Tots are the new French fries. Raw milk is the new commercial milk. Soda pop is being replaced by popsicle. Nightcaps have turned into Sleepy Girl mocktails. If you’re clinging to your shoestring fries and Diet Coke and wondering what on earth this all means, don’t worry. Chattanooga isn’t trading in your old favorites for TikTok trends, but the products that are growing in popularity are available to look up for those interested. Here’s how local businesses are responding to trending digestive drinks, freeze-dried candy, bubble tea products, and more.
Crazy for Tots
Burger Republic was a pioneer in the tater tot category, says chief operating officer Wayne Neely, when it opened in Nashville in 2012. The Nashville chain recently expanded to Chattanooga in 2022, where it will be located across from the Tennessee Aquarium.
The restaurant opened with tater tot fondue on the menu, and 12 years later it’s still on the menu.
Neely said the American-Swiss cheese fondue blend will be made with lager beer and garnished with Benton’s Tennessee bacon bits, making it “awesome tasting.”
Another tot item beginning to rival Tater Tot Fondue is the franchise’s Nashville Hot Tots, a best-seller that has been on the menu for five years.
“We focused on tots and fries, and tots in our restaurants are outselling fries in all five of our restaurants,” Neely said.
He said kids love tots and shared how his mother would make them in the oven when he was a child.
Neely believes the dominance of today’s potato products for young children is due to the richness of potato products’ flavor.
“The Nashville spices and truffle oil give it a more robust batter,” Neely says, “so the flavor lasts longer than it would if it were fried.”
Like many restaurants, Burger Republic is experimenting with new recipes to meet demand for tots, and Neely said its seasonal tachos (tater tot nachos) will return to the menu this winter.
For more information, visit burgerrepublic.com/chattanooga.
(Read more: Burger Republic restaurant plants flag on Chattanooga riverfront)
Staff photo by Olivia Ross/Elisa Del Carmen. View a variety of tapioca-related products at Chattanooga’s Asian Food & Gifts.Boba Treasure
Elisa Del Carmen grew up working at her family’s Chattanooga Asian Food & Gifts. She’s been drinking tapioca (also known as bubble tea) since she was in high school, frequenting tapioca shops around town. While tapioca has been around for a while, the world of tapioca-related products is expanding, especially on the shelves of Asian Food & Gifts.
“These days, more and more people are making tapioca at home rather than going to the store and buying it,” Del Carmen said.
Asian Food & Gifts has been selling tapioca pearls — the soft starch balls traditionally used in bubble tea — for as long as del Carmen can remember, and she says they’re also used in many desserts, often combined with coconut milk and fruit.
“Once people realize they can make bubble tea in no time by just boiling little pearls and adding them to their favorite drink, I think they’ll get more excited about it and be more willing to try different things,” she says.
In recent years, the shop has started selling “popping boba,” fruit-flavored balls that pop when you bite into them. The popping boba comes in strawberry lychee, passion fruit, and mango flavors.
During her time working behind the counter, Del Carmen would watch kids come in looking for gallon bags of Popping Boba to eat as is.
If you’d like ready-to-drink tapioca in a bottle or can, Asian Food & Gifts has it in stock. They also sell tapioca ice cream, tapioca mochi, tapioca keychains, stuffed toys, pencil cases, pins and other tapioca-related merchandise.
“You can put tapioca in almost anything and it’s delicious,” she says.
For more information, visit facebook.com/afg.chattanooga.
(Read more: Family tradition: Del Carmen family has run Asian Food & Gifts in Chattanooga for 40 years)
Staff photo by Olivia Ross/Bubble tea cans are available for purchase at Asian Food & Gifts in Chattanooga.Raw milk
Anderson White, an Orchard House Creamery customer and Farmers Storehouse employee, said there’s a high demand for raw milk straight from the cow in the Chattanooga area.
Store-bought milk is pasteurized, or heated to remove bacteria, and homogenized, or pressed, which results in its classic texture and uniform white color, White says.
White is part of Orchard House’s “herd share,” where she and other members pay a monthly fee to collectively “own” a cow, whose milk the dairy delivers to customers. That’s because Tennessee law prohibits consumers who don’t own the cow from buying raw milk, White said. Just across the Georgia border, raw milk is available in stores, but it comes with a warning label.
