Boston Globe "Hit of the Week" by Christopher Muther

Tom Bleier of Brookline loves soda. Trouble was, Bleier, a natural food eater, had difficulty finding soda that didn't contain unnatural ingredients. His solution? Start his own soda company.

Tommy's Naked Soda is made with natural flavors and cane sugar. As the name suggests, the soda's clear; it's also caffeine-free. It comes in orange, black raspberry, and lemon lime.

The orange soda tastes a lot like an actual orange; the lemon lime is crisp and tart; and the black raspberry, inspired by Bleier's childhood is heavenly on a warm afternoon.

Brookline Tab "Naked Ambition" by Jim Walker

The clock was ticking on Tom Bleier's desire to start his own business. "I'd had a bunch of ideas kicking around since right after graduating from college," said the 30-year-old Tufts University alum. "It's not like I was having a mid-life crisis, but I figured that if I didn't go for one of them now, I probably wouldn't at all."

The idea that Bleier, a self-described "refugee" from the high-tech world of computer programming and sales, gravitated to most passionately was a line of all-natural soft drinks. Like nearly every good entrepreneur, the light bulb in Bleier's mind lit because something was lacking in his own daily routine. "I'm very cautious about what I eat," said Bleier, a Pittsburgh native who has made Brookline his home for the past four years. "I stay away from artificial flavors and colors and preservatives. It's not that hard to do here in Boston, but the one thing I couldn't find was soda. I've liked soda since I was a kid, but there just weren't all-natural brands available."

It's been a few years since that revelation occurred and the day, at the beginning of this month, when Bleier delivered the first few cases of Tommy's Naked Soda. Bleier smiled as he sat in his Coolidge Corner apartment and explained the long process that went into getting the soda from its first inception in his kitchen sink to coolers in nearby stores.

"I played around with a number of flavors over the past two years, just asking my friends what they thought of them," Bleier said. "At the same time, I was trying to find someone who sold clear bottles and a bottler who would do a small run of my product and would use cane sugar instead of corn syrup. It took me well over a year just to do that."

And then there's the name - many companies may employ shades of nudity in their advertising, but few use it as directly and as innocently as Tommy's Naked Soda. "The name is really just a play on the fact that we are a clear, all-natural, caffeine-free soda," Bleier said. Appropriately, the company's motto declares, "We have nothing to hide!"

The soda's colorful cartoonish labels, designed by Bleier's friend and fellow Brookline resident, Ed Shems, feature a happy moose with clothes dangling from its antlers standing in front of a few nude bathers enjoying a rural pond. The emphasis is definitely on silly.

"When we first ran the soda back in July, it was called Buck Naked Soda, but after a bit of searching, I discovered that in Michigan, there's Buck Naked Light Beer," said Bleier. "The buck looks more like a moose, anyway, so it worked out for the better."

So far the line of sodas includes three flavors - Bubbling Black Raspberry, Luscious Lemon Lime and Optimal Orange. The black raspberry, the first flavor developed, was influenced by a bit of family history, Bleier said. "I remember when I was a kid, every day my father used to drink the black raspberry soda from the Giant supermarket," he said. "I wanted the first flavor to be something that people haven't seen in a long time, something that just wasn't available anymore."

The current pitch for the soda is to get it into eateries around Boston that target the all-natural foods market. Just this month the line has been picked up by eight establishments, including the New England Soup Factory in Brookline Village and Newton, The Depot Coffee Shoppe in Newton Upper Falls, Boston Common Foods in Newton and Barsamian's in Cambridge. And the reorders have already begun.

"I wasn't too surprised that people would try it because we all love new things," Bleier said. "But it's that repeat business that will be the real test ... The store owners have been especially supportive. I think they try so hard to serve the best all-natural foods that they love it when someone offers something that complements what they're doing." Bleier said that he has little ambition to knock Coke or Pepsi off of their market mountain tops, but he does envision small all-natural soda companies, like his, following the path that microbreweries blazed in the beer business. "Who would have thought five or 10 years ago that when you went into a liquor store today that you would have so many beers to choose from?" Bleier said. There have been predecessors in the same vein as Tommy Naked Soda that Bleier said he holds as both inspirational and cautionary examples. "Snapple used to have a large line of clear, all-natural sodas, but as the company changed hands, they seemed to lose their emphasis for the sodas," Bleier said. "And then there was SoHo Soda back in the '80s. They were a great company, but I think they simply grew too fast. They may have just been ahead of their time."

For now, Bleier said he has set his sights on having his sodas in 100 stores in the area by this time next year. And fairly soon there may be two new flavors of Tommy's Naked Soda, cream soda and pear ginger ale, he added. Bleier stressed that the work must also be fun.

"I have some great ideas for ad campaigns," Bleier said with a mischievous grin.

Customer E-mail Testimonials

Subj: I just had the pleasure........

From: XXXXX@soundsbig.com

......of trying one of your sodas. They are incredible! Very delicious. I am a fan. What flavors do you currently offer? Do you have any new flavors on the way?

- Will

Subj: great soda

From: XXXXX@MIT.EDU

I wanted to email the company to say that you guys make a great product.

- Scott

Subj: Re: I want to sell your Product

From: XXXXX@excite.com

Tom - Thanks for returning my e-mail. I would be elated to receive any stickers, statics, shirts, table tents, fliers, posters, etc. that you should care to send me. I like your soda so much that I gave some samples to my chiropractor, and sent some to my friends in Colorado this morning. It's great soda and great marketing. More flavors coming? Hope so. Thanks again!

- Roy

Subj: do you have a web site?

From: XXXXX@aol.com

Hi - My name is Lauren and I’m a huge fan of yours...I LOVE your soda, and I was wondering if you had a web site? If you do could you please email me with it? and if not could you please email me back anyway? that would be awesome! Also, do you have merchandise like t-shirts? because if you do, I would also like to know how to attain one...I would absolutely LOVE to have a Tommy’s Naked Soda t-shirt. Thank you for your time!

-Lauren

Subj: Cape Cod

From: XXXXX@whoi.edu

My son loves your soda. Can you tell me where I might be able to buy a six pack or case near Falmouth, MA on the Cape?

- Eddie

Subj: Tommy's Naked Soda!!!!

From: XXXX@aol.com

Omigosh...I tried Tommy's Naked Soda and it totally kicks..the only thing is that I had it at a restaurant in Newton Centre, Mass and I was wondering where the beverage is sold (as in store). Hopefully you can e-mail me back with that info and that there is a place closer to Newton. Thanx.

-Jackie

PS---DELICIOUS

Subj: good stuff

From: XXXX@aol.com

Hey there! I love Tommy's Naked Soda. I'm a Tufts student, so it's easy for me to find it, but where else would I be able to find this fine beverage? And, do you sell it outside of New England?

-Lynette

Subj: soda

From: XXXXX@banta-im.com

I was wondering if there is someplace to buy your soda by the case? I enjoy your orange soda at a local deli in Cambridge, but I pay $1.50 a bottle. Thats fine with lunch but I want to have a case sitting in my fridge at home!

-M. Christian