The Effervescent History Behind Jones Soda

Tom Blank of Weird History Food explained the effervescent history behind Jones Soda, the craft soda company that became known for their unusual flavors and small distribution channels. The name came from the term “jonesing” and Jones was an extremely popular alternative soft-drink in the late 1990s and early-aughts.

The company was founded in 1995 by Peter Van stoke the name seems to be a reference to the slang term Jones meaning a strong desire or craving for something …The original vision for Jones Soda came from Van Stoke and photographer designer Victor John Penner who were looking to create an alternative to sodas like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Unfortunately, with rapid success came rapid failure. Jones Soda, which made its name with natural flavors and self-designed labels, found it hard to compete with the bigger players. They attached themselves to different corporate entities to help, but the brand lost recognition and loyalty once the product became available in cans.

The struggles faced by the once rising star of bottled soda were the result of two factors. The first was the Great Recession of 2007 and 2008… The second Factor…Jones started selling their soda in cans. They made that move because they were hoping it would help them compete with the big boys of their industry, Coke and Pepsi. Instead it drove the company into a hole of debt they couldn’t climb out of. Between 2007 and 2016 Jones Soda wouldn’t have a single profitable year despite going through CEOs like relief pitchers.

Jones Soda still exists, although it doesn’t have the same legendary status as it once did.

In 2009 Jones partnered up with Bethesda softworks mmaker of the massively successful Fallout video game series to release Nuka-Cola and in 2010 they Inked a deal that finally made the soda available in Walmarts across the country but the collaborations didn’t seem to help. In fact all those partnerships might have been at the root of the problem. …They lost their edge.