconsin, the Chicago area and the Carolinas, with New York among one of its newest markets, he said.
The startup co-manufactures in Texas but plans to split production between California and Indiana as it expands distribution, Gardner explained, citing logistics and operational efficiencies.
