Claudia works full-time. Outside those hours, she runs Zesty Cup as a second business, testing drink combinations, adjusting recipes and serving them directly to customers.
Zesty Cup started with experiments at home and had been operating for about seven months when we spoke. From its Woodridge base in Logan, it focuses on non-alcoholic dirty sodas, fruit refreshers and energy-drink creations served in one large size.
Standard drinks are currently $8. Drinks made with an energy-drink option are $13.
How the drinks are built
A dirty soda can look easy to assemble. There is ice, a soft-drink or energy-drink base, syrups, fruit flavours and sometimes fresh citrus. Claudia says the difficult part is getting those elements to sit together properly.
She tests the ratio of each liquid, the balance between sweet and acidic ingredients, and whether one flavour is covering another. A recipe may go through several versions before it reaches the menu. Her working question is practical: “How can I make this better?”
The food sold around the stall is part of that testing. Many customers are eating rich, hot or spicy dishes, so Zesty Cup uses citrus and tangy fruit to make drinks that cut through curries instead of adding more sweetness and weight.
That is the brand's main point of difference. The combinations are not selected only because they look colourful; they are adjusted to work as drinks on their own and beside night-market food.
Claudia's working question
“How can I make this better?”
The two founder favourites
Zesty Bestie is the signature drink and current best-seller. The recipe combines watermelon, apple and fresh-squeezed lemon. The lemon gives the fruit combination a sharper finish, which is why Claudia recommends it with spicy food. It is also BK's personal pick.
Blue Me Away is Claudia's second favourite. It is a tropical lychee lemonade with a deliberately strong lychee profile and a lighter finish.
Customers can change the recipe
Zesty Cup customers are welcome to request modifications or suggest a combination of their own. Claudia will test the idea rather than automatically keeping the menu fixed.
The most unusual so far mixed Monster Energy, Coke, caramel and mango. She was doubtful when she heard the order. After tasting it, she admitted it worked.
These custom orders are useful product feedback. They show which flavours customers want more of and occasionally produce a combination that is better than it sounds on paper.
The clearest customer feedback
First-time customers often need the dirty-soda idea explained. Claudia enjoys that first reaction, but the most useful feedback comes later.
If a customer comes back and orders exactly the same drink, Claudia knows the first one was not just a novelty purchase. They remembered the recipe and chose it again.
Repeat orders help her decide which combinations should remain central to the Zesty Cup menu. They also create regular customers whose preferences and modifications she begins to recognise.
Running it beside full-time work
Zesty Cup operates around Claudia's full-time job. A market night includes stock preparation, transporting equipment, setting up the stall, making drinks and packing everything down again.
Because it is a second business, the preparation has to fit around her weekday schedule. The checklist stays the same on every market night: prepare stock, transport the equipment, set up, serve, clean and pack down.
Seven months in, Zesty Cup uses a straightforward product-development loop: test a recipe, serve it, note the customer response, adjust the ratios and keep the combinations people return to order.