The Soda Alternative Playbook: Olipop vs. Poppi vs. Ghia — The Full Revenue Picture

The "better-for-you soda" category has produced three genuine breakout brands in the past four years. Olipop and Poppi are fighting over the mainstream consumer. Ghia is building something deliberately different. The numbers behind each tell a story that the marketing does not.

Olipop: The Walmart Play

Olipop is the category leader by revenue. We estimate their annual run rate at approximately $400M — a figure supported by their widely reported $1.85B valuation (they trade at roughly 4–5x revenue for a brand at their stage) and the scale of their retail footprint.

Their distribution strategy is the most mainstream of the three: Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, and now Costco in select regions. We estimate 65,000+ retail doors in the US, which at an average velocity of $35 per door per week puts their retail revenue alone at approximately $118M annually. Amazon adds another $22M. DTC is relatively small — maybe $18M — because Olipop has leaned hard into retail where margins are compressed but volume is massive.

The Walmart relationship is Olipop's crown jewel. They are in roughly 4,200 Walmart locations — more than any other functional beverage brand — and Walmart's purchasing volume at scale gives them manufacturing leverage that competitors cannot match at the same price point.

Poppi: Amazon-First, Then Everywhere

Poppi's story is different. They built Amazon first, which gave them proof of demand before they went to retail. Their Amazon monthly run rate sits at approximately $4.2M — among the highest in the functional beverage category — driven by a wide SKU lineup across 20+ flavors and aggressive Subscribe & Save pricing.

We estimate Poppi's total annual revenue at approximately $160M, with retail (40,000+ doors including Target, Whole Foods, HEB, and Publix) contributing roughly $110M and Amazon contributing $50M. Their DTC presence is minimal — they made a strategic decision early that their DTC economics would never compete with their retail and Amazon margins given the perishable nature of beverages.

Poppi's acquisition by PepsiCo (announced at $1.65B in early 2025) validates the Amazon-to-retail playbook but also closes the chapter on them as an independent brand. The most interesting question now is what PepsiCo does with the distribution — and whether it accelerates or dilutes the brand's premium positioning.

Ghia: The Deliberate Premium Play

Ghia is not trying to be Olipop. Founded by Melanie Masarin, Ghia built a non-alcoholic aperitif brand for a customer who cares as much about the ritual as the beverage itself. The result is a brand with lower revenue than both competitors but likely higher margins and a more defensible long-term position.

We estimate Ghia's annual revenue at approximately $28M — small by comparison but with a very different margin structure. Their price point ($38–$45 for a 750ml bottle) is 3x–4x Olipop's per-unit price. DTC accounts for roughly 45% of their revenue, which is extraordinarily high for a beverage brand and tells you something about customer loyalty and willingness to pay shipping costs.

The Strategic Takeaway

These three brands illustrate that there is no single playbook for building a category-defining beverage brand. Olipop won on volume and mainstream distribution. Poppi won on Amazon velocity and was acquired for it. Ghia is winning on premium positioning and customer intimacy.

What is interesting is that all three are profitable or close to it — which was not true of most beverage brands that raised at similar valuations in 2021. The category correction forced discipline. The brands that survived it built real businesses.

The next wave of soda alternatives — brands like Aura Bora, Hiyo, and Recess — are watching these three playbooks carefully and betting on which one applies to their specific positioning. Our money is on Hiyo, whose non-alcoholic social occasion frame most closely mirrors what made Olipop successful at mass retail.