YouSaid · the spoken record

Allison Ellsworth

lines on the record: 51
first: 2025-09-22
most recent: 2025-09-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It's Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, the co founders of Poppy. By the way, Alison is heading back to Shark Tank once again for its new”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you think about the journey you took, and this has really started in 2016, and here we are 2025, and really started in 2020, rebranded. And it's been a massive success. I mean, how much of that and your journey do you attribute to the work and the grind, and how much do you think had to do with luck and timing and circumstances, people being open to this product today? Stephen?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm curious as you were building the business, right, in the early days, you were a couple, right? And a lot of times, on this show, if I've asked people, would you work with your partner? And there are different kinds of responses. But I would say, and I work with my wife, but I would say a lot of people would say, I'll never work with my partner. I can't. It's too complicated. Were there ever moments where your business relationship created tension, or do you think just your personalities are just naturally matched to make the business side work too?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When Pepsi approached you with such a company with such a huge offer, I mean, it must have just been mind-blowing to imagine that that was going to be the outcome.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They have massive distribution. I think it's not a secret. Pepsi acquired Poppy in March 2025 for almost $2 billion, which was just incredible. Between the time you launched and March of 2025, it was essentially five years.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So when did it start to become clear to you guys that Know, and I'm assuming when Rohan got involved, part of the conversation was well, there's got to be an exit here, right? Maybe it's an acquisition, or we go public, or something like that. And I imagine that once you hit 500 million, maybe even once you hit 100 million in sales, you start to get interest in potential acquirers.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm curious, better for you as a tricky word because a lot of people clean and other terms that are not sort of technically legally defined. But obviously Poppy has considerably less sugar than a can of Coke, right? A can of Coke has, what, 25, 30 grams of sugar, maybe more poppy on average, I think is five grams of sugar, and it's got a little bit of two grams of fiber. How would you identify the people who are buying it? Were they buying it because they felt like it was healthier or were they buying it because they liked the taste? Or what did you start to find out about the people buying it? Were they buying it for what it's perceived functional benefits or for completely different reasons?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's amazing. I mean, the growth of the product really just kind of explodes after the launch, the rebrand and the launch in 2020. By 2023, it's 100 million in sales. And then the next year, I think it's 500 million in sales. I'm curious, were you... Were you thinking that regular soda was your competition, or did you think that sort of quote-unquote better for you drinks or less lower in sugar drinks were your competition?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tell me about, I mean, that, you know, and we've heard this before, which is a shark tank episode can really boost sales, but then it can slow down. Then things can slow down and people stop ordering. I think for you guys, what really helped in some ways, because it's still COVID and people are still not, you know, people are going to grocery stores, but... It was a different experience. I think for you guys, social media really became a lifeline, especially TikTok. Tell me a little bit about how you started to use TikTok and how that began and how you used it.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so there's an update on Shark Tank. I think that airs in April of 2020, just kind of an update on what's going on with your brand. And that, I think instantly you get to boost, right? And on most of your sales at this point are through Amazon, direct to consumer.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We come back in just a moment. Poppy's big launch in March of 2020 is completely derailed. Stay with us, I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to how I built this. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Ross. So it's March of 2020 and Mother Beverage has rebranded as Poppy and it's ready for its maiden voyage at one of the biggest trade shows in the country. Expo West in Anaheim, California.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So when he offers you four grand for 25% of the company, but the other thing, I guess, was that Rohan says to you guys, hey, you need a complete overhaul, a complete rebrand. Tell me about what he said to you and how you reacted to that initially.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You go on. I know that you don't normally meet the sharks until the screen opens and you walk on stage and you start pitching. And one of the sharks was a guest shark, Rohan Oza, who had been involved in branding around for Coca-Cola products, and he was involved in Bai, and he involved in other, I think, vitamin water. I can't remember exactly what. Tell me a little bit about, so you make the pitch and people can see it. And did you feel like sometimes they're not always so nice? Did you feel like they were nice to you guys?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so you find out that you are going to go to LA and appear on Shark Tank. And usually the way it works based on conversations we've had on this show with other people who've been on it is that you film it. And then a few months later it airs and you're not always sure whether you're going to be on it. I mean, usually they kind of give you a heads up that you're going to make it on, but they do cut people out. I guess 2018 you both fly out to LA to film your episode?