After weathering adversity, Twisted B’s Soda & Teas soon will operate inside Pinspiration store

Tim Harty, The Business Times

This spring brought the high of getting a food trailer and what it would allow Twisted B’s Soda and Teas owner Beth Dobyns to do with her new business.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, an accident totaled the trailer and blew up her business plan. Dobyns was forced to adapt, and that meant operating her business from a pop-up canopy at events and farmers markets throughout the spring and summer.

And now that farmers markets and warm-weather festivals are waning with summer in the rear-view mirror, she’s about to embark on the next evolution, opening her business in a store.

Dobyns is leasing space inside Pinspiration Arts & Crafts Studio, 2650 North Ave., Unit 117, in the Red Cliff Pointe shopping center, where she will do business as Pinspiration Selling Twisted B’s Soda and Teas.

“With winter coming I was kind of scrambling around trying to figure out how to keep the business going through the winter months,” Dobyns said. “It’s kind of not feasible to do with the canopy out in the open in Colorado in the winter.”

The opportunity materialized after she met Kristine Novinskie, who owns Pinspiration Arts & Crafts Studio, which has a bar area that Dobyns is leasing.

“They are corporately owned, so she had to get permission for her franchise to be able to allow me to set up in there, and so this will be Pinspiration Selling Twisted B’s Sodas and Teas,” Dobyns said.

Her current circumstances aren’t what Dobyns envisioned when she started her business.

Instead, they are the culmination of adversity that caused her to question whether she should continue, then revealed her character: Dobyns isn’t a quitter. Instead of being defeated, she was defiant.

The story she tells goes like this:

Dobyns said she decided after 20-plus years in bartending and bar management, traveling all over Texas opening bar locations, she wanted to try her hand at owning a business when she left Texas and came to Grand Junction.

“I kind of worked for myself even though I worked for a company doing it,” she said. “And I was kind of my own boss, so when I got here I did not want to go back into working for somebody else.”

Dobyns said she “did a bunch of research” to see if she could open a mobile bar and learned Colorado is not an ideal state for such a venture. But the beverage idea had potential by going a different route.

“I went into dirty sodas and iced teas and things of that nature, which I’ve never really done before,” she said. “But I figured: How hard could it be, bartending for as long as I had? So, I went all in and purchased a vintage camper that had been turned into a soda machine from a lady who used it for the same thing in Utah.

“And we did all of the permitting and business licensing and all the things we needed to do and got up and going. And 2 1/2 weeks in, we lost an axle on the freeway, and the trailer went on its side.”

The trailer’s damage was beyond salvaging. It was a crippling blow for the business, but Dobyns realized she could still crawl. So, she did.

Dobyns talked with her husband, Nick Hinshaw, about whether she should continue the business sans trailer, and the answer revealed her resolve.

“We switched gears pretty quick after being pretty devastated,” Dobyns said. “You know, I had a large amount of money invested into that, and I lost all of my supplies, the trailer, everything had to be replaced. I had to start over from scratch, so it took us a minute to get some supplies together, and I did have to go through the process of reapplying for health permits and things of that nature.”

Dobyns said it took about three weeks to recover and resume her business, and during that time she had to cancel some events that she had already booked.

Going forward without the trailer was a challenge.

“Not everybody wants a tent pop-up,” Dobyns said of her search for venues to operate. “You know, part of the appeal (of the business) was the vintage trailer. What year was she, 1960 model, 1950 model trailer? So, she was a cute little old vintage canned-ham style camper that had been converted. She had a little charm to her, you know? It’s a little different than a big yellow canopy.”

Dobyns cobbled together enough events, though, that Twisted B’s Soda and Teas survived the summer.

She thinks she and Hinshaw did a pretty good job of “just kind of going with the flow of what we had to do” after they had “a really good talk” about whether Dobyns wanted to keep Twisted B’s going or let it go.

“We just kind of decided that I had invested everything I had into getting it going, and it just wasn’t worth letting it go,” she said. “And we were gonna follow it through and kind of see where it took us. And it’s taken us to a storefront.”

Dobyns said she will focus on the storefront and indoor events this winter, and she hopes to emerge from the cold with another trailer.

“We are in the process of looking at one,” she said. “We are really hoping to have a trailer by market season when it starts back up again. That is our goal, and if not, we will continue to do markets with our tent pop-up next year.”

More About Twisted B’s

Twisted B’s Soda and Teas will open soon inside Pinspiration Arts & Crafts Studio, 2650 North Ave., Unit 117, in the Red Cliff Pointe shopping center, which has access from 28 Road.

Find out more about the business and its offerings on Facebook and Instagram.

What’s on the menu?

For a rundown of some (trust us, there’s a whole lot more) of what Twisted B’s offers, owner Beth Dobyns said:

• Dirty sodas.
• Flavored iced teas.
• A Palisade peach tea that has a peach syrup and fresh peaches or frozen peaches, depending on the time of year.
• Unsweetened iced tea.
• A Bellini, which is a peach and raspberry.
• A blackberry bramble tea that comes with mint and blackberries in it.
• Flavored lemonades.
• “Dirty energy drinks and dirty sodas, so the dirty twisted part of that – twisted is the lime, dirty is the cream.”
• “You can do a dirty Dr. Pepper, so that would be a Dr. Pepper with some coconut syrup in it and some creamer and a twist the lime.”
• “The energy drinks are kind of the same. I do some Red Bull ones. Right now we’re doing a witches brew.”
• “I also have a plant-based, no-crash energy additive that could be put into anything that you want. It’s flavorless, so you can add it to any drink if you just want a little boost of energy.”
• “We also do some little snacks, but hopefully we are going to get to expand on them once we’re in an actual storefront. But currently we do apple nachos, which is just a sliced-up apple that you get to pick your toppings for. I have caramel, I have chocolate, crushed nuts, crushed Heath bar, Oreos, marshmallows, kind of whatever you could think of topping a caramel apple, but we put it in slices and give you a fork, so it’s easier to eat. We do some candy sticks and some popcorn balls and decorated Rice Krispy treats and little snacks like that as well.”

Don’t forget your landlord

Pinspiration Arts & Crafts Studio is leasing out the bar area to Pinspiration Selling Twisted B’s Soda and Teas.

Pinspiration says on social media it offers: “A unique and inspiring environment where you can unleash your inner artist. Whether you’re an experienced crafter or just looking to try something new, there’s something for everyone.”

And Pinspiration invites customers to bring “friends, family or just yourself and enjoy a relaxing and fun-filled experience. It’s a perfect way to unwind, bond and make lasting memories.”

Pinspiration says customers can look forward to:

• Wide Range of Projects: “From painting and woodworking to candle making and more, Pinspiration provides all the materials and guidance you need to create something amazing.”
• DIY Workshops: “Join one of our guided workshops and learn new skills while making beautiful, personalized items.”
• Private Events: “Host your next party, team-building event or celebration with us for a memorable and creative experience.”
• Splatter Room: “Feeling adventurous? Try our Splatter Room and create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece while having a blast!”