New Yorkers love seltzer. This isn't anecdotal. We looked at the data, crunched some numbers, and learned a lot about New Yorkers' relationship to fizzy—sparkling water, soda alts, fancy drinks, all the types of seltzer—from users of our app.
It's officially summer in the city ☀️ where the unofficial anthem is the sound of cracking open an ice-cold can.
Over the past few years, dozens of new seltzer/alt soda brands have hit the market, each one outfitted brighter and bolder than the last. Many still water companies have also launched a sparkling line of their own, retrofitted in a colorful bottle or can. We're proudly a part of this trend that we predict lasting, as we carry over 20 brands of seltzers on the app. (We often have seltzer samples in our office fridge that don't last longer than they took to shelve.)
Our buyers continue to add the newest sparklings to the game, with some recent flavors like Concord Grape Sparkling Hibiscus, Dandelion Ginger, and Cactus Rose. While seltzer is having a moment, we decided to dig into the data, and learn more about New Yorkers loving seltzers. 💦
La Croix comes in at #1
It's no surprise to us that our top seltzer is La Croix. Across every borough, across every neighborhood. We carry five La Croix flavors, and our store teams watch La Croix fly off the shelves day after day.
Vintage Lemon Lime is #2, followed by cultural icon San Pellegrino at #3, aesthetically color-blocked Spindrift at #4, and New York staple Hal's at #5.
NYC BABY
We also decided to take a closer peek into our fridges. The six packs of seltzer come off the room-temp shelves, but we were interested to learn which neighborhoods order which single bottles, or cans, the most.
And here are the results. All of our Brooklyn neighborhoods are incredibly loyal to Hal's—quite fitting as its namesake Hal was born and raised in this borough.
Sanzo, founded by Queens native Sandro Roco, won top seltzer choice in both Flushing and Midtown South. Saratoga Sparkling water from upstate is the favorite in Forest Hills.
It's seltzer time
We did a little more digging to learn about other seltzer-isms and patterns from Gorillas customers.
New Yorkers typically order seltzer around dinnertime, there is no subcategory that ousts this one, and half a million bucks have been spent on this liquid gold.
Seltzer is widely loved across New York City, presumably due to health benefits, new-age flavors, nice branding...but most likely? It just tastes GOOD.
All insights are from Gorillas data, May 2021 - May 2022.