Reinette LeJeune
Starting in 2013, up-and-coming franchise Sodalicious has been steadily growing over the years. They have just opened a sixth location in Arizona, with many more planned in the future. “We are opening more stores in Arizona; I can’t tell where those are quite yet because they’re in different phases of development,” said Kevin Auernig, co-founder of Sodalicious. “But yes, we are opening more stores in Arizona. We love Arizona.”
The concept for Sodalicious was born from his wife, Annie, who regularly claimed a need for her “soda fix” back when she worked in the film industry. She soon after began making her own mixed sodas and shared them with co-workers. Not long after, those same coworkers began telling her she “should start selling these things.” Then in 2013, Kevin and Annie Auernig decided to open their first Sodalicious in Downtown Provo, Utah. “So, we take soda… we have several kinds of flavors – Coke, Pepsi, all the different kinds – and then we flavor them,” Auernig has said.
The menu allows guests to choose from many different soda combinations. After the Auernigs asked a math professor from a local university to calculate the possibilities, “it came out to 1.4 billion. Like there are so many combinations you can make. But we just started messing around, finding the ones we liked and giving them funny names,” Kevin Auernig told ABC15.The business also sells other treats such as cookies, scotcharoos, popcorn and frosting.
Currently, there are only six locations in Arizona: Avondale at 3920 N 107th Ave; Gilbert at 1245 N Gilbert Rd; Val Vista at 2333 S Val Vista Dr; Safford at 1904 W Thatcher Blvd; Queen Creek at 20850 E Heritage Loop Rd; and Chandler at 80 W Warner Rd.
There are also six new locations in the works, but Kevin Auernig, during his interview with ABC15, couldn’t comment on the opening dates. “It’s just too tricky. Just with the current construction market, just with cities being so backlogged still because of COVID… it’s just too much to try and tell you any dates,” said Auernig.
