Yes Whey! Spare Food’s Upcycled Tonic on Tap at Google
By Chris Vespoli
Workplace drink options tend to be limited: coffee, water, and maybe a flavored seltzer or two (if you’re lucky). But Google employees are being treated to Spare Tonic — a probiotic sparkling beverage made with whey that would have been discarded —which is now available on tap at the search engine’s west side Manhattan office. It’s the first product from The Spare Food Co., an organization that’s tackling the problem of wasted food from a chef’s perspective.
Happy Hour With a Gut-Healthy Twist
Originally launched in 2021, Spare Tonic can now be found at two locations inside Google’s offices at 111 Eighth Avenue: in the company co-working space, Water Tower, and at Cultured, a yogurt bar. Google employees (Googlers, as they’re called) can choose between two varieties of Spare Tonic: Cucumber Lime and Blueberry & Ginger.
The Upcycled Certified™ tonic’s main ingredient is whey, which is a common co-product produced during the Greek yogurt-making process. Whey is naturally packed with probiotics, as well as protein, B vitamins, and electrolytes like calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
An afternoon happy hour during launch week featured mocktails made with the two flavors: a blueberry ginger spritz (with ginger beer and blueberry juice) and a cucumber drink made with seedlip, a distilled nonalcoholic spirit.
“We started the event at 3:30 and there was a line [of people] completely around the corner,” recalls Jackie Berliner, Spare Food’s marketing manager.
The happy hour was such a hit, Spare Food was asked to host a second event a month later. According to Jackie, it went just as well as the first.
“We received so much positive feedback. People really loved the sustainability story.”
A Match Made in Sustainability
The partnership with Google makes perfect sense to Adam Kaye, Spare Food’s co-founder.
“Googlers are really kind of our sweet spot in terms of mindful change makers,” he says. “So for us to go to them with a product like Spare … is kind of a no-brainer.”
Google takes sustainability seriously, having planted stakes in the ground around carbon reduction and the circular economy. Spare Food, with its approach to eliminating food waste, aligns well with these values.
The company partners with local yogurt makers in New York State — where more than 70% of the nation’s strained yogurt is made — to purchase unused whey. Spare Food says a cup of yogurt yields more than 2 cups of whey, and an estimated 1 billion pounds of the ingredient is produced every year in New York alone.
If not discarded properly, whey, which is naturally acidic, robs waterways of oxygen and endangers wildlife. Instead of the whey going to a landfill, Spare Food uses it in its tonics, which the company brews with a production partner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Each can contains up to 92% of the upcycled ingredient — though at Google, the tonic is served from kegs.
“We had heard that they were [against] bringing in any new brands that were still being offered in single-use packaging,” explains Jeremy Kaye, Spare Food’s other founder, and Adam’s brother. “So even though we very intentionally chose cans over glass or plastic when we launched The Spare Food Company, we knew that ultimately we would want to be able to put our product in a keg. It just poured so beautifully out of the tap.”
The move was a smart one. Jeremy says for every 20-liter keg, 60 cans are saved from ending up in recycling.
Spare Food’s partnership with Google is more than a year in the making. The Kaye brothers were introduced to the company through Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, an accelerator program. Spare Food was among eight companies chosen to participate in the program, alongside other Upcycled Food Association members like Renewal Mill, Grain4Grain, and Matriark.
“The partnership,” says Jeremy, “fits beautifully within our overall strategy bringing Spare Tonic to the people in the places that they live, work, and play.”
Brothers in Arms Against Food Waste
Co-founders Jeremy Kaye (left) and Adam Kaye (right)
Adam and Jeremy founded The Spare Food Co. in 2018 with a mission to take overlooked and unused ingredients and craft them into delicious foods and drinks that are better for people and the planet.
Before starting Spare Food, Jeremy worked in merchandising and product development at brands like Nike and Patagonia. Adam, a renowned chef who’s spent more than two decades in the culinary world, had been cooking with whey for years.
After seeing how much whey was produced from making ricotta cheese and yogurt, Adam began experimenting with repurposing the ingredient into other dishes and was struck by its functionality and nutritional benefits.
“When Jeremy and I launched our company and we started to focus our attention on product development, whey was just something that had been — no pun intended — kind of swirling around in my head. And it seemed so emblematic of [the] inefficiencies in our food system.”
Besides whey, Spare Tonic is made with just three ingredients: honey, fruits, and spice. There are no artificial sweeteners or preservatives. The approach is a reflection of Adam’s background in the restaurant business, which includes 18 years as culinary director of a Michelin-rated farm-to-table restaurant.
“We came to the table each day with a list of what's being harvested and what's available, and then created a menu based on that,” Adam remembers. “That kind of chef-driven approach is very core to who we are. And I think our products speak to that.”
A Flavorful Future Ahead
Spare Tonic’s latest flavor, Passion Fruit & Yuzu
Besides Google, Spare Tonic is available to the public through retailers like FreshDirect and Whole Foods. It comes in a variety of flavors, including Blueberry & Ginger, Cucumber & Lime, Lemon & Ginger, Peach & Turmeric.
A fifth flavor, Passion Fruit & Yuzu, launched earlier this month.
It’s inspired by Adam and Jeremy’s upbringing in South Africa, where the plentiful passion fruit was spun into ice creams, popsicles, and juice concentrates. The flavor was recently nominated as a finalist for the 2023 NEXTY Award for Best New Beverage. (The Spare Food Co. took home the NEXTY last year for its Blueberry & Ginger flavor.)
When it comes to the flavors, the Kaye brothers don’t play favorites. And their customers don’t seem to either; Jeremy says sales of the flavors are evenly distributed.
“When we have three on the shelf, we sell roughly 33% of each one. When we have four on the shelf, we sell roughly 25% of each one. It's really amazing …”
Adam says he’d love to experiment with a tropical flavor in the future, possibly pineapple. But wherever Spare Food goes from here, the tonic is sure to remain a symbol of the potential of upcycled ingredients.
“The whole story of The Spare Food Co. — ingredients captured at scale, culinary innovation to create something delicious that really shows that we can be doing better in our food system — is encapsulated in this 12-ounce can of Spare Tonic,” Jeremy says. “And so it really has become this beautiful emblem, this icon for all things that The Spare Food Company can be and will be.”
Chris Vespoli (he/him) is a New York-based writer/producer who has created content for some of the world’s top media, entertainment, and consumer brands. You can see more of his work on his website.
