Walmart’s Modern Soda Reset Explained (and How to Fund Your Slot)

The soda aisle got a new shelf, and it wasn’t built for legacy cola. For emerging functional-beverage founders, Walmart’s Modern Soda set is a rare open door: a dedicated home for prebiotic and better-for-you sodas at the country’s largest retailer. This guide answers the two questions a founder actually has to solve. What is the Modern Soda set, and what does it take to fund a slot once you win one?

Coverage of this topic tends to split in half. Retailer announcements tell you the set exists. Financing content tells you how to borrow. Neither connects the shelf to the capital a chainwide launch demands. That is the gap this page closes.

What Is the Modern Soda Set?

Walmart’s Modern Soda set is a dedicated in-store and online section for better-for-you carbonated drinks: prebiotic sodas, functional sodas, and low- or no-sugar alternatives to traditional cola. The category groups brands that share clean-label formulations, functional ingredients such as prebiotics, and lower sugar counts, and it puts them on one shelf so shoppers can find them together.

Walmart introduced the set in late 2024, and it credits itself with popularizing the term “modern soda.” According to BevNET, the designated shelf existed in 4,300 Walmart locations as of December 2024. Zevia, one of the early brands in the set, saw its distribution expand from about 800 stores to more than 4,300 nationwide, a five-times jump, according to beveragedaily.com.

Walmart built the set because the numbers moved. Modern soda sales reached $1.8 billion in 2024, an 83% increase over the $983 million recorded in 2023, according to Circana data reported by Beverage Industry.

The broader functional-beverage market in North America was valued at $58.01 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 6.12% compound annual growth rate through 2031, per Mordor Intelligence. A first-mover retailer that defines a category early gets to shape how shoppers, and other retailers, understand it.

For an emerging brand, the set matters because it lowers the discovery cost. Instead of fighting for placement next to entrenched cola brands, a functional soda sits with its peers, in front of a shopper who came looking for exactly that.

How Brands Actually Get Into the Modern Soda Category

Brands enter the modern soda category through Walmart’s buyer relationships and its supplier programs, not through a single application form. There are three practical routes, and most brands use more than one over time.

1. A category buyer takes a pitch. Walmart merchants own the assortment for each category. A brand with retail traction, strong velocity in other channels, and a clean supply chain can get a buyer meeting through a broker, a distributor, or direct outreach.
2. Open Call. Walmart runs an annual Open Call event for U.S.-made products. More than 100 businesses received “Golden Tickets” at the 2025 Open Call, earning the chance to get their products onto Walmart and Sam’s Club shelves.
3. Grow With Us and supplier onboarding. Walmart’s supplier development track helps smaller brands become vendor-ready. More than 60% of Walmart U.S. suppliers are small businesses, per that same 2025 Open Call announcement, so a small functional-soda brand is closer to the norm than the exception.

For the mechanics of the Grow With Us route and what buyers expect from a first-time vendor, see our guide to purchase order financing for new Walmart suppliers. Timelines vary widely. A pitch-to-shelf cycle can run several months, and production lead times for a chainwide beverage order add more on top of that.

The point most founders miss: acceptance is the start of a cash problem, not the end of one.

What a Chainwide Beverage Launch Costs to Fund

A chainwide Modern Soda launch demands capital long before Walmart pays you. A slot in 4,300 stores means producing enough inventory to fill every one of them, plus safety stock, and you carry those costs for months. Three expenses hit early.

• Production outlay. You pay your co-packer and ingredient suppliers to run the batch. For a chainwide beverage order, this is the largest line item and the earliest one due.
• Supplier deposits. Co-packers and can suppliers usually require a deposit before production starts, often a meaningful share of total cost of goods sold (COGS).
• The payment-term gap. Walmart pays national suppliers on negotiated terms, often 60 to 90 days after it receives and validates your goods. (Payment terms vary by supplier agreement, as SPS Commerce discusses in its Walmart accounting overview.) Add production and shipping time before that clock even starts, and the real wait from order to cash can stretch past 120 days.

That timing gap is the core problem. You spend to produce now; you get paid much later. First-time suppliers routinely underestimate it, and a working-capital shortfall is a common reason a promising retail order stalls before it ships. Production financing can close that gap by covering your COGS upfront and collecting repayment when the retailer pays.

We keep the dollar-by-dollar model on a separate page so this one stays focused on the shelf. For a worked example of the cash cycle with real numbers, see our breakdown of how to fill a large Walmart order without draining your cash. Before you request financing, it helps to get lender-ready: our supplier financing readiness checklist covers the documents underwriters expect.

FAQs

What is Walmart’s Modern Soda set?

Walmart’s Modern Soda set is a dedicated shelf and online section for better-for-you sodas, including prebiotic, functional, and low- or no-sugar drinks. Walmart introduced it in late 2024, and the designated shelf existed in about 4,300 stores as of December 2024, according to BevNET.

What counts as a functional soda at Walmart?

A functional soda at Walmart is a carbonated drink that offers a health-oriented benefit beyond refreshment, such as prebiotics for gut health, added fiber, or low and zero sugar. Brands in the set typically feature clean-label ingredients and sugar counts well below traditional cola.

How do first-time Walmart suppliers get financing?

First-time Walmart suppliers usually finance a large order with purchase order financing or inventory financing, which covers production and supplier costs before the retailer pays. Because Walmart pays on 60- to 90-day terms after delivery, most new suppliers need capital to cover the window between paying their co-packer and receiving payment. Lenders like Bridge assess the supporting documentation (a purchase order, buyer email, buy plan, or producer invoice), your margins, your supplier’s credibility, and your fulfillment plan before funding.

Does winning a slot in the Modern Soda set guarantee financing?

No. Evidence of retailer demand (a purchase order, buyer email, or buy plan) signals opportunity, but a lender still underwrites the deal. Approval depends on your margins, the strength of your co-packer, your delivery plan, and how the loan gets repaid from retailer payments. That documentation helps your case; it does not replace underwriting.

How long does it take to get into the modern soda category?

Timelines vary. Getting a buyer meeting, passing item setup, and completing a first production run can take several months from first contact to shelf. Production lead times for a chainwide beverage order add more time, which is why founders plan financing early rather than after acceptance.

How much inventory does a chainwide Walmart launch require?

A chainwide launch means stocking roughly 4,300 stores plus safety stock, so the initial production run is large. The exact volume depends on your case pack, expected velocity, and Walmart’s replenishment model, but the upfront COGS is usually the biggest single cost an emerging brand faces at launch.

Fund Your Slot in the Modern Soda Set

Winning a place on the Modern Soda shelf is the hard part. Paying to produce a chainwide run without draining your operating cash is the next one. Bridge is the direct lender in Walmart’s Grow With Us purchase order financing program, and we fund approved production and supplier costs so you can fill the order without spending equity or operating cash on inventory. Funding is subject to underwriting, and it is also available for Sam’s Club suppliers.

See how the capital fits your launch at our Walmart supplier financing hub, or request financing to get started.