FLAVORS
HOUSEMADE SODA TIPS
They contracted with a stainless-steel manufacturer, a plumber and a
beer company to maintain the tubing
and refrigeration for their carbonated
beverage maker. They purchased
a multichiller refrigeration machine
that makes carbonated water. And
they started experimenting until they
found winning syrup flavors, such
as pomegranate, lime, strawberry,
cardamom, cream, ginger and celery—all
using cane sugar or the sweetness of
the natural fruit.
But there was more to it than just the
margin. By making sodas, Saul’s saves
20,000 cans and bottles a year, and by
substituting paper straws, it saves on
using 360,000 plastic straws. Adelman
and Levitt use only cane sugar, firm in the
belief that high-fructose corn syrup should
have no place in the business.
“Stick to things that are seasonal, like
fruit. The quality and flavor is so much
better with seasonal fruit. It makes a big
difference when you use seasonal fruit
and items that are grown organically.”
—Deborah Blum, owner, Starbelly,
San Francisco
“It’s been wildly successful,” says
Adelman. “Sure, we get some people
saying, ‘Where’s the real soda?’ And
to satisfy them, we buy some syrup
from Boylan’s [Boylan Bottling Co.,
Moonachie, N.J.]. But most people
are really thrilled with our homemade
sodas, and find that they go well with the
smoked meats.”
The homemade sodas have been
extremely popular among diners, but
there is a labor cost when it comes to
their creation. “You don’t just push a
button,” Levitt says. “You might have to
pump a syrup or squeeze a fresh fruit
juice and then add syrup and ice. There’s
judgment and measuring involved, and for
a dedicated soda program, you really need
a soda jerk who cares about each drink.”
“Try to come up with something new and
original without it being too foreign or
unconventional. People don’t want to try
something they don’t understand, and
are unlikely to drink something to which
they cannot relate. So avoid crazy ideas
that don’t work.”
—Tad Carducci, beverage director,
Tippling Bros.
“Use club soda or soda guns, or make
your own soda. Flavoring can be as
simple as fresh ginger, and you can
purchase lots of syrups, though it’s fun
to make your own and the choices are
many. Squeeze fruit and vegetables,
make your own teas, have fun with it.”
—Clark Wolf, restaurant consultant,
New York and Sonoma, Calif.
For restaurants accustomed to using a
standard Coca-Cola machine, creating their
own infrastructure for homemade sodas is
unlikely to save money, says Levitt. “But our
customer base was expecting Dr. Brown’s
soda, and by the time we took into account
shipping and the cost of recycling the
bottles, the sodas weren’t cheap,” he says.
NO ALCOHOL? NO PROBLEM
The beverage menu at San Francisco’s
Starbelly includes a strawberry cooler, a
ginger/lime rickey, lavender lemonade
and a grape cooler, which owner Deborah
Blum has made on-site since the
restaurant opened a year ago.
diners a greater variety of water options
on the house. They can choose filtered still
water, at room temperature or chilled, or
filtered carbonated water.
The National Culinary Review | January 2011
Saul’s was paying almost $2 per bottle
for Dr. Brown’s soda coming into the
restaurant, so there wasn’t much room for
a margin. “Our margin doubled or tripled
when we started making soda ourselves,”
Levitt says. The homemade soda is $2.95
for a 16-oz. glass.
“We wanted to offer more interesting
nonalcoholic beverages, using some of the
herbs we grow out back in our garden,”
she says. “We’re sweetening our sodas
with natural cane sugar, and when we
choose bottled sodas, we make sure to
avoid those containing high-fructose corn
syrup, which is toxic for the body.”
Blum installed a carbonated-water machine
in the restaurant, which filters the water,
chills it and carbonates it. In addition to
homemade sodas, she’s also able to offer
The syrups for the sodas are prepared
by kitchen staff. “They prepare the
purées, measuring the exact ounces
of everything that goes into a drink to
ensure that the proportions are always
the same and the drink is high quality,”
Blum says. “That’s helped ensure the
consistency of the final product.”
Blum believes there is high demand for
more variety when it comes to nonalcoholic
