Despite the midday heat, the line on Aug. 24 wrapped around the building, muscled into the patio seating and spilled onto East University Boulevard as FiiZ Drinks welcomed University of Arizona students back to Tucson.
That’s how it was throughout FiiZ’s first official day of business.
For the most part, franchisee Traver Riggs and his crew didn’t have to explain a lot about FiiZ’s so-called dirty sodas, brand name sodas kicked up with fruit puree, syrups or dairy, such as half-and-half.
“These college kids know,” Riggs said, even though there’s a good a chance the free samples many of them had on opening day was their first.
Chelsey Sholez, the chief soda manager at FiiZ Drinks, pumps syrup flavoring into a customers dirty soda order on Aug. 27.
Tucson is the latest to join the dirty-soda craze made popular when pop star Olivia Rodrigo posted a photo with a Swig cup in December 2021. By the following spring, #dirtysoda was a trending hashtag on TikTok and all across social media.
Until a few years ago, you had to live in Utah, the unconventional drink’s birthplace, to partake. Swig was the trailblazer when it launched in St. George in 2010, followed by Provo-based Sodalicious in 2013 and FiiZ in 2014 in Bountiful.
The soda shops thrived and found a devoted audience among the majority Mormon population; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prohibits drinking alcohol or hot coffee and tea, so many members instead drink soda.
Although it laid claim to coining the term dirty soda and opening the first shop, Swig was the last one to throw its hat in the franchising ring. Sodalicious and FiiZ punched that ticket in their first couple of years, expanding well outside of Utah.
FiiZ has expanded the furthest, with some 70 locations in 10 states. The Tucson location is the first in Arizona.
Tucson also is the company’s first outpost that doesn’t have a drive-thru, which Riggs said was a hard pitch for FiiZ officials. He had to convince them that the foot traffic along East University’s Main Gate, home to dozens of fast-casual restaurants, a few bars and shops, would more than make up for not having a drive-thru.
Mario Campos, the shift lead at FiiZ Drinks, takes orders on a busy afternoon. The dirty soda shop took the place of Baskin Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts.
FiiZ takes up the corner space on University and North Tyndall Avenue that for years was home to Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, which closed in September 2022.
Riggs said it took him and his wife/partner Kelli two years to secure the spot, which the couple were familiar with when they attended the UA years ago. There were issues with the Dunkin’ lease, he said, and he had to convince the Marshall Foundation, which owns nearly all of the properties along University, that a soda shop was a good fit for the UA-centric entertainment district. The foundation’s real estate agent was the key, Riggs said; she was a frequent visitor to Utah’s ski resorts and had seen firsthand the popularity of the shops.
Riggs, who spent 20 years working as an orthotist, said the idea to open FiiZ was inspired by his nurse practitioner wife, who fell in love with the sodas when she spent time in Utah a couple of years ago.
“My wife wanted a good soda. It’s really kind of how it started,” he recalled. “She’s not a soda drinker, but she would get these and we had nothing like this down here.”
At FiiZ, customers can customize their drinks starting with a base of Mtn Dew, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Coke or Pepsi, or select from a dizzying menu of concoctions pairing the brand soft drinks with coconut water, fruit purees, vanilla cream, half-and-half, pumpkin spice, lavender, fresh lime and 50 flavored syrups.
The store also sells snacks including popcorn; churro, pretzel and pizza bites; and cookie dough bites.
Riggs said his store is the first outpost of FiiZ to be located next to a major university. Saturday’s opening was the third largest in the company’s 10-year history.
FiiZ, 904 E. University Blvd., is open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 8 a.m.-midnight Fridays; 9 a.m.-midnight Saturdays; and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays. See the full menu at fiizdrinks.com.
FiiZ is the second dirty soda shop to open in the Tucson area. Sodalicious put down roots last summer at 9170 N. Silverbell Road in Marana’s Continental Ranch neighborhood.
Sodalicious takes your favorite soda and lets you add flavored syrups and other ingredients that elevate your ordinary drink into an extraordinary treat.
