We talked to Caleb, 16, and Gretchen, 14 at our Columbia market. Together they have an old fashioned soda business. Check out what they had to say below!
Tell us about your business. How did you first get the idea?
Phosphate and Fizz is a recreation of the classic American soda fountains. We make sodas the old-fashioned way using house-made all-natural syrups and flavorings from raw ingredients such as fruits, roots, herbs, and flowers. Our Phosphates use a once popular but now rare ingredient called “acid phosphate”, which give the drink a unique tartness.
We originally got into making sodas at home for fun with our dad. He had a book about the history of soda fountains and I found it so intriguing that I wrote a book report on it for school. Once we started sharing our sodas with friends we found that everyone loved our sodas and kept asking if they could buy them and when will we start bottling them. We also made our specialty sodas and served them at a school fundraiser and everyone really enjoyed that. After that, people have asked us if we would make and serve our custom sodas at their private events, like birthday parties.
What supplies and resources did you need to get going? How did you get a hold of them?
Most of our ingredients are readily available at grocery stores. We also get a few specialty ingredients from online sources, such as acid phosphate and some herbal ingredients like hibiscus. Other than that, it is just finding a good deal on a lot of cups.
What are some of the challenges in your business, and how did you overcome them?
I guess the first challenge was to come up with all the recipes. We had to experiment with how much fruit and sugar to use in our syrups and we tested different methods of extracting the flavors. It turns out that we had to use different methods for different ingredients. Then after we had good syrups, we had to come up with good ratios and combinations for the actual soda.
Another challenge is trying to decide our menu for an event, what sodas might be popular that day, and approximate how many drinks we might serve. We have to make the correct amount of syrups for each soda and some sodas include more than one syrup. If we make too much then we may end up wasting money on supplies, but if we don’t make enough, a lot of people will be disappointed.
Do you have any advice for aspiring kid entrepreneurs?
Find something interesting and unique that you like doing. Maybe your friends tell you that you are good at making something. Maybe you would enjoy sharing that with other people. Just think about how you could make that happen and stick with it!
How can potential customers get in touch with you?
Visit our website at PhosphateAndFizz.com and fill out the contact form.
We are available for private events and will be at future markets in Nashville, TN and surrounding areas.
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