Looking for Swig vegetarian options? Good news: the whole menu works. Swig is a drive-through soda shop, not a kitchen full of burgers and sandwiches, so there’s no meat anywhere on the menu to sort around. The real questions are about dairy in the cream add-ins and dips. There’s also one specific candy topper that isn’t vegetarian at all. This guide covers what about the vegetarians on a menu this drink-heavy, category by category.
A Quick Look at Swig
Nicole Robison (then Nicole Tanner) opened the first Swig in a roughly 700-square-foot building near what’s now Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah, on April 2, 2010, with her then-husband Todd Tanner. Their idea was simple: mix name-brand sodas with flavored syrups, fruit purees, and cream to make a “dirty soda.” That drink style took off fast in Utah’s LDS-heavy market, where many residents avoid alcohol and coffee.
Swig had grown to 17 stores by the end of 2017, and Robison sold the chain to Four Foods Group that year. The firm Savory Fund stepped in to run day-to-day operations so she could focus on the brand and menu. Larry H. Miller Company then bought a majority stake in Swig from Savory Fund in November 2022. Savory Fund, Robison, and her partners Chase Wardrop and Dylan Roeder kept minority shares, and Rian McCartan stayed on as CEO.
That backing fueled a national push. Swig now operates more than 170 locations across 17 states, up from 41 in 2022 and 104 in early 2025. The company has set a goal of 1,000 US locations by 2030.
Swig runs on a small footprint by design. Most new stores measure around 870 square feet, built around a drive-through window as the main way to order, closer to a coffee kiosk than a sit-down restaurant. That format is a big part of why the menu stays this focused. A short lineup of sodas, refreshers, teas, lemonades, hot drinks, and a handful of snacks is easy to make fast through a single window, and it means Swig vegetarian options aren’t buried in a huge menu the way they can be at a full-service chain. No secondary food menu, no shared grill, no meat-based broths or sauces anywhere in the kitchen, since there effectively isn’t one.
Swig Vegetarian Options: What to Order
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Dirty sodas without cream (e.g. Sandy Cheeks) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Dirty sodas with coconut cream (e.g. Texas Tab, Just Peachy) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (confirm no dairy cream swap) |
| Dirty sodas with dairy cream | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Refreshers, plain (fruit syrup and soda) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Refreshers with candy toppers (e.g. Shark Attack gummy shark) | ⚠️ Check (gelatin in topper) | ❌ No (gelatin) |
| Teas and lemonades, no cream | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Hot chocolate and creamy hot drinks | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Salted pretzel bites, plain | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (possible butter wash) |
| White Cheddar Sauce (pretzel dip) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Strawberry Cream Cheese Dip (pretzel dip) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Sugar cookies | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (butter, eggs, milk) |
| Cream pops | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
Dirty Sodas and Refreshers
A Dirty Soda, per Swig’s own description, “combines your favorite soda with a customized mix of flavors, fresh fruits, purees, and creams.” None of that involves meat, so every dirty soda on the board is vegetarian. Vegan is a different question, since “cream” in a lot of these recipes means dairy cream. Fan-favorite orders like the Texas Tab (Dr Pepper with vanilla and coconut cream) and Just Peachy (Coke Zero, peach puree, pineapple syrup, lime, and coconut cream) use coconut cream instead of dairy. That’s a plant-based swap, but confirm with the crew, since recipes and available creamers can vary by store. Simpler, fruit-only combos like Sandy Cheeks (water, sugar-free peach, and fresh lemon) skip cream entirely and are vegan as ordered.
Refreshers follow the same logic. A Sprite-and-lemonade base with fruit syrup is vegan, but watch for candy garnishes. The Shark Attack refresher, for example, comes with a gummy shark on top, and gummy candy is almost always made with gelatin, an animal product. Request it without the gummy to keep the drink strictly vegetarian, or skip it altogether if you avoid gelatin.
