High-end sodas show they can float

NEW YORK — Expensive specialty sodas remain a small sliver of the carbonated soft-drink market, but the robust growth of these brands tests the notion that consumers put price foremost when choosing soft drinks.

The premium-priced pops often aim to please adults by touting natural ingredients, more exotic flavors, or a light touch with the sweeteners. The brands sport catchy names such as Fizzy Lizzy, GuS (for Grown-up Soda), Steaz, Izze or Snow, and are packaged in eye-grabbing bottles with unusual labels and graphics.

By creating more wholesome images, some of these smaller brands have benefited from the growth of natural-food retailers such as Whole Foods Market Inc. that have embraced these brands. Others have capitalized on an image of exclusivity by being sold at upscale restaurants such as Per Se and Tabla, or in small cafes and food chains, such as Panera Bread Co. and Wild Noodles, that are looking to jazz up their offerings.

Although small, these companies are increasing sales at a time when Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. are seeing sales shrink for their carbonated soft drinks. Those sales are down 3.6 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to industry newsletter Beverage Digest.

Within the specialty-food industry, sales of sodas, teas and lemonades are growing faster than any other segment. Specialty soft-drink sales increased 39.1 percent from 2002 to 2004, said Ron Tanner, a spokesman for the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the industry’s trade group, citing data from market researchers Mintel International and Spins Inc.

“People are looking for beverage alternatives to Coke and Pepsi and all these things that we have all drunk for such a long time,” Tanner said.