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, see the product really launches in 2016. And I want to talk about Shark Tank because this happens, your episode appears in 2018. I don't know when you filmed it, but tell me about the Shark Tank strategy, because clearly this was a strategy to get attention and maybe to attract some investment and to kind of supercharge the brand. How did that, was it a conversation that the two of you had that you thought, hey, let's try our hand a shark tank?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. This just sounds like a crazy life, right? Because you are trying to expand the business. You're trying to get people to buy the product. How is it doing? I mean, was it a hit at Whole Food? I mean, hit is a relative term, right? Because it's not like all of a sudden, you know, there's a windfall of cash, but was it successful more or less at Whole Foods right away?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“How about employees, Steven? I mean, both of you guys are running this business together. But I have to assume you could physically do everything and load the bottles into the cases and all this stuff. Did you hire temporary people or did you start to hire full-time people to help?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when you were in Whole Foods, right, you got a distributor because that's part of the requirement, how did you then get people to be aware of it? Would you go in? By the way, you're also, the two of you also have a baby, a brand new baby at home. So tell me what you were doing. You were going in and setting up a table and just asking people if they wanted to try this new product?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, you're sort of working on this for many, many months, and now it's time to go into Whole Foods. And did you start with just one Whole Foods in Dallas?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, how, I mean, how were you doing that? It was like a soda fountain. You go to a burger place and you've got your soda fountain and you just put your cup under it. Was it a version of that, but with bottles?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You were like pouring vinegar into vats. And what pouring fruits into the vats? Like, what, tell me about the process of working in the warehouse?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But really, for this first initial run at Whole Foods, maybe even the first year or so, this is all being made by hand, basically.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When we come back in just a moment, Allison and Steven are told that they're branding totally sucks. Stay with us, I'm Guy Ross, and you're listening to how I built this. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So it's around 2016, and a buyer at Whole Foods has encouraged Stephen and Allison to ramp up production of Mother Beverage. And you'd think that they'd find a bottling plant to partner with. But they don't. They end up renting their own warehouse because no co-packer wants to work with them.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What does she say to you? Does she say, I mean, was it at that moment where she says, Would you guys be interested in coming to Whole Foods?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tell me the story. A Whole Foods buyer, Whole Foods based out of Austin initially, started in Austin now, of course, and a buyer comes to the farmer's market.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, like a sort of a soury taste that people were already kind of used to. And so when you put, like you set up a table at the farmer's market in Dallas, I mean, who was buying it? Was it just curious people who were like, I'll try this or what? Who were they?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you, by the summer of 2016, you ready, or I guess maybe even earlier than that, you're ready to kind of debut this at a farmer's market in Dallas. Tell me, Alice, and what was the plan? I mean, you would just set up a table and put them there. And what were you selling people? What was the promise that you were making that it was going to make them feel better? Like it made you feel better?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so tell me about the name that you came up with and even the sort of the look of it. Because you called it mother beverage, right? So that was the first thing. Tell me about that name.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I want to, I mean, how did you at that point you need some money? Did you go around asking people to invest in your business?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, how much initially in that first sort of six months of 2016 would you estimate you invested in equipment? Was it that expense? Was it really expensive or was it relatively cheap?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I just want to understand this. First of all, how did you even learn how to do that? I mean, because there's like a science to it and the pH levels, and obviously trial and error with the exploding bottles. But how did you know what to buy and how to make it? Was it just purely like Google research?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, you're making this. This is like 2015-ish. Tell me how, what even making it for yourself is one thing, but deciding to pursue this as a business is another thing. And oftentimes you need outside validation. You need people who are telling you, hey, you have something here. So was that happening? Who was saying that?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And as you're doing this, what are some of the other things that you're doing to make it more palatable? I actually love the taste of apples. I buy those giant bottles at Costco. You get like three or four, you know. But it sounds like you did not love the taste of it in water, that you were trying to mask it somehow.