Teas, Lemonades, and Hot Drinks
Straight teas and lemonades are vegetarian and vegan by default. They’re just brewed tea or lemonade with flavor syrup, no dairy involved unless you ask for a cream add-in. Hot drinks are the exception. Swig’s hot chocolate and any hot drink built around steamed cream or milk is vegetarian but not vegan. For a dairy-free hot drink, ask whether the store can make it with a non-dairy creamer, or take it black with syrup instead.
Snacks and Treats
Swig’s food menu is short: salted pretzel bites, sugar cookies, and cream pops, plus two dips for the pretzels. All three snacks are vegetarian, since none contain meat, but none of them are vegan. The sugar cookies use butter, eggs, and milk like a standard bakery cookie, and cream pops are a frozen dairy treat by name and recipe. The pretzel bites themselves are simple dough. Swig’s two dipping sauces both contain dairy though: the White Cheddar Sauce is a cheese-based dip, and the Strawberry Cream Cheese Dip is exactly what it sounds like. Order the pretzel bites plain if you’re avoiding dairy, since neither dip is a safe substitute.
Customizing Your Order
Because every Dirty Soda and refresher is made to order, customizing is normal at Swig, not a special request. To avoid dairy, ask for a drink without the cream, or ask which creamer a specific recipe uses before you order. Most fruit purees and syrups can be built onto a plain soda base without any cream at all, which is how regulars land on dairy-free go-tos like Sandy Cheeks.
The same goes for candy toppers on refreshers. They’re an add-on, not a fixed part of the drink, so you can request one without the gummy topper if gelatin is a concern. Staff are used to swapping ingredients in and out, since that’s how the whole menu is built. Don’t hesitate to ask about a specific syrup or dip if it isn’t covered here.
What’s Vegan at Swig?
Vegan options exist at Swig, but you have to build them. Skip anything with dairy cream and stick to sodas or refreshers made with fruit purees, syrups, or coconut cream, like Sandy Cheeks or the coconut-cream drinks noted above. Straight teas and lemonades without a cream add-in are vegan too. The snack side is harder, since the sugar cookies, cream pops, and both pretzel dips all contain dairy. A plain order of salted pretzel bites, no dip, is the safest vegan food option in the store.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Once you know where the dairy hides, Swig vegetarian options are simple to navigate. Dairy is the main thing to watch, showing up in cream add-ins for sodas and hot drinks, in both pretzel dipping sauces, in the sugar cookies, and in the cream pops. Gluten is a factor in the pretzel bites and cookies, so those are out if you need a gluten-free order.
Gelatin can turn up in candy toppers used on some refreshers, like the gummy shark on the Shark Attack. Ask before ordering anything with a candy garnish if you avoid animal-derived gelatin. Swig hasn’t published a full allergen chart the way many bigger chains have, so for anything beyond what’s listed here, check with the crew at the window about what’s actually in a specific syrup or topping rather than guessing.
Tips for Vegetarians at Swig
- Every drink and snack on the menu is vegetarian, since Swig doesn’t sell any food with meat in it. Ordering Swig vegetarian options really just means deciding on dairy, not meat.
- Vegans should ask whether a recipe uses dairy cream or coconut cream before ordering. The two aren’t labeled separately on the board.
- Skip the dip on pretzel bites if you’re avoiding dairy. Both the White Cheddar Sauce and the Strawberry Cream Cheese Dip contain milk.
- Check for candy toppers before ordering a refresher. Gummy garnishes like the one on the Shark Attack usually contain gelatin.
- Sugar-free, no-cream combos like Sandy Cheeks are a safe, simple order if you want something dairy-free without asking a lot of questions.
- Swig doesn’t publish a full allergen list, so for a specific dairy or gluten concern, check with the crew directly instead of assuming.
Conclusion
Swig makes the vegetarian question easy, since there’s no meat on the menu to begin with. The real decisions are about dairy: whether a soda or hot drink uses cream, whether a snack or dip has milk in it, and whether a refresher has a gelatin-based candy topper. Pick a fruit-based soda or a plain pretzel bite and you’re covered either way.
For more on eating vegetarian at restaurants generally, see our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants. Browse more restaurant guides, including our guides to Dutch Bros, Sonic Drive-In, and Jamba Juice.
