Bozeman teenager starts dirty soda business

17-year-old Bella Wilfling’s light pink dirty soda truck wasn’t always aesthetically pleasing and full of fizzy delicacies.

In the 1980’s, it was a trailer at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Dickinson, North Dakota. After four months of deep cleaning the filthy trailer, sanding it down, installing countertops and soda units, and adding the final design touches, Bella turned the trailer into a pink dream.

“She was out every day after school sanding and getting it all primed,” said Ellie Wilfling, Bella’s mom.

Designing the interior was Bella’s favorite part of the process, with its bright lemon wallpaper and pink decorations among bottles of syrups, creams and candy. Her mobile dirty soda shop, called Fizz’d, now travels around Gallatin County catering events.

When the Chronicle caught up with Bella, she was selling soda at the Valley View Rodeo at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. The night before, she had catered a wedding at a drive-in movie theater and has more weddings planned soon.

She was inspired by the Utah-based Swig Drinks, which popularized the dirty soda, a beverage that’s basically soda with added flavors, creams and toppings.

Bella spent months testing combinations for her menu, some were inspired by other dirty soda shops and others she came up with on her own.

One of her original creations is the Strawberry Sunrise, a fittingly pink soda with Sprite and strawberry, vanilla, coconut and coconut cream flavoring.

Bella’s favorite soda is the Sugar Baby, a combination of Dr. Pepper and raspberry and coconut flavoring. It’s one of the most popular drinks she serves.

Fizz’d started as Bella’s high school senior project, but she wanted to start a dirty soda business for a while.

“When I got this project, I kind of figured that that was the time that I could fully put it into motion,” she said.

Bella enters her freshman year at Montana State University this fall. She dreams of finding a permanent location for the truck and opening a brick and mortar dirty soda location, like the popular coffee huts around the valley.