Aarica Griner began experimenting with drink recipes in 2022. She mixed aloe vera juice with fruit juices and sparkling water at home and started calling the blends “Hot Girl Drinks.” The idea began as something personal, but it gradually turned into a conversation about building a product around the drink.
Griner shared the idea with Nick Murray as the two talked about working together on a business. One exchange between them helped shape what came next. While traveling through Chicago’s airport, Murray sent a message asking what a Hot Girl Soda vending machine might look like. The vending machine idea did not last long, but it shifted their thinking. Instead of focusing on machines, they began working on turning the drink itself into a packaged soda.
They built the brand in Southern California, where the founders say the drinks were developed and produced. The soda line came out in March 2025 with a small set of flavors, including Mango Dragon Fruit, Passion Fruit Vanilla, Raspberry Lemonade, and Blueberry Peach. Each flavor followed the same basic idea that started in Griner’s kitchen: a fruit-based soda made with aloe vera and prebiotic fiber.
Getting those first cans out to customers involved a lot of direct work. Murray described long stretches spent in the warehouse packing orders and preparing shipments. Cases were sent to Amazon while others went to customers who ordered directly from the website.
