Alameda Craft Soda Company Takes on Soft Drink Giants
ALAMEDA (KPIX) -- Alameda Point is home to a number of craft beverage companies, from beer and wine to hard spirits. And now you can add soda as two local businessmen try to take on Coke and Pepsi.
Sky Pace isn't afraid of a challenge. That's why he left a 15-year career at one of the big soda companies as a matter of conscience.
"When I had my daughters, I realized, you know what, I wouldn't let my kids drink this stuff, why do I care about it?" he said. "And so I decided to make something better."
In 2016, Pace teamed up with Anthony Sloan, another veteran of big soda, to create the Alameda Craft Soda Company. The business operates out of an old airplane hangar at the former naval air station.
There they create the 34 different flavors, which are then sent to a Canadian plant to add the pure cane sugar. Then the syrup is trucked back to supply soda fountains in local restaurants like Scolari's in Alameda.
Scolari's manager Rafa Guzman said his customers appreciate the local connection. And then there's the taste.
"Just like when you go to a brewery and you taste a really freshly made beer. You taste that crispness," said Guzman. "The carbonation is actually right and the flavors are great."
But even a great product seems like a long shot considering the size of the competition. But Pace was not discouraged.
"When people would ask me, 'Who's your main competitors?' I would say, 'Coke and Pepsi.' They're like, 'That's a pretty uphill battle.' And I said, 'Yeah, I never looked at it that way,'" Pace explained.
As Chief Financial Officer, Sloan looked at it long and hard, but then decided it was worth the gamble.
"You know, we may be small, but to be able to do something locally here and have something that people have a personal connection to, means a lot," Sloan said. "And it meant a lot to me."
Now the challenge is getting the entire production moved closer to home. The pandemic killed business for nearly two years, but now sales are increasing and it feels like the company is back on track. And maybe a little wiser for the experience.
"We've come to realize that things aren't as we expect them to be," said Pace. "And it's not about what we think; it's about what is. Trying to plan in this kind of environment is impossible."
So does lining up against Coke and Pepsi make them soda jerks or soda geniuses? The market will determine that. But the partners say they intend to stay true to their original mission.
"I don't think we ever want to get too big that we're not unique, put it that way," said Sloan. "But we could get a little bigger."
