Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation
How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Published
- September 22, 2025
- Duration
- 1h 6m
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 24, 2026
Discusses A decade ago, Allison Ellsworth was drinking apple cider vinegar for health reasons and doctoring it…
Summary
A decade ago, Allison Ellsworth was drinking apple cider vinegar for health reasons and doctoring it with fruit so she could stand the taste. Her husband Stephen helped her turn it into a business by adding carbonation on a hacked soda line in their Dallas townhouse. They called it “Mother Beverage,” and sold out every week at the farmers market…but then …
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Show notes
A decade ago, Allison Ellsworth was drinking apple cider vinegar for health reasons and doctoring it with fruit so she could stand the taste. Her husband Stephen helped her turn it into a business by adding carbonation on a hacked soda line in their Dallas townhouse. They called it “Mother Beverage,” and sold out every week at the farmers market…but then heard the words no founder forgets: “Your branding is…sh*t.” What happens next is one of the wildest CPG glow-ups of the 2010s: a Shark Tank de