If you haven’t visited a Swig before, it’s probably because you don’t live in Utah.
Or, it’s because you haven’t been on TikTok lately. The Utah-based fast food chain is currently going viral on the app, with users driving from miles away — and sometimes waiting in incredibly long lines — to visit it.
So what is it that’s made Swig so exciting? The chain, founded in Saint George, Utah in 2010, is famous for its “dirty sodas,” which are basically alcohol-free mocktails mixing soda, fruit juice and other flavors together.
Swig currently only has restaurants in two states: Utah and Arizona. Now, thanks to TikTok, fast food fans around the country are finding out about it. Some are even road-tripping to try it out.
The chain’s beverages are photogenic and adorned with creative names like Guava Have It!, Jolly Elf and Unlucky Ducky — making them perfect for sharing on an app like TikTok.
In the stream of recent videos featuring the restaurant, many comments echo that sentiment. Plenty of TikTok users seemed excited to try Swig’s “dirty soda” drinks.
Others, however, questioned why they’d never heard of the chain. Many compared it to Sonic, a drive-thru chain also known for its creative beverages.
“This is just a fancy sonic,” one TikToker commented.
Beyond that, many commenters tried to explain why Swig barely exists outside of Utah. Some suggested that, due to the state’s massive Mormon population, Swig has become popular as an alternative to alcohol-filled cocktails. Alcohol, in addition to coffee, is generally not consumed by Mormons.
As some TikTok users wrote, soda — like the colorful drinks at Swig — offers an alternative to both.
“It’s popular because no one there can drink alcohol or coffee,” one user wrote.
“It’s apparently like a Mormon Starbucks,” another added.
“It baffles me how [Mormons] replace coffee with nine sodas a day,” another joked.
Whatever the reason, Swig isn’t the first restaurant to inspire a wave of TikTok travelers. Over the course of the last year, users have driven miles to visit a “blue” McDonald’s in Arizona, a “night club” pizza chain and the “world’s fanciest” Taco Bell in California.