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you are, this is having an impact. And like any time people find something that starts to really help them, they get really passionate about it because I've been in this position too, and I'm sure you're just like talking up apple cider vinegar to anybody who would listen. But to some people, they might be like, that's weird. That sounds weird. You're doing what?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, I guess we should pause and talk about apple cider vinegar for a moment because I take it every day and I take a shot of it and dilute it in eight to 12 ounces of water. You're not supposed to drink it straight. It's not actually good for your throat. But there's a lot of research that shows that it does have an impact on On insulin sensitivity, which lowers blood sugar.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. All right. So you guys are working. And Alice, in the meantime, you're dealing with just this frustration about not feeling well. And I guess at a certain point, maybe you found something online, you started to experiment with apple cider vinegar, like to take, I guess, to dilute it in water and see if that would make you feel better.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, let's back up a little bit. He'd be feeling ill, like stomach issues, digestion. Like, what were you, what were your symptoms?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, for sure. All right, so you guys get married in 2014. And I guess Stephen, you wind up quitting your job at the Snowboard Shop and going on the road to work with Allison doing similar work like oil and gas work, right And so, where were you guys actually living at this point?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, when he first asked you to go for ice cream, you weren't like, oh, yeah, you were thinking, okay, he's clearly a member of the church because he's not asking me for coffee or for a beer.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She was looking for a backpack, and it could have just been an ordinary transaction, and we would never even be having this conversation. Like she got in.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wow, let's just pause for a sec because Steven, was that something that you would normally do? Like just ask a customer out?”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you're doing this work, and Stephen, you don't last that long in the corporate world, but you're in Utah, and I guess... You eventually go work at a ski and snowboard shop”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I love that you say that because a lot of people are uncomfortable saying that because I think there's a perception that saying money was important to me. It sounds like it's greedy, but actually I'm assuming that from your perspective it was freedom. Like you didn't grow up with anything.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And Allison, when you graduated, I think pretty much right out of college went to go work in the oil and gas industry, if I'm not mistaken. Tell me what you did.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But this is the story of how a farmer's market vinegar drink became poppy, a prebiotic soda that eventually sold to Pepsi for nearly two billion dollars. Think about that. In less than ten years, the brand went from a mom and pop curiosity at a Texas farmer's market to a two billion dollars sensation. As for Stephen and Alison, they didn't start their careers in the beverage industry or even in the health and wellness space. They both grew up in the eighties and nineties, Allison, in Texas, Stephen in Wisconsin. After attending the University of Utah, Stephen worked briefly in the corporate world, including a stint at Wells Fargo, but he didn't like it all that much.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I do as well. In her case, it seemed to help with digestion and chronic stomach issues. The problem, though, at least for Allison, was the taste, so she started to add fruit juices to her vinegar and water mix and eventually started to share her concoction with friends. And soon Alison's husband Stephen joined to help out as well. Now, you probably know what happened next because as these things go, enough people liked what Allison was making that it occurred to her she might have a product and a business. So Alison applied to a local farmer's market in Dallas and started bottling her homebrew vinegar drink and called it mother beverage. Doesn't quite slip off the tongue, but it was a start. One day, Alison and Stephen found out that Shark Tank was coming to Dallas looking for prospective guests. Now, I'm not going to unravel this whole story here because you are about to hear.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, I'm going to tell you about something I do every morning, and I'm going to qualify this by telling you that I have zero standing or expertise or academic training to give any advice on what to put into your body. All I know is what works for me, whether it's real or imagined or just witchcraft, it works. So every morning, after I get a little morning sunlight, thank you, Andrew Huberman, I pour water into a tall glass and drop a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into the water. And then I drink it. It's supposed to be really good for regulating blood sugar, and all I know is that I think it makes me feel pretty great. But that's just me. For a lot of people, the taste of diluted apple cider vinegar is a non-starter, which brings us to today's story. Because about ten years ago, Alice and Ellsworth was doing a version of what I”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Welcome to How I Built This show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. I'm Guy Ross, and on the show today, how a mom and pop beverage made with apple cider vinegar got remade as poppy, a soda sensation that sold to Pepsi for nearly two billion dollars.”
2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2025-09-22 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Poppi: Allison and Stephen Ellsworth. From Farmers Market Vinegar Drink to $2B Soda Sensation · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT