Casey Allman is bringing a popular Utah brand to the City of Vision.
Allman is the owner of FiiZ Drinks franchise that is having its grand opening Saturday. The soft drink shop is located next to the Dollar General in Country Club Center.
Allman, who owns the store with his wife Elizabeth, is a dentist in Rio Rancho. His new venture in the soda shop is something he’s been dreaming about doing for years.
“In the last several years, I’ve been wanting to open up this drink shop,” Allman said. “This franchise is very popular up in Utah, and I’ve got lots of family and extended family that live up in Utah. So every time we go visit them, they always want to go to these soda shops, and they’re so much fun. I thought, ‘Boy, wouldn’t it be great if somebody opened one here in New Mexico? Rio Rancho would be a great place for a drink shop.’ And nobody was opening one, nobody’s opening one. So I was like, ‘OK, well, I guess I can do it.'”
The irony of a dentist selling sugary, sweet drinks isn’t lost on Allman.
“When my patients find out that I’m opening a soda shop, you know, they feign a gasp,” Allman said. “Oh, how could a dentist possibly do that? Aren’t you telling us not to eat sugar? No. I usually kind of smile or wink at them and say it’s job security.”
FiiZ Drinks has more than 50 locations in America. Allman’s store is the first in New Mexico. FiiZ has a huge menu with dozens of options of sodas mixed with flavored syrups. FiiZ also offers crafted waters, frozen drinks, kids drinks, Monster Mashups and snacks.
Kevin Hendricks/Observer
Some of Allman’s favorites are the Captain Jack Sparrow, a Coke, Diet Coke or Coke Zero mixed with pineapple, coconut, raspberry and a shot of cream, and the Chandler Bing: Mountain Dew with coconut, strawberry and pineapple. Could that taste any better?
FiiZ soft launched this week and will fully open Saturday with operating hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. From noon to 6 p.m., all soda drinks are $1 and specialty drinks are $2.
“There is something for everyone,” Allman said. “The goal is something for everyone. And you can come in and sit at the bar stools and hang out and you can even like charge your phone here if you want or you know one of the tables or a lot just go through the drive-thru to get their drinks. It is family friendly. It’s like a dry bar, you know, no alcohol. Nobody sells soda like this around town.”