“Even though there are more than a dozen suppliers in the Chattanooga area, [raw] “We often sell out of milk,” White said, “and Orchard House Creamery is one of the largest suppliers in Tennessee, and their delivery to the Main Street Farmers Market sells out almost every week.”
White says raw milk has a better taste and texture than pasteurized milk because it contains more cream, and it also contains natural enzymes that can boost the immune system and aid digestion.
“I’ve been drinking raw milk for over two years now,” he says, “and I’ve personally experienced the benefits and recommend it to everyone I can. Not only does it taste better, but it has also helped reduce my allergies to cats and dogs. I believe in eating food the way God made it and treating animals with respect.”
For more information, visit orchardhousecreamery.com.
Staff photo by Sarah Dolgin/Sam Clark of Clark’s Candy stands behind a table of freeze-dried candy products, including freeze-dried Skittles, at the Chattanooga market.Freeze-dried Candyman
Sam Clark of Signal Mountain started making freeze-dried candy in December 2023, but at the time, only about one in 10 people knew what freeze-dried candy was. Now, he says, about five to eight in 10 people are aware of the product.
Clark said customers are always amazed when he likens the texture to cereal.
It takes four to five hours in a freeze-drying machine to freeze-dry Skittles, his most popular product, compared with 12 hours for gummy bears and up to 30 hours for ice cream sandwiches.
Clark said a freeze-drying machine is like a large mini-refrigerator with a cooling chamber and a vacuum chamber. Heat is applied to the tray of candy through a heating pad on top, and the combination of heat vacuum and the cooling chamber creates the freeze-dried product. Clark has three of the machines at home.
Clark runs his freeze-dried candy business full time, selling his products exclusively at both the aquarium’s Chattanooga River Market and the Chattanooga Market in the First Horizon Pavilion, where they usually sell out quickly.
“We can’t keep up with the demand,” Clark said. “We have stores wanting to sell wholesale, but we can’t make enough.”
For more information, visit facebook.com/p/Clarks-Candy-100088142211262.
Photo by Molly Matalon / The New York Times / The recipe for the “Sleepy Girl Mocktail” is simple and appealing: Just mix a spoonful of magnesium into a glass of soda and tart cherry juice, take a sip and go to sleep.Think carefully
If you’ve been scrolling through your social media feeds, you may have come across the “Sleepy Girl Mocktail.” Promoted by influencers, the drink promises to help you get a good night’s sleep and is made up of tart cherry juice, magnesium powder, and carbonated water or prebiotic soda. Michelle Rigling, a local certified holistic health professional, says anyone struggling with serious sleep issues should seek professional help. For those interested in giving the trendy mocktail a try, Rigling broke down each ingredient:
Magnesium is a popular supplement used to aid sleep because it increases melatonin levels in the blood, reduces cortisol, and helps regulate the GABA neurotransmitter in the brain, calming the nervous system, says Rigling.
Some studies have shown that tart cherry juice may also help boost melatonin levels.
While prebiotic sodas are likely added for flavor, taking a prebiotic in the evening to stave off digestive issues may also help you sleep, Rigling says.
Rigling said that overall the ingredients are fine, and that people who want to know if it will work for them should try it every night for two weeks to see if it makes a difference.
“A lot of times we want a quick solution, and this should be a quick solution,” Rigling says. “If it doesn’t work, don’t give up. You might just need a deeper conversation or someone to give you a little more clarity about your situation.”
AP Photo / John Minchillo / A drinker of Poppi prebiotic sodaPop preparation
As you walk through the soft drink aisle at your grocery store, you might wonder about the new prebiotic products sitting alongside your usual Coca-Cola and Pepsi offerings.
Poppi, a popular brand of prebiotic soda, was launched in 2020 and is sold at national retailers such as Publix and Target. The product contains soluble dietary fiber from organic agave inulin, which the company says provides nutrition for healthy gut bacteria.
“We think prebiotic sodas are becoming popular now because of a shift in consumer demand,” says Poppi founder Allison Ellsworth. “People are looking for flavorful sodas without the sugar and calories that come with traditional sodas.”
Ellsworth said there is no right time to drink Poppi and that it can be enjoyed any time you would have a traditional soda, such as for a midday energy boost or with a burger at a barbecue.
For more information, visit drinkpoppi.com.
