How Darren Portelli is building a better-for-you soda brand
All his life, former film and TV producer Darren Portelli had been suffering from visual snow syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes visual disturbances, migraines and tinnitus. In 2013, Portelli was researching different ways to improve his mental and physical health such as exercising more and reducing added sugar. One evening, he decided to treat himself to a sugary ginger soda and after a few sips, he suffered from a terrible migraine. That prompted Portelli to try to create his own ginger soda, one that had good-for-you benefits without an unnatural sugar spike.
His research over the years led him to a root vegetable called yacon root. “Yacon has a sweetness to it,” Portelli explains. “It’s got natural sugars, but it’s also high in prebiotic fibre, which is great for your probiotic gut bacteria.” Prebiotic fibre, Portelli explains, mitigates spikes in your blood sugar levels.
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Portelli developed an early version of a yacon syrup-sweetened ginger soda in 2016, which he named Ginga’ Kick. “I would drink it and just feel so great,” he says. Wanting to share his creation with the world, Portelli developed two more soda flavours—vanilla and root beer—and started selling his handcrafted sodas at Toronto’s Withrow Park Farmers’ Market in September 2016 under the name Crazy D’s. “Throughout the process of me talking about these vegetables that I want to put in soda, people were saying that I was crazy,” he recalls.
At the time, Portelli was in-between film production gigs and decided to go all-in on bringing Crazy D’s to the masses. That led to a few small milestones in late 2016: participating in his first trade show, getting stocked at his first café in Toronto (Might & Main), and receiving a small investment gift from a family member, along with seed funding from BioEnterprise, a food and agri-tech accelerator.
Meanwhile, Portelli experimented with carbonation, bottling and kegging systems. “My kitchen was a huge disaster,” he recalls. “There were explosions and glass would end up all over the house. My wife wanted to kill me.” Wisely, Portelli moved his production into a commercial facility in February 2017. Shortly afterwards, he launched at nine Goodness Me! stores in Ontario. “That was our first big chain,” Portelli explains. “I pitched them at an event and they have been so supportive ever since.”
More major chains followed. In 2018, Crazy D’s launched in seven Whole Foods Market locations in Ontario. Then, in early 2019, Crazy D’s made it into 38 Metro stores and 20 Sobeys locations in Ontario, as part of their local programs.
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As the company grew, Portelli—who was producing his sodas in twist-off glass bottles with a co-packer in Niagara— faced challenges scaling up production. “We used a lot of real spices and pulps in our sodas and they were getting caught in the lines,” Portelli explains. “Co-packing led to a lot of problems. I lost a lot of money.” Prices for his ingredients were also increasing, so Portelli reformulated his recipe into something that could be mass-produced, while also retaining the flavour, taste and prebiotic benefits he loved. He also partnered with a new co-packer and made the decision to switch from glass bottles to cans. “The overall carbon footprint is much better,” Portelli says of the canned format.
His perseverance paid off. By making changes to his supply chain, Portelli was able to reduce his ingredient costs by 50%. The new formulation was ready to hit the market by the fall of 2020. Then, Portelli made a big push into e-commerce and saw his year-over-year sales in that channel increase by 300% from 2022 to 2023. Last year, after participating in a pitch event, Portelli made his foray into international sales, debuting at eight stores of the Panamanian grocery chain Riba Smith. He also launched his products in 40 Longo’s stores in Ontario.
Fast forward to today and Crazy D’s Sparkling Prebiotic Sodas are currently sold in 225 stores across Canada in four flavours: Thrilla in Vanilla, Ginga’ Kick, Rockin’ Rolla Cherry Cola and Twisted Citrus. This year, the company will increase its international expansion with a launch into 120 stores of a major Mexican grocery chain. Portelli is also eyeing another Canadian expansion this year, a move that would double his store count in the country.
For Portelli, the success and growth of Crazy D’s isn’t just about keeping a business afloat, it’s also about helping people thrive. “It’s a part of my life,” says Portelli, who attributes consumption of the soda, alongside other diet and lifestyle changes, to improvements in his health. “I have a lot of great supporters and they’re buying it for a reason. There’s definitely a very special place for this beverage and I’m very proud of the drink.”
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s February 2025 issue